Welcome, Stephen McGuire!

Stephen -- Thanks for reaching out and introducing yourself. I have been "lurking" in vermicomposters.com for a while but not had any human interaction. I have had my worm bin for about eight months now starting with 1 lb of red wigglers. Pretty good results (they didn't die), and have muliplied and consume what I put in.

My best experience has been giving them watermellon rind, pumpkins (after halloween), mellon rind, and spoiled apples. Coffee grounds is a regular addition. I stay away from citrus and my experience with bannas was not good (smelled bad).

Good luck with your project. Let me know how you make out !

LarryC

Stephen, Euros "nightcrawling" is normal. It's easy for them to travel up walls because of the condensation. They'll do this even when everything in the bin is ideal: temps, moisture, food, etc. If there is no condensation on the walls, most of them won't bother to go very far. You can accomplish this by not using a lid. I have one RM bin that I cover with dry, torn cardboard and a dry burlap cloth. The bedding under remains moist and the worms stay there.

I also turn on a string of LED Christmas lights (4 watts) at night to discourage any of the worms that might try to head out even with the lack of moisture. But if your lid is secure and you have some ventilation, there's nothing wrong with them wandering around the bin. I'm going to test using a 5 gal. bucket with a tight lid and just leave them alone a week at a time. They won't be able to escape and I'll open the lid only to feed them.

Hey Stephen.Welcome to the forum.
Euros are off to a slow start here in Florida.It is still warm here.But supposedly we have some cold coming within a week.Euros like it cooler and wetter than other worms.That wrung out sponge people use for the bedding for reds is dryer than they like it.But they do need aerated bedding.I make sure i have some cardboard that lets it stay aerated.I originally bought a pound and put them in a bath tub.The heat got to most of those.So i bought some 30 count containers from Wal- Mart and drilled real small holes all the way around the tops of the buckets.They seem to like the dark,quiet buckets.They are just now starting to breed well as it cooled off.When it was hot,cocoons were hard to find.
In my personal opinion,they are slow breeders.But others have amazing results.I have heard people talk of giving up thier redworms,and only having euros.So hopefully they will be real prolific breeders where you live.But i also have fire ants that are surely eating some cocoons.So that reduces my numbers too.But euros are the way to go if you fish.They are like people say,as thick as pencils.They love to stay deep in my bath tub set up.So maybe i have more worms in there.But a bunch did die from the heat.
Euros seem to like to come to the surface to die.So if you see a dead one or two,it is not necessarily a time to panic.And a euros life span seems to be short.Supposedly around a year or a little more.
Any way.If i can be of further assistance just ask.I will probably try and do a rough count on my bucket experiment to see how well they are doing.It is easy to count worms when you only have thirty to start in a bucket.I may count today.Any way.Good luck with your worms!

Temperature range: Minimum; 45° F, maximum; 85° F, ideal range; 55° F-65° F.
· Reproductive rate: Just under 2 young per worm per week under ideal conditions.
· Average number of young per cocoon: Approximately 1.
· Time to emergence from the cocoon: Approximately 40-125 days under ideal conditions.
· Time to sexual maturity: Approximately 55-85 days under ideal conditions.

I think they will do good at 73 degrees.It will have a lot to do with the offspring.It seems that when they are born into your environment,they handle heat better.My original pound took a beating,but left cocoons.During the winter,they should multiply!
That is also why heat gets to them easier.More wetness holds in the heat.Euros like it cool!

Stephen, I have the Christmas lights over a 14 gal. tote with ~3/4 lbs. Euros. The lights are piled on a piece of plastic with a 1/4" grid. I have it set on a timer to turn on in the evening. During the daytime there's enough ambient light to keep worms under. This "lid of lights" spans about half of the top opening, so there's plenty of ventilation. I don't get any condensation.

If you want to try it with the lid, take a look at this worm bin modification. You could insert 10-20 of the Christmas bulbs instead of a single night light. Of course with a lid you will probably get condensation and some worms may wander in any case. But it seems to me that 99.5% of my Euros are very sensitive to light and duck back under even with very dim light. Of course there are still a few that seem bent on suicide.

Hi Stephen,
Thanks for reaching out. I've been a vermicomposter for a few years now. I actually started my own business and sell The Worm Factory, red wigglers and compost at Farmer's Markets in MA and RI. My website is www.urbanwormcomposting.com.

Keep them cool & moist with plenty of bedding and some food. They'll start producing cocoons soon enough. Here's Larry's Euro experiment. I couldn't find his update, but he had lots of cocoons once the weather cooled down in Florida.

Canadian nightcrawlers are not good worms.They are deep burrowers.They are actually harvested at night on the ground and sold.That is why they are called dew worms.The dew on the ground when they come out!
Not sure of your worm dept. question?

EF's will be toward the surface eating.Euros will be towards the bottom.My PE eat all the way on top.So the bedding gets processed with the food faster,because they are eating at all levels at the same time.Not just in one area!

The adults will have a bulging clitella(the band you see at the head).But they can lay cocoons any time,once they are adults.They don't have to mate every single time.So even if you only have one of them in a container,they could lay a fertile cocoon.I have yet to catch one in the act of laying a cocoon.But when my numbers increase,Who knows? They will often lay their cocoons in a small area.So sometimes you will think there are no cocoons,but you are looking in the wrong area!