I need one of those! I have a light but it's a regular incandescent. I have it on a drop cord. Where did you get your red bulb? Their nocturnal habits are fascinating! Healthy worms in my bins shimmer like fire opals. They are the earth workers, and dirt builders. They also look good doing it. I'm a worm nerd too ;).

It was at the big box home improvement store - not the orange one, the blue one. Finally colored LED bulbs are becoming more widely available:

http://www.feit.com/led-lamps/performance/Performance_LED/Performance_LED/Color_LEDs/Color_LED/a19-r-led

Annals of worm-nerdery: this time-lapse video was made by a past member of this board.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BZWjRGEGZY

I discovered that you can control the playback speed of a YouTube video, which is helpful because this time-lapse moves very quickly.

When..you check this message board 5 times a day knowing that the average posts per day is about 1. Cool idea on the red light though, why did you plant that seed in my brain? Ugh, must add to list of items to find cheap lol

...Your family and friends ask, "How are your worms doing?"

...you've gotten along just fine in the couple years since your last blender broke, but you're suddenly rationalizing the need to buy a new one so you can process worm food

Parsley, I've seen blenders and juicers at the thrift stores in my area. Shouldn't cost more than five bucks ;)

Yardsale = food processor & blender gold mines. People don't like the old looking ones and likely never used them much anyways. My food processor cost $1 lol

On the note of spending more time preparing worm than people food, also...trying to reduce the amount of human food in the freezer so you can fit more worm food (hey that ice cream was like pretty old, no one was going to eat it anyways)

....then adding small chest freezer to items I need to find for cheap list

I use my phone screen as a red flashlight to observe my shy African nightcrawlers. I downloaded a pure red image from the web for that purpose. I Its practically invisible to them. Sometimes I use orange; it bothers them less than white light and improves visibility dramatically.

Now that's a genius idea. And certainly cheaper than a red lightbulb.

https://twitter.com/Araphrase/status/748217783960342528/photo/1

Annals of worm nerdery:

A field guide to British worms. I don't know how well it tracks to North American worms, but we probably have all these same species, since so many of our garden worms are imports.

https://www.opalexplorenature.org/earthwormguide

The common names are clearly different from many of the common names we use in America. They are calling E. fetida a "brandling worm" and another one called E. veneta a "compost worm." And Lumbricus terrestris is called a "lob worm."

I'm no good at identifying worms in the field, but in my tiny patio garden, I've dug up several worms that I think are gray worms. I haven't seen any red wiggler-sized worms, and the gray worms seem awfully fat and sluggish compared to the lean, wiggly wigglers in my bin. I may have once seen a nightcrawler-sized worm, but it was busy being horribly pecked to death by a robin on the patio at the time, so I had to avert my eyes and could not make a good I.D.

More backyard natural history:

Today we had a pretty good rainstorm. Afterward I was outside in my tiny garden poking at my tiny "compost pile," which hardly deserves the name, but it's where I've dumped garden trimmings and overflow food waste while I'm waiting for my indoor bin population to ramp up. All kinds of interesting creatures in there, including some huge worms, but then I saw this really long worm that RACED out of there when I uncovered it, and disappeared under the fence. Sometimes worms can move surprisingly fast, but this was extremely fast and not quite the way a worm moves. I realized I must have seen a little snake. But it looked just like a worm and was pinkish colored. I believe I saw a worm snake!

http://www.wildherps.com/species/C.amoenus.html

Apparently, they eat worms. Everything eats worms.

Restock your pile some and take a camera in a week or so.

Also, thank you all for your contributions they gave me a smile.

I caught one! And I kept it inside for a few days as a loaner pet. It isn't a worm snake, it's a Northern brown snake, which is a very urban snake. This one is a juvenile, which doesn't have hardly any markings, but I've also seen a somewhat bigger one in the pile that did have markings. Brown snakes eat worms, along with slugs and snails and maybe some grubs. I heartlessly tried to feed it some small worms from my bin, but it didn't seem interested. They are shy snakes and mostly like to hide. I let it go since it didn't seem to like living in a box, but I hope it hangs around my garden.

Worms are happy slaves who lack suitable masters. They desire to be our garbage "guys". Many fear them as snakes of a kind... They are why the simple and perpetual addition of hay mulch can solve the gardener's total needs, since this draws worms which both plow and fertilize.

Hay mulch. Sounds like Ruth Stout.

