Significance

• Red wigglers live in a controlled system, the worm bin, which replicates their life in the wild as litter dwellers. The worm bin must provide them with the proper pH and the appropriate temperature, moisture, darkness and food.
  
  

Considerations

• The most likely culprit for a worm mass escape is a rise in temperature to above 80 degrees Fahrenheit and toxic conditions spurred by the addition of too much food to the bin. Bacteria begins the work of breaking down scraps into a form usable by the worms via thermophilic composting, which releases heat as part of the process but threatens the worm's survival. Overfeeding can also raise the moisture level past the optimum range of 70 percent to 80 percent and encourages anaerobic bacteria, spurring the worms to leave.
  
  

Solution

• Add food scraps to the worm bin in modest quantities of 1 to 2 cups at a time. Confine the food to a pocket buried in the bedding, rather than scattering it, so that worms can escape the thermophilic process if retreating to a cooler zone in their bin. If the bin smells rotten, start over by discarding the bedding and returning the worms to a bin with fresh paper scraps or soaked cardboard.