Mine left the box when it was too wet. My poor husband stepped on one in the bedroom in the night. Yikes! The only way I know how to tell is to stick your finger in the bin.

"Moist as a wrung-out sponge" is the 3rd or 4th Golden Rule depending on whether or not you adhere to the "anything organic is a food source for worms" part of the rule book.

The reason I qualify that is because about 90 percent of the content of this forum consists of questions about menu options:).

Chuckiebtoo

I think that's how it is in my box, wet at the right point. But seeing them out of the box, makes me doubtful about it.
I put a lot of shredded newspaper on top of the wet newspaper cover for discouraging the worms to come out. Anyway, this morning I found 2 of them on the ground.
The good thing is I don't see any worm on the surface, so they are under the food and bedding, but I am finding more and more worms in the bottom under the feeding tray.

I think we all ran into that[finding a few worms out] when we first started vermicomposting. but when it continues you have to figure something is not right whether it be air flow , too wet , too much food or a mix of these. I found myself leaving the lid off during this period to let the bin dry out and to help keeping the worms in by leaving light on. It just a matter of adjustment and as long as its just a few worms lost thats ok. But adding more carbon to a too wet bin will obviously help.

"Just started 2 weeks ago". There's the problem. Didn't you read any where that one must have at minium 1 year experience prior to starting a bin??????
Just kidding. Welcome Kloss. While too much or too little moisture can be a problem,worms need a short period to aclimate. A bin can be doing fine then if you disturb them enough,worms go on the crawl. What has worked for me is screen over all openings. I line holes below bedding with fiberglass window screen and top as well if bin is stored away from animals. Outdoors,I cover the top of bin with aluminum window screen on the hope if a varmit frays the wire it will likly prick a paw or nose and discourage farthur investigation. I think it works because skunks blasted my open shed on two seprate occasions while bins were in it.

I hesitate to screen over the holes in bins because I WANT to know if there's a dissatisfactory condition in there. Worm evacuation will tell you that.

Worms crawling around on the insides of the bins doesn't necessarily indicate that.

Like Klemi1 says, a few in a new home isn't abnormal at all.

In my experiences with rogues, too wet is usually more at fault than too dry.

Worms on the lam are almost non-existent for my bins now because I don't try to drown them anymore like when I first started.

Hummersteve is right on about the light as a last resort. It doesn't really send them into a frenzy like some say....they just go into the bedding.

Chuckiebtoo

Most of the time when I find a wormie that obviously fell out it is trying to get back in.

hey there..

Definitely sounds too wet.. but also could be the the bin is heating up too much from food being added.

Try not to add any more food for the next 2 weeks to allow your worms to finish whats there. Especially if you didn't allow your bin to stand for a week or two after adding the food and before adding your worms.

Remember not to add food unless the previous food added has been finished.

Keep a light on over the top of the bin for a few days and also keep the inside of the bin dry at the top to discourage wanderers.

Losing a dozen or so over several weeks really isn't an issue but is always a sign that something is starting to go wrong or is wrong.

Hang in there, after awhile you'll get to know what your worms like and don't like.

:)

PS. if you have night-crawlers.. they are natural wanderers if they are disturbed too much or they feel a lot of vibration from being moved. Its a natural defensive mechanism for them to run!! :)

I never lose worms out of the Worm Factory composter, unless I drop them off of the lid. But, some do crawl down into the tray below the bottom bin, especially when they are hungry.

The only other time I had marauding worms was during my first castings harvest. The worms were in piles on a plastic bag on the cellar floor, when my husband inadvertantly turned off the cellar light. That night there were baseball sized mounds of worms about a foot away from the plastic bag. A few stragglers were dehydrated like canned onion rings. But, the live mounds of worms behaved like a school of fish does when avoiding a predator, sharing the exposure to an unfriendly environment by moving away from it. In any case, back to escapee problems.

Besides an unfriendly environment such as too dry or too wet, I have seen migrations when worms are hungry. I look at the behavior as a possible time-to feed cue and assess whether all of the garbage has been eaten, prior to adding more .

Today, I saw a video produced at the University of Maine. It was very informative and provides a good example of a homemade composting bin and it looks like the worms would probably fall or crawl into the tray rather than the floor.

Here is a link that might be useful: University of Maine Cooperative Extension

Ive watched this one more than once and although informative is most likely pretty generic to all the ole timers on this forum.

Interesting harvesting method. You mention worm migration. One time I saw worms crawl up the wall of the bin. They were all in a thin line maybe three worms wide.

With the cover off the sides of the bin will not be damp. The worms will be less inclined to climb up dry walls.

hummersteve, thank you for the review. Saved me some time. I would have been looking for some as yet unknown to be worm secrets. I would watch it if I was new to the process.

I have been taking care of worms now for a while. I keep all my kitchen scraps cut up in small pieces and in a mixing bowl and that is all I feed them. When that gets full I take a tray or maybe 2 trays and put shredded paper on the bottom of the tray(s) then I lay the food on top of the paper then I put more shredded paper on top of the food. After that I put the lid to the worm bin on top. I don't feed them again until the bowl fills up again. I never have any problems with it being too dry or too wet. I don't have any fruit flies either. And it has been kept in the house. And it does not stink.

I asked my husband to feed the worms one night (thinking he knew what to do). He went and filled the tray with the food. He did not put the paper in. He just dumped the food in the trays. Liquid was coming out the bottom of the bin like I never saw it come out before, the worms were diving down in the drainage tray like I never saw before, and we had gnats or fruit flies that took so long to get rid of.

You really need to find a way to keep that moisture at a balance or you will have a lot of problems.

Hint: the smaller you cut up the things you feed your worms - the better for both you and your worms.

One other thing. When I first started taking care of worms, I went and bought myself a cheap paper shredder. I was shredding my junk mail, the news paper adds, toilet paper rolls, paper toweling that I tried my hands on, store receipts and more. If you think that's a lot, well hold on to your pants. It wasn't enough. The worms liked it so much that I was shredding for them, that I could hardly keep up with them. I had to make some extra trips to the store and take some of those papers that they give away by the door with their adds in it and bring them home and shred more.

If you can afford a cheap paper shredder, I highly recommend one to make bedding for your worms. It not only provides them with bedding, but it gives them something to eat and helps soak up the extra moisture. They will love you for it!!!

I tend to agree with MCP90767 and read it as a cue to feed more, or to add something a little different. It seems like you know what to aim for moisture-wise, so until they feel at home you may as well see if something tastier keeps them too busy to have a walkabout.