On a different topic, your information about worms not liking a certain food and wanting to escape makes so much sense now. My worms seem to LOVE coffee grounds, but it also makes them climb up the sides of the tubs (thank goodness for lids and screens!) to the point where I will find 5 or 6 worms on each handle inside! They are multiplying very well on a diet of leaves and cow manure compost, and they seem to love bananas (not the peels) and instant potato flakes. I wondered why all three bins had the worms trying to “escape” at the same time, and now I know it’s because of the food I put in each and every bin. They do settle down after a few days, regardless of what I feed them. I wonder if the coffee grounds “speed them up” the way coffee affects humans (I don’t drink caffeine, so I know the feeling if some gets slipped my way), and that’s why they want to climb, but I don’t pour water over the grounds and bathe them in it–the seem to BATTLE to come to the surface for that coffee. I still can’t believe how quickly all the worms come up and munch on coffee grounds, then want to climb all over the place. They are like children–you have to watch EVERYTHING you feed them!

I’m interested to learn more about the corrugated cardboard method of housing/feeding them, as it sounds as if it would be easier to collect the castings that way. I seem to have the best luck with keeping my worms happy if I put in crabgrass roots that I pull out of my yard (I cut off the leaves since they don’t like them). They just LOVE to eat the dirt and nestle in the roots. I don’t like the crabgrass in my yard, so we are all happy. I will look for the cocoons the next time I change the bedding. Your advice about keeping them in the same bedding that they are used to is invaluable, but not all worm farmers tell you what kind of bedding to use when you get your new “friends”. Personally, I don’t like using peat, as it takes 500 years to make it. Another worm farmer suggested using shredded coconut shells and leaves, but that isn’t available where I live. Next year, I will make sure I keep my leaves instead of having them hauled away by the city. I do find it difficult to separate the castings from leaves and cow manure compost. Do you have any suggestions (I haven’t read your whole site yet, so I apologize if you have answered this already)? I got a “worm harvester” that makes it MUCH easier to get the worms out, since I have to go through ALL the bedding a little at a time, and it’s almost impossible to miss an adult/growing worm that way, but there were almost zero castings in the bottom of the tub. I have some ideas of how to make something similar, yet easier to use, and I’ll try to get it made at Home Depot (I lack all the tools needed for such work). Are baby redworms tiny pink-ish versions of adult worms? I use a plastic kiddie swimming pool to make the pyramids and I find little “worm-lets” coming to the tops of them. They look like worms, they move like worms, and they have a tiny pink “vein” going down their back. I would think that a worm would not want to come to the top, though, but would attempt to dig deeper into the pyramid, which makes me wonder if these are really worms, or if they are still young and stupid! I had a maggot infestation in one of my tubs because flies could get through the air holes, but some screening taped to the outside of the lids put a stop to that very quickly. I wonder if those little white things are actually maggots, not baby worms, but maggots have a yellow-ish tint to them and a black dot on their mouth, plus they are rounder than these little pinkish things.

I want to look over your website to see if you have a photo of two worms mating. THAT would be a very educational bit of information, especially since the children next door (my helpers) don’t quite understand how a worm can be both male and female. I’m sure they are mating all the time, but when you move the bedding, they are pulled apart. A photo would still be of great usefulness, and I hope you have one. Children have a hard enough time understanding human sexuality, much less worm sexuality!

Thank you so much for helping us newbies–I have been in your position on other issues, and it feels good to help someone else do the right thing for themselves or for another living creature.

Right now I live in Tri-cities WA and I am keeping my bin in the garage. I am concerned about regulating the temperature. We’ve had some chilly nights so the temperature in the garage was at least above 30, but probably too cold for the worms and they were a bit sluggish. I noticed that they “perk up” when the temperature gets warmer. But we really get some hot weather here beginning in May or so. When the temperatures climb to above 90 deg (too hot in the garage), I’ll have to move the bin outside in the shade. Then in the winter, I’m thinking an electric blanket at low temperature to take the chill off. Any other ideas on regulating the temperature without alot of expensive equipment (aside from bringing the bin inside the house)?