You do need to be patient with the worms early on. They seem to take a couple of months to ramp up to proper feeding (the bin needs to mature enough to transform the food waste into what the worms actually eat.) See the worms don't actually eat your food scraps, they eat the microbes that are decomposing the food scraps. Paper bedding does have the tendency to become matted. That is one reason I like shredded or ripped up corrugated cardboard as bedding, it tends not to matt or ball up the same way. Fluffing the bedding up occasionally is fine. Make sure bedding is only as moist as a wrung out sponge. It is ok if the top layer of shredded paper drys out a bit so long as the bedding under stays moist. A large chunk of cardboard, newspaper, or paper bag layed over the top of the bedding is often done. good luck and be patient. Here is a link that might be useful: My bins

There really isn't any such thing as too old for the worms. Worms eat decomposing organic matter, and you can't have organic matter that is too old to decompose. However, if the food scraps smell like ammonia or sewerage, they have gone anaerobic, which can be harmful to the worms. The older the scraps are, the more likely that they have gone anaerobic. If they have liquefied, there is a good likelihood that they have gone anaerobic. What do they smell like? If you are afraid to find out, don't feed them to the worms.

Though I don't do it myself, I know people who've added worms to their regular compost bins, and the worms thrive. It probably works best in a "passive" system which you're ignoring more than tending and turning. These don't get as hot.

November 19, 2005 Week 15 I hope giving the worms the rotten strawberries wasn't a mistake. There's still a lot of bedding in there that isn't broken down, and aren't they supposed to use that as a Plan B food supply? I'd better check on them. No worms visible up here, they probably heard me coming, but there are clearly castings in this new bedding. They've been here. The rotten strawberries are gone, only seeds left and not many of those. I guess the worms haven't been overfed; they seem to have been hungry. Or maybe they just like strawberries. I prefer blueberries, but to each their own. The worms are looking healthier. Their colour is back to normal and they don't look so fat. But... something seems off. Jabba! Jabba, NOOOO! He's gone. Jabba's gone. There are only three worms in here. He can't have escaped; I take care not to let the worms wander while I check out the tub, and the air holes are way too small for his impressive girth. He must have died, broken down and been eaten. Why did Jabba die? What do I know? The others didn't murder him; they're detritivores, and they don't have knives, or guns, or teeth. There isn't enough population or money in there for them to have developed politics or unions yet. Jabba was huge, massive, one could even say overweight. The moisture and temperature of the bin have been kept within range. The worms have plenty of bedding that isn't broken down... hmmm. That bedding may still be intact, but the colour is awfully similar to the colour of their poop. The worms have been in there a hell of a long time with no bedding change or new feeding; I overfed the bin early and left it alone. They clearly prefer the new bedding and the "fresh" strawberries over what they already had. The worms got big, but they also got weird. Maybe... maybe the worms have done all they can with this old bedding. The system is close to being sealed, they don't have allies like isopods and stuff to shred things apart and ease processing. Maybe the stuff is so saturated with their leavings (toxic waste to them, same as everything else with its own excrement) that they can't eat or live in it anymore. Maybe Jabba was so big because he was bloated and sick. Okay big guy, I hear you. Your death won't have been in vain. Time to prepare something new for the survivors. Lizard unrelated, he just showed up while I was doing prep. Dig all that poisonous old bedding out, leaving just the new stuff. This is a good time to take inventory and see what I've got. Only three worms, but a little bit healthier, and one cocoon. No, make that four cocoons. I don't know whose they are, but I choose to believe they're all offspring of Jabba, knowing he had little time left and getting busy as possible. I'll take better care of your descendants, Jabba, your lineage won't end on my watch. New bedding will be a mix of egg carton cardboard, dry dead grass, and assorted shredded leaves and wood chips from a local tree trimmer's recent dump in my driveway. Wet it down with rain water, dump in a can of UCG for food, and a lot of ground egg shell for grit and pH buffering. Throw in the old bedding for microbial inoculation now that they finally got it balanced to stop stinking the place up. Mix it together, and... that's a lot of coffee grounds, this stuff is stained so dark it looks like it's already somewhat decayed. I'd better let it sit for a few days in case it heats up.