Hi there,
In my limited experience, worms seem to thrive on near neglect. The best thing you can do for your tote is not feed for maybe 2 weeks every now and again, just to let them catch up (even if they don't need to). All of my bins are having a week off from feeding as we speak.

I replicated the bucket experiment found at "The Burrow". I took 20 worms, placed them in a bucket of soil (not organic in any way), correct moisture, and ignored them. I checked the moisture every 2 weeks, but no feeding at all. After 2 monnths, I had 16 adults left, and soooo many cocoons it wasn't funny, and many small babies.

I think you can kill them with kindness, but they are less sensative to neglect. IMHO. lol.

Here is a link that might be useful: The Burrow Experiment

Oh yes! It is very possible to kill the worms by overfeeding them. Especially when the bin is new. Worms eat the micro organisms that eat decaying food. In a new bin the micro herd isn't well established so exercising restraint when feeding the worms is a big must.

Also if you overfeed too much the food can heat up and cook the worms.

Worms normally eat half their body weight a day. Less when the bin is new. We usually feed once a week and wait for the food to be eaten before feeding again. Some very small traces of food is ok. If the food isn't eaten wait until its gone before adding more.

Where are you located? Someone may be near enough to help you out.

Absolutely, you can kill worms by overfeeding in a container situation. (In an open compost heap they'll just leave home!)
The food decaying process uses up oxygen- this is bad, obviously, because the worms need oxygen, dissolved in water, to breathe. Then, when there is not enough oxygen the food begins to break down anaerobically- this is bad too! For you- it stinks- and for the worms because toxic by-products are produced.
If there is enough oxygen, and loads of food, then you get heat- and cooked worms....

If you have loads of worms, and plenty of space for them to escape into, then overfeeding is not such an issue. In fact I have tried it myself as an experiment:

Here is a link that might be useful: Overfeeding a worm bin

I would just add that having a multi-compartment system avoids many of the problems mentioned above because the worms can escape away from adverse conditions into the more hospitable bin. After conditions stabilize, they go back into that bin and chow down.

You may want to stack another Rubbermaid container (holes drilled in the bottom) on top of your existing composter, split the contents between the two, and add more bedding.

Here is a link that might be useful: OSCR Jr. plans

I would be mostly worried about other bugs invading and outcompeting your worm culture with respect to overfeeding.

I overfed my worms (in a Rubbermaid type bin with holes) 2 weeks ago, the smell brought it to my attention (luckily I keep the bin in the kitchen). I just stopped feeding them and put corrugated cardboard along the sides and top to help soak up the moisture. It stopped smelling right away and the worms seem to be happy (active). I *had* cut up paper towel rolls under the main bin as spacers, and just noticed that they had soaked up the leachate (sp) and collapsed (this was the first time I had excess moisture). My solution was to to lay a couple empty beer cans in their place (hey, it's what I had handy). As long as the worms are active and the bin smells back to it's usual self completely I'll hold off on feeding for another week, I have plenty of frozen scraps for when they're ready for it. Going forward I'll just remember to only put a handful of scraps in at a time...things went wrong when I put a full batch of juiced veggie pulp in at once. I was reluctant to add more shredded newspaper/cardboard since I don't want to delay being able to use the compost.

Have you checked your bin recently, maybe there were some cocoons left that have hatched.

If you cannot restart by trying to harvest what you have. The best place to get worms is to find a horse hobby farm and ask for permissiom to dig with a pitch fork in the manure pile. The worms are mainly found in the moist sections of the pile. Don't forget your rubber boots and a pail. Good luck

It's interesting this topic should come up. About three weeks ago I made a decision to just not feed for a couple of weeks, but did dump in a gallon more of red oak leaves. I moistened the leaves a bit, however. I finally fed them night before last with about a 1/4 cup of frozen kitchen waste, I think two or three banana peels, and then today with some dandelion greens. (We eat them here.)
No reason, I had plenty of food, it just seemed the thing to do.

I also found out last week from a herb grower here in town that redworms, at least, like valerian and comfrey very much indeed. Who knew?

Gina

Comfrey? Hmmm...I have quite a bit growing in the yard, I'll try feeding it do them them this summer then save the fall cuttings (especially if I start more bins...and if I do I'll need more food) - thanks for the idea Gina!