Food that has been composting is not moldy and soupy. Maybe moldy, but not soupy. When you added it to the bin, you probably created better conditions for composting than it already had, so the microbes had a party. That is where the heat comes from.

sorry it was not soupy the liquid mixture was all at the bottom like laechete is. the food scraps itself was basically like oatmeal all mushy and stink from composting.

i thought it would not heat up since it's been composting/molding in the bucket for 2 weeks and i read up that it should of not had heated up either from a couple sites if you did this.

but i just came home and the worms seem to be doing great. just was wondering why it heated up and if they could of potentially died but it seems they managed

Compost does not stink and is not mushy like oatmeal. Again, what was happening in the bucket was NOT composting. Worms LOVE compost. What you fed to them may have been toxic to them. And, yes, it probably caused the heating.

Celbrise pre-rotted some food. If that was toxic I'd have some very dead worms right now. (I have learned recently to drain off the liquids)

Everybody says compost doesn't stink. All the books... I've been to many compost piles, and made many myself. Even the local university demo piles. It does SO smell. It has a distinct snow mold with a hint of rot smell.
*getting off my soapbox*
Ivy

when i talk mushy i and explaining the pre rotted food not my worm bin. i keep the food in a 5gallon bucket to pre rott for the worms so it can be easily digested instead of always collecting it and blending it together not to mention i have LOADS of scraps thus why it is mushy from rice to bred to vegetables and fruits.

and no i don't think what i fed to them was toxic. i feed basically what all vermicomposters say to feed. i do however feed both garlic/onions and also citrus. i make sure i compost both extremely well and let it rot before feeding thus why i rott it for 2 weeks or longer and i do feed those in small quantities and i have heard a few majority saying it is okay to feed onions/garlic and citrus as well and i have seen people feeding a couple lemons so i know they can handle citrus but like people say not a ton of it.

i do however believe the new food i put it did heat up the pile. it also does not help that our weather is pretty hot too but today i didn't see any worms surfacing so idk if they are still alive or just eating but i will check on them daily. and i also did not over feed them

One more try....

Rotting is not necessarily composting. If you have mush sitting in a bucket rotting for two weeks, what you have is NOT compost!!! What you have is anaerobic decomposition, which will form volatile organic compounds. It is the VOCs that cause the rot to stink. VOCs are toxic to worms and just about anything else.

Unless everything that has ever been true about composting suddenly changed in the last few weeks. Judging by what is being posted on this board lately, it seems that it has.

Letting food decompose for a few days, great. Though I prefer to let that happen in the worm bin than in a bucket. Putting it in a bucket for two weeks to get slimy and smelly is not good.

Hopefully, I have finally made my point.

As for the onions and citrus, have at it. My worms were fine with onion peels, though they broke down slowly, and they loved citrus once it had a chance to break down a bit.

Celbrise, you had a new bin with three worms in it, none of which were composting worms, and suddenly you are the resident expert in the subject, while those of us who have been successfully managing worm bins for years, and learned from experts in the field who used to frequent these forums, know nothing. Something is not right with that. Please try managing your bin for a few months before you try to tell the rest of us how to manage ours.