Hi all,

So, I'm probably right up there with some of the worst VC newbs ever. I ordered a kit by Fresh From the Farm in Stevenson, WA, through Azure Standard, and it came (cough)last monday(cough). I carefully put it in my garage, and then forgot it until today. (But I'm also a mother of six, and was finishing the chicken coop that week. So, you know, not much going on here . . . )

Anyway . . .

I found the bin in the garage today, and got it put together according to the instructions. The worms were in a gallon plastic jar with peat moss and some shredded cardboard, and it was pretty darn wet in there. There are a whole lot of little white mites (searched about them here; they're fascinating under the simple little microscope we have), and a TON of little white worms. They're much, much smaller than the compost worms, and kinda transparent. Maybe 1/3 as long as the worms, and about a quarter as big around, or smaller.

From what I've read, it sounds like these critters aren't going to hurt anything, and will disappear if the conditions get to be unfavorable for them. My main question is if I need to do anything to help get my worms off to a better start. The instructions said that too wet was better than too dry, so I have a feeling that the peat moss bottom layer is really way too wet. The shredded cardboard layer on top might be okay . . . but the mix of bedding & worms I dumped out of the gallon jar was really, really, REALLY densely wet. I'm hoping that it'll dry out some, since I left it on the top of the shredded bedding. I could see a couple of worms that didn't survive the ordeal (it wasn't really hot in the garage, thankfully--it was just a long wait), but the vast majority of them *seem* to be doing just fine.

Should I wait to feed them? Or feed them something dry-ish? They've been without food for at least a week . . . should I worry at all? What else should I know?

(And links to websites would be just fine. I just don't have time to google and research this exhaustively today . . . )

Thanks SO much!