Her no-work gardening book is pretty awesome : )

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-37861928

An earthworm named Dave has wriggled into the record books as the largest ever found in the UK - measuring a whopping 40cm (15.7in).

Experts at the Natural History Museum bestowed the accolade upon the annelid after it ventured above ground in a vegetable plot in Widnes, Cheshire.

The Lumbricus terrestris was studied at the museum before being euthanised in "the sad bit of science".

It is now in a jar and will be "around for ever more", the museum said.

The 26g (1oz) worm was found by Paul Rees and given the moniker Dave by his stepson George.

Have trouble keeping my eyes on the road because of all the fallen leaves around. Keep scaring the kids by threatening to stop at random yards and parks to to rake up some leaves. They think I'm nuts!!

They're not just leaves any more, they're food for my herd of microscopic compost critters.....not to mention the worms!

Harry

I covet leaves too! And I have to get them from the street trees, since there are no trees out back where my garden is. Nobody looks twice at me out in the street in front of my building sweeping up leaves, but under my breath I'm singing "Feed the worms...tuppence a bag..." One of these days I'm going to sing it out loud and gain a new status in the neighborhood as the Crazy Worm Lady.

What I have is an old tote with extra holes in the bottom and sides and set in my garden in a semi shady location. I started with a few worms I found in my garden here and there and now it is full of worms, I saw piles of babies yesterday. I find my self selecting the best and most loved scraps to put in there for "my" worms. Yeah, I'll probably be buying that red light bulb any day now...

Wow rhoder.....you really are pulling out all the stops aren't you? ; )

For me, feeding my worms our leftover/aged fruits&veggies has certainly alleviated any of the guilty feelings I used to have years ago when dumping the same kind of stuff directly into the trash bin.

Another thing .......sometimes it feels like I spend more time dicing up leftover scraps for my worms than actually cooking meals for my family.

Here's a question for you......do we "worm nerds" really go through all this effort to keep our scraps out of the landfills or do we just love to feed our "pets"? For me I think it's more the latter!

Harry

I agree with Harry. About a year ago I bought a juicer (and not just ANY juicer, $$$) more for getting pulp than juice. And by getting healthier, I'll get to look after them longer.

You build a hot compost pile knowing that when it is finished and cools down the worms will move in and finish it off with more castings.

In honor of World Soil Day, here's Sir David Attenborough narrating some WORM PORN:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFpblBf1dfE

I'm not saying the Brits are eccentric, but...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2Ae-IyDsH8

Ya, just a bit! ...... But had a look at many of his other videos and thought they were really well done. Lots of great observations and experimentation with follow-up videos. Worth a look IMO.

Harry

P.S Merry Christmas!!!

You know you're a hopeless worm nerd when...all your house guests, dinner guests, etc. know your reputation as a crazy worm nerd and demand to troop down to the basement to see the worms.

I'm sure the worms don't like having their house opened up so many times for tours; on the other hand, the holiday season has meant the worm-herder has done a LOT of cooking and has generated so many food scraps that the worms are eating like kings.

We must be worm nerds too. We take them when we crank up the RV and travel.

Worm nerd alert! Another time lapse video of worms at work at the soil surface, along with lots of their friends:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECh52Nt8WXc

I found I could see what was happening a lot better if I slowed down the video to half speed (in the settings under the gear at the lower right of the video screen).

At about 1:30 it switches to a closer up view where you can see some worms better - you can really see the difference between the smaller worms that go back and forth horizontally in the leaf litter just at or above the soil surface, and the larger burrowing worm at the center that comes up to drag the leaves down into the soil.

A lot of the worms in this video look strangely pale/translucent but I think that is the result of the lighting used to capture the photos.

You know you're a hopeless worm nerd when...you're raking your garden and you discover a new species of worm you haven't seen there before, and you get SUPER EXCITED. No, I don't know what species it was, but it was definitely different from the ones I usually see: 1) slow-moving, short grayish ones that hang out near the soil surface 2) red wiggler stowaways from my vermicompost 3) big long red nightcrawler type of which I only glimpse the top bit now and again, poking up from a deep burrow. This new guy was an extra-long worm, at least twice as long and a bit more slender than the typical grey worm I get, somewhat yellow/beige in color, and VERY wiggly and active. I doubt we have Alabama jumpers here in Philadelphia, but it was a lively one regardless.

And then - discovering a brand-new article on the ecological importance of worms. Yeah worms!

