This is my first venture into vermicomposting. So i have a rollaway trash can sitting in my backyard under a tree. Im in Socal, so the weather gets into the 80s at the hottest, and down to the 60's at the coldest (jealous much?).

I started off with newspaper all wet and crushed up for the bottom bedding, and i added some compost from the local organic garden with lots of bugs and other microbial life moving arouind into it. Now before reading in depth i added a bunch of oranges, and eggshells, and bunch of pasta, before realizing i shouldnt overfeed it. I added about 1250 worms and 2 weeks later, all the oranges and lemons i was worried about are completely gone.

So i checked on my bin today, moved around a bit of the material, and there are plenty of worms happy, responsive, and wriggling. I checked under the bin today, where i drilled holes for drainage, and i saw about 8-10 worms in the dirt, along with 7 to 8 babies. I immediately panicked and got a spoon, and put them back in the bin.

So my question is, did i overeact? I understand there will be a small amount of worms trying to escape. But is 10 worms too many? And should the fruit disappear that fast? I mean i put like 5 whole cut up oranges in there.