Opening a Can of Worms opps... Box of Worms

A month ago I received a bag of red worms. With all the excitement we made Daddy go to Lowes to buy containers and drilled holes in the same night. We got to place the worms in their new home and covered them with shredded newspaper. Viola !!!! All done !!! hahaha.. How wrong we were. You see, I was told to not feed the worms for a few days so that they could get used to the new soil. Therefore I didn't feed them. I know the seller mailed the worms on a Saturday and I received them on a Monday. That meant the worms didn't have vegetable food for 2 days. That night we switched off all the lights and went to bed.



The next morning when we woke up, we went to peek at the worm house and to our surprise there were worms on the floor. I screamed as I refuse to touch the worms and the kids got all happy as they had valid reason to touch the worms. We put them back and when Daddy called he told us he found worms on the floor too before he left for work. And there I started worrying that my house will be infested with runaway worms. 1 lb of worms = 600-1000 worms... and thats too many worms to have around the house......



That night after switching off all the lights, we went up to our bedrooms. I decided to go peek at the worm house and to my surprise I saw my worms trying to make their escape again. But because I had the lights on, they quickly retreated back into the pile of papers. Ah ha!!! Bingo!!!! I moved the box towards my kitchen cabinets and switched on my undercabinet florescent lights. Next morning there wasn't any runaway worms.



Food.. Finally on the 3rd day, I decided to get out some of my vegetable scraps that I saved in the fridge. I chopped them in the food chopper and fed them to the worms. That night I forgot to switch on the lights and then next morning.. NO RUNAWAY worms. Bingo!!! if there is food, they don't come out. Its been a few 3 weeks and the worms are doing well. They don't stink the house and as long as you cover the veggie scraps with the newspaper, there is no housefly. I just have to remember to feed them a few times a week and water spray the newspaper to keep it damp.



Our new members of the family are slowly and surely making compost as I do see sprinkles of blacks in the box now.



I've added a few photos to show the worm house and the healthy worms. I just love the fact I'm not wasting my veggie scraps. It was hard to take photos of the worms. As soon as I moved the papers, they sense the light and would run for cover... smart worms???