We're going through a cold snap in Minnesota, so I brought my worm bin inside from my insulated, (not heated) garage. My worms had remained active although they seemed a little slower than they were in the summer months. After I brought them in, I intended to buy a heater for an aquarium, then heat a jar of water, and hopefully keep the worm bin warm, but still outdoors. I brought them in four days ago.

Two days ago, I sprinkled about 1/2 a bottle of old red wine in the worm bin. When I opened the bin, the worms were doing great, although they wiggled around (because of the light? because of the wine? you tell me). On Tuesday, they were healthy and hale and inside the bin.

Tonight, I opened my bin to find my Vermicomposting Worst Case Scenario: escaping worms. There were about 5-9 worm dried-up worm carcasses on my carpet, and probably 30 in the handle of my Rubbermaid, all tentacles and reaching for a better home than I gave them.

So, what went wrong?

Theory 1: Red wine. Was the red wine poison and only the strong escaped? However, there are several parts of the bin that seem to have healthy worms chomping away at food. Furthermore, I have a drainage bin underneath, so it's not like they were drowning in Pinot Noir.

Theory 2: Heat. Perhaps our toasty 75 degree house was too much, and they were on their way to cooler climes. I had a FEW green leafy legumes in there, which apparently heats up the bin.

Theory 3: Crowding. Maybe it was just too many worms? What does an overcrowded bin look like? There were what looked like teeny-tiny worms on the edge of the cover. Did they just look for a place to lay their worm babies?

Let me know if you have any ideas. Until then, I'll put my heater inside the bin and send them back to the garage!