Earthworms are more important than pandas (if you want to save the planet)

https://theconversation.com/earthworms-are-more-important-than-pandas-if-you-want-to-save-the-planet-74010?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=twitterbutton

Hopeless worm nerd personal milestone: first batch of worms given away* to a neighbor who is beginning a worm bin. Actually two batches, since the neighbor also has a friend who wants to vermicompost.

Yes, it was just a year ago that I was on here whining about how my worms were slow to get started, and now I have more than enough to share. I saw a request on our neighborhood Facebook group and of course I had to answer the call. Someday I shall populate worm bins all over Philly with my livestock. Just call me Parsley Wormyseed.

I made up two 2 lb. yogurt containers, each with just over a pound of worms + bedding + some rather wet finished vermicompost, so I'm not too sure of the total worm weight per container but hopefully it was at least 3/4 lb, which would be about 750 worms if they were all adults, which they weren't, it was an all-ages mix. I think it's likely that worms in a new bin will get a better start if they come fully hydrated in a blob of bedding and finished VC, which will bring along a good population of microorganisms at the start, rather than the dry, angry worms you get when you mail order.

I also directed my neighbor to these boards, just to solidify my local reputation as the Crazy Worm Lady.

* not the first worms I've ever given away, as I had to give them ALL away years ago back in California, ending my first worm-herding stint. Not the worst of my life losses, but I missed them.

Here is a new addition to the Worm Nerd Film Festival: a comparison of "bioturbation" (basically, natural soil mixing) with and without "soil fauna" - earthworms, potworms, etc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mxp1nnrUG0Q

Also check out the other soil life videos made by this same creator, some of which I've linked above.

I am still so new to this, but definite worm "nerdery" is in full effect. My friends ask how the "worming" is going, my parents save cardboard, banana peels and newspapers for me...

Something so fascinating about the work these worms can do!

Now I want a red light!

What is it with my 30's starting off with all sorts of weird hobbies and very responsible living?

Definitely a worm nerd. Just got in 750 European night crawlers. Put them in the bin I have had sitting for five days and they started to disperse in the coir, shredded paper, cardboard bedding. I am taking it as a good sign they are not trying to escape. :-) Can't wait to see how they do over the next six months.

When you are just composting for two months... Are so enthousiastic that you want one at your work too... so you apped your boss while she is on vacation for permission... didn't wait for permission to order about a kg of worms already and hope you can sneak it into your normal pile of bills for stuff the company actually needs...

So that if your boss is not that enthousiastic about investing money in it, you can just say you donated a handful of worms from your own bin, and that they bred like crazy while she was away...

Always happy to see a new time-lapse video from the "Micropolitan Museum" YouTube channel, and this one shows a worm bin scenario!

"Two weeks in a typical vermicompost bin: two compost earthworm species (Eisenia fetida and Dendrobaena veneta) in a base of aged vermicompost with plenty of fresh organic kitchen waste (used coffee grounds, carrot and potato peels, celery and carrot leaves, egg shells, etc.) on top. Other fauna (mostly potworms, springtails and mites) arrived spontaneously in the compost bin through addition of garden waste."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6em_8iFfKIk

Of course the food stock being layered on the top is for demonstration purposes only, but it's interesting to see how completely it gets demolished by the end

That is awesome!

You get madder at the USPS delaying your new worm delivery for 3 days than you do at a new job delaying a first pay check for a week or 2.

Your boss knows in detail why you're mad as a wet cat, and talks worms with you over smoke break.

You see a place in the garden for all pests, weeds, everything... except land planarians. Worm-eating imposter monsters can go drown in a bucket of soaped salt water, because there's no convenient volcano to throw them into.

You shred a couple cardboard boxes and stuff them into the bottom of your new CFT, to absorb the cup or two of leachate pooled there while the bin's moisture content is not yet stably balanced. You know you can afford to lose a few worms a day to wanderlust and drowning, but you'll sleep better knowing the explorers have a safe place to land and a meal when their adventures stray too far. You also find relief in thinking of fluffy, moist aerobic material sitting there, instead of dank anaerobic foulness.

You order large appliances and other large items like sofas and furniture (that you really don't need), from Amazon; just so you'll have enough cardboard for your bins. You buy food from the Supermarket according to your worm's preferences, rather than your own. You Name All your worms...at least once. Oh and, you don't buy a red light because you don't want to create a 'Red Light District'. Instead you buy a state-of-the-art Infrared, Night-vision Worm-Cam.

All my worms are named Lowly. After this guy:

Actually, it's Emily Leuba who's looking for the IF Cam.