Whatever may have caused your last batch to be "lousy" was unlikely to have been bugs, big or small. Maybe too much water; maybe not enough....maybe too much of one component; maybe not enough.... Unless you're planning to be in a compost-making contest, I really wouldn't worry about your CP. Eventually, you'll have compost! And, unless the experts here correct me, even the "lousy" compost can be used in the garden, to the garden's great benefit. I used to question so much - how many browns did I need, did I need more greens, if so, what kind, were animals getting into the pile and etc etc etc. Now....there are several big piles sitting out there. One never got turned much, and it had FAR too many grass clippings in it. In fact, you could have called it my grass pile. Now? It's beautifully aged compost. Next to it is a smaller, nicely evolving pile that I tended to more conscientiously. It looks...well, suspiciously like the first pile! And next to that is my newest experiment -- I fill paper grocery bags with combos of shredded papers & other "browns" (like floor sweepings etc) and "greens," like the contents of our kitchen compost bucket. When filled, a bag is piled on top of or next to the bags already there in the pile. I stab holes in it and leave it alone....I'm expecting perfectly good compost in time. I don't worry about animals using my piles because it's impossible to do much about it. The fenced-in part of this property is visited by: birds, large and small (including vultures); rabbits; a groundhog; mice; squirrels; feral cats; and, at least once, a coyote. (Hmmm....one of these days, I really must repair the holes in the fence!) No way am I going to sift through my piles and remove any little offerings that may have been left. And I certainly never worry about insects. Do anything about bugs? An absolute impossibility. Besides, insects are an integral part of the great act of decomposition. Or they're not....regardless, I get compost piles...eventually. :)

Looks good. My wintersown rudbeckia from last fall is blooming today. It was overwintered in the hoophouse in a 5oz plastic cup. I rarely watered it and pretty much neglected it. It's the first rudbeckia bloom of the season. Sown 9/11/08, germinated within 2 weeks, planted out in February.

wfike, are you adding wood shavings to improve the texture of the casts or to help aerate the bedding? I've read, and surmise, that wood shavings take a long time to break down, so I'm assuming you aren't adding them as feedstock, am I figuring this correctly? I've also read, from several older vermi books (and the Vermiculture_FarmersManual), that horse manure by itself is not the best feed, but that cattle manure is good. Do you mix the 2 as feedstock and bedding? I guess what I'm trying to understand is whether you use horse manure as feedstock and feel it is an adequate feed by itself. I added soaked, torn corrugated cardboard to the horse manure because I'd read that it has excellent nutrition due to the high-protein glue that is used to hold the layers together. Another advantage that corrugated cb has is it's water absorbancy, so the 2 (horse manure and corrugated cb) mixed together make a good bedding and a good feedstock. But, you know, you can find all sorts of contradictions when comparing books, websites, and opinions...so I'm interested in what you find to be true, based on your experience. Cheryl, I have been freezing the food waste lately. It does seem to speed things up a bit, but there is still the issue of varying amounts of water being released, mold/fungus, and odors if you use too much or have strong smelling foods to vermicompost. I've found that as much as I want to keep food waste from the landfills, it's a lot of aggravation (too much water, mold, fruit flies, fungus gnats, march flies, houseflies, odors..etc), inconvenience (both of my freezers are half full of food waste for the worms, leaving only half for my own food), and guess-work involved in feeding food waste to the worms. Now, if I didn't have access to horse manure and corrugated cardboard, I would still use primarily food waste. But since I do have access to those materials, I much prefer using them. I have encountered very few issues/problems using horse manure and corrugated cb. So, I ease my conscious by reminding myself that these 2 items would have been dumped in a landfill somewhere, had I not taken them. I still plan on freezing some food waste to use as trench feedings in my raised beds. This practice has eliminated all issues/problems with using food waste because it is buried 4-6" under the soil, and I have many worms in my raised beds who process this food quickly (and thank me for the cold stuff when it's hot outside). The junk mail I use are advertisements for credit cards, various insurance, and a hodgepodge of solicitations. I just remove them from the envelope and tear into strips that could be used as bedding (I put them in the compost crate, so they will be partially composted by the time the worms get to it). I don't use glossy papers, not because they are bad for the worms, but because they take forever to break down and I don't like the look of them in the compost. The Vermiculture FarmersManual recommends shredding cardboard that has a waxed coating, so I assume wax is safe to use if shredded or had the wax seal broken in some other fashion . I've read that oils are not good for worms (I assume oil would smother them since they breath thru their skin), but I wouldn't think a small amount would be harmful. The boxes that you have should be fine. Most of the corrugated cardboard that I use has colored printing on it and I haven't noticed any problems with it (the majority of people say that most inks are soy based now). I also use shredded office paper in the indoor bin I just created, and to absorb water from the barrel bins outside when rain has been heavy, and that paper has been thru laser printers. I haven't seen any ill effects from any of the paper products I have used. Welcome to the thread, Cheryl. I look forward to reading about your experiences in the vermi-world.

I can't really help in identifying, but it probably would help to know why you want to identify them and for what purpose. My really short answer to your question, if they're living in wet compost that smells like manure, they're almost certainly compost worms and will turn out great compost - if that's what you're looking for, you're set. In terms of care and feeding, since you're in a hot environment, just keep it reasonably wet - by which I don't mean soaking, just damp - and ideally somewhat protected from the sun/heat. If it's a compost pile, should be fine as long as it's big enough and with access to ground for them to hide from the heat and kept moist. Add some cardboard or other 'bedding', likely pre-soaked, also as a buffer/safe space. Turn the pile infrequently. At any rate, sounds like you've created a great environment for them and they're multiplying. To me the manure smell means it might be a bit too wet, but then again, never argue with results.