Maybe this board can develope a standard operating
procedure for worm package opening and additon to bin.
Maybe like for fish.
Open bag into empty dish pan.
Inspect worms.
Add some of intended bedding and food to dish pan.
Leave on light but cover bedding in bin.
Leave edges of bin in light.
Next day add more intended bedding and food.
Just like floating new fish in aquarium
and then adding a bit of the new water to the bag
a bit at a time.
Also quaranteen would see to be warented for standard procedure.

How many times have we heard depictureboy's story?
Let's give newbies something to work with.
And worm sellers a standard for their product
by having informed and aware customers.

Let's see what you actually got there depictureboy
and maybe give a polite call or e-mail to the seller.

As I said, I am awaiting a reply from the vendor. I already sent them a polite inquiry. I was hoping for maybe some pointers before I go home tonite and dump the whole bin in my wheelbarrow to search for them...

Not much anyone can really do it seems. There are well known shonky dealers who just keep on shafting people no matter how much bad publicity they get.

Apart from that, my view would be to get the new worms into their new home and let them settle rather than put them through a quarantining program. But that assumes that you are starting with a reasonable quality/quantity of worms supplied.

Thanks, I hope to get this settled with the supplier. If not I am glad I used a credit card.

"...I quickly opened the package and put the contents of the bag (1 lb ENC) into my prepared bin. I then went over and turned on the garage lights and started checking out my bin, but I didnt see any worms."

It sounds like you did check almost immediately. A pound of worms is a pretty big gob. Most worms straight out of a shipping box are lethargic. They don't go straight into the bedding. I recently harvested 3/8 lbs. of Ef's and then dumped the gob into a new bin. It took minutes for the lively reds to disappear into the bedding. I'm not sure it's possible (no matter how dark your garage) to miss a pound of worms.

I'm assuming the new bin you prepared contained mostly bedding (shredded paper, cardboard, etc.). It should be fairly easy to make a pile, shine a light over it and wait for the worms to burrow to the bottom.

I've read stories of bad worm buying experiences, but never something quite like this. Hope you get things sorted out.

Andrew

Here is a link that might be useful: worms by the gob

what company did you use?

I want to give them a fair chance to rectify the situation. Once I feel its been taken care of either for the negative or positive I will say who it is. I am not here trying to bash any particular company. I was just hoping for experienced wormers tips on what I should be looking for in regards to the worms...I think plumiebear has answered most effectively...there certainly wasnt a ball of worms, just dirt.

http://www.redwormcomposting.com/videos/red-worms-by-the-gob/

FYI,
steamyb

Hmmm, How much did they charge you for the pound of white mites?
I bet I could send you some for much less...

Sorry you are not getting started with your worms right away! Please let us know what the supplier says, and when or if, they reply.

Thanks steamyb...that is DEFINATELY NOT what I received...

I went through the compost bin when I go home. I took out all the shredded paper and cardboard and put it in a 5 gallon pail...checking it carefully for worms as I went. Nothing there. Then I started digging through the composted manure I had put in the bottom of the bin....nothing there either...I went all the way down to the newspaper layer I had put on the bottom...no dice. It did give me a chance to put bricks in my catch bucket to help keep my worm bin out of the collected tea...

Find someone local to you and go pick them up. That's what I did, and now I have a worm dealer I can promote.
http://www.peanc.org/content/worms-pets
Composting worms are available at:
http://www.findworms.com/
http://www.cityfarmer.org/wormsupl79.html
http://vermicomposters.ning.com/forum/topics/worm-suppliers
http://www.bae.ncsu.edu/topic/vermicomposting/vermiculture/resource.html
Wurmz iz e-z!

A pound of worms should look like a pound of hamburger.

You can quote me on that.

If my hamburger moves, I'm having a flashback.

well the vendor agreed to refund my money. But it hasnt hit my card yet. I sent another email last nite to him about it. If I dont have it in a week i guess ill call the CC company and dispute the charge. I thought with the rapid offer of a refund this was going to be easy...heh.

I wouldn't wait to call your CC company. Refunds usually show up on my online accounts pretty quickly. Any business with the gall to ship a pile of bedding does not deserve much leeway. Please be sure to mention the vendor name here when the process is over.

Andrew

Well I promised I would post a followup. The company finally responded to all my emails and I did get a refund on the 3rd of Sept. Its a shame I had such trouble because the company seems to have one of the nicer more professional websites(from a developers perspective).

The company was Vermitechnology Unlimited out of Florida. Would I shop there again? No. But I would say that he did try and make things right.

Glad to hear you got your money back. I checked out their website and admit they certainly do seem well-established. I would have been comfortable ordering from them based on the info on their site.

Did they offer any explanation on why you did not receive any worms? Is it possible they sent you their "Egg capsule material" instead? Here's their description:

"Most of the egg capsules are completely covered with the casting material and you do not realize there are egg capsules."

I believe this is true to some extent, but I'm pretty sure you should be able to spot quite a few cocoons in a batch of material that's supposed to contain a thousand of them. Maybe you should keep that material moist and warm for a while to see if worms start hatching out.

Andrew

Andrew,

It's very possible to miss cocoons, unless you know what you are looking for. Personally, I was shocked at exactly how small they are and how innocuous they look. If I didn't know what I was looking for, I would have never found it.

Good advice, regarding keeping it going, just to see what happens. It's hard to believe someone would send a batch of "worms" that contained NO worms.