Totally agree with sbryce "I cannot imagine feeding worms anything that you have to pay for." That's why I can't bring myself to purchase coconut coir as beddings. I just started my very first bin in my life last Thur. and has done a lot of homework to figure what to do to decorate wormy's home. So far shredded paper/cardboard is the only thing that I use for bedding, along with the peat moss that came with my 1 lb worms. Any suggestion so I can skip coconut coir and substitute it for? p.s. I do have one bag of peat moss in my garage, but I think my bin is way too acidic/watery already, due to overfeeding. (You know, newbie's common mistake.)

eaglesgarden: unless you are going to keep them indoors, I'd skip the cocoons this year. They'll hatch in your outdoor bin, but they probably won't mature before the first freeze. Even if you take measures to insulate and feed your outdoor bin over the winter, I think starting with a pound of worms now will give you better results. There are reliable worm sellers offering worms for $32-35 per pound including shipping. One farm offers a half pound starter pack of bed run worms for $20 shipped, but I'm not familiar enough with them to know if they are reliable. Have you checked craigslist and freecycle for a local source? Do you know anyone who has an old compost pile or owns horses? The bottom of an old pile of manure is almost sure to have red wigglers. I'm not familiar with the worm farm you mention. I like that they ship the cocoons with a fair amount of vermicompost. Their list of advantages to starting with cocoons is reasonable. The drawback is time. Andrew

Mendopete, Awesome appreciate the trick. I'll never forget it. Thanks for not making me think I'm crazy.loll. I just ordered a pound of African night crawlers from bestbuyworms. So ill raise them inside any tips on indoor composting with African night crawlers

Here's one of a couple youtubes of a worm bin mass migration during or after a rain storm. My bins don't experience it because I leave the lids on... its more to keep evil things out than to keep the worms in. Christina... you're posting under two different accounts? as theparsely has said, you don't need to know the bin pH... only that if its quite different from the environment they came from it will take time for them to adjust and settle in. It is reported that composting worms can survive a wide range of pH... however I've never seen them in the wild in any low acidic environments (below 6.0) like in oak leaf litter or among pine needles... there must be a reason and I believe I know what it is. I do know that worms do excrete calcium carbonate that mixes with digest after the crop (at least that is what's reported in several places I've read in the literature on worm digestion) and so free calcium must be available in supply in their bedding. I know for soil with a reasonable cation balance (meaning plenty of calcium availability (60-80% of CEC, then Mg, Fe, K, Na in balance on the other exchange sites) will likely force a pH above 6.0, I thus surmise 6.0 to probably be the lower end of the worm's pH range. In any case, if you added eggshells (calcium carbonate) they all will quickly dissolve in a pH that's below that... so if you can still find eggshells that have been in the bin for awhile, your bin is likely nearer to a neutral pH (7.0) or higher (as calcium carbonate buffers precisely at a pH of 8.3) So as long as you continue to add eggshells your bin both the pH and calcium content (as the two are linked) should be just fine for the worms. I personally don't worry about the size of the mite population in the bin other than to use it as a way to gauge when the bin has become likely too wet and/or is becoming more acidic... however the worms should be able to co-exist along with the mites and you can expect the numbers will eventually tail-off as bin conditions improve. And again as theparsely said... just add some dry bedding and hold off on feeding (wet foods especially) until you're satisfied conditions have improved sufficiently. Good luck there.