I'm afraid to touch my worms. I use a barbeque stick, plastic fork, and three tined garden claw to work with them. To get remaining worms out of containers I squirt some water onto them and pour them out. Leaving the cover off will keep the sides of the bin dry and them less likely to crawl out. Best bet is to leave the light on after disterbing them.

Attempted escapes are normal in a new bin. What they did not tell you is that you should keep a light on over the bin for the first few days. Worms will dig into the bedding to avoid the light.

Poke at them if you want to. We all do. They will be happier if you don't, unless during your poking you discover a problem that needs adjusting.

Yes, the dirt smell means they are working.

Have you checked the lower bin? Worms also tend to wander down there. I suggest putting slightly damp cardboard chunks to absorb leachate and provide food for the wanderers. There will always be the occasional exploring worm, but most stay put once the ecosystem is comfortable.

Chopsticks or a hand rake are my preferred tools for gently probing a worm bin. If you add new food to the top and cover with the damp sheets of newsprint, you should easily see most of your worms swarming the food after a couple of days. If the food is pre-rotted, you'll see them swarm the food much sooner. This way you can observe the worms without disturbing the bedding.

Andrew

Hi there and welcome to the forum.

It sounds like you have started perfectly to me. A bit of research and preparation has got you off to a great start.
Having a few worms up under the rim of the lid is very normal. In a 10 gal tote with 2-3 lbs of worms, I have maybe 10 or less worms around the lid when I feed every two weeks. Occaisionally, (very rare) I'll find a few dryed up carcasses on the floor near the bins, but that's not a big deal either.
I wouldn't poke around too much for a start, but in a few weeks it wouldn't hurt to move things around, checking the moisture levels and population. In a new bin it takes a while for the moisture to even out amongst the new bedding and food scaps / castings.

Only thing I can suggest is to be carefull with the amount of food given. Not knowing the starting numbers (and even if you bought a given number, it can be wildly inaccurate), I'd put no more than a cup of food scraps (blended up is better or quicker to start out, but not required) per month or when the last feed is almost all gone. Remember, they won't starve if you dont feed for a whole month. Not at all like a pet dog or cat. lol. They will leave or die if you over feed way too much.

Nice start, cheers

Great! Thank you for the responses! Even though this is my first post, I've learned so much here.

Flowerchild_08,
Research anaerobic composting Bokashi. It's the way to go. Let's end the suffering of worms. Worms don't eat garbage, they eat compost so if you want to do vermicomposting please do it outside. I wanted to vermicompost but after I learned about composting in general and understood the process, I decided against it. Worm composting is limiting, rely too much on the human caretaker and it's so unnatural for the worms.

I have been vermicomposting in my basement for about 8 years now and have never had a problem with anaerobia or any bad smell. Maybe the worms aren't eating my garbage but it certainly appears that they are.

Dave Nelson

A vermicomposting system has many components (microbes, critters, worms, etc.). My worms most definitely eat garbage...unless you want to redefine "eat" or "garbage". Here's video proof:

http://vermicomposters.ning.com/video/worms-at-the-trough

I did research bokashi and decided it was more work than vermicomposting. You have to either buy or make EM bokashi, then you need to finish the end product off by burying in the ground or putting in a compost or worm bin. It can handle more meat products than a worm bin if you generate a lot of meat waste. I don't. YMMV.

Andrew

I wear a latex glove -- from needing to clean up quick and not liking VC under my nails.