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What's going on with my COW?

giboosi_alttara

16 years ago

Ok,so things seemed to be going along just fine, COW is a month old. Was having no leachate, worms seemed happy, etc. Added a bit more food about a week ago, and a few days later I found quite a few dead and bizarre looking worms (skinny ends) and starting a few days after that a lot of leachate coming out.

I wouldn't call it mass casualties, but still rather a bunch of dead worms.

I added a bunch of brown paper in pockets, and am still having lots of leachate. The paper is softened but not wet by any means.

Still have a bunch of worms, and lots and lots of babies and a good number of coccoons. Recovery seems imminent, but I'm puzzled. It wasn't a lot of food that I added (some veggie scraps, some stale bread). Could the increase in outside temperature have affected them? They are by a door with a screen that I leave open, and the COW gets some sun through the glass door in the morning.

I'm afraid to feed them again!

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Comments (4)

squeeze
16 years ago
remember that most food waste is up to 80% water, more than a handful should have some drier material added at the same time, and yes, ambient humidity will have an effect .... moisture can build up, especially if the feed is more than the worms can keep up with - also I think most have leachate w/ that system

Bill
wfike
16 years ago
Direct sun through a window on a plastic box can build up a lot of heat in a hurry. You might ought to put something between it and the sun to stop the heat buildup. Check it with a thermometer to verify.
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giboosi_alttara
Original Author
16 years ago
I think it has to be the sun, even though it's only in the early morning for a brief time. Unfortunately most of my adult population has declined. I've moved the COW out of the area, so they will get no sun at all, and hope it recovers. There are still a lot of babies, and I haven't fed it in a long time, other than cardboard to absorb moisture, as it is consistantly too wet. (Now I wonder if the moisture is due to the dying older worms!)

It has also been very humid here, with massive storms last week pretty much shutting the town down due to trees and power lines down. We were without power for several days, and it was when I checked after the power came back that I realized how much my adult population has dwindled.

I'm sad!!!
giboosi_alttara
Original Author
16 years ago
Crap. It just occurred to me what might have gone wrong. I put in about a cup of edamame shells, which are salted.

Is this the likely culprit? And, since their are still babies in there, can I assume there will be an eventual recovery, or should I flsuh the bin thoroughly and start from scratch?

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