Leave a light on above them if possible, this will help keep them in the bedding until they settle down.

Are these African nightcrawlers?

That could be a normal reaction. Hopefully you didn't lose too many. You took away the bedding that they were accustomed to, so they went looking for their old home. You might want to leave the lid off and put a piece of wet cardboard on top of the new bedding. If you have a light on overhead, they shouldn't try to get out. You also could replace the lid with a window screen.(If you have vent holes that they can crawl out of, you might tape over those temporarily while the screen is on top.) With the cardboard in place, they can still come up underneath and be in the dark to eat on the surface. It may take them several days to get accustomed to the new bedding.

It's not too wet or heating is it? You might put some pumpkin puree on the top for them to eat. They may decide they want to stay after all.


Larry C

Thank you both (Mikel & Larry C) for the advice. (Mikel - they are red wigglers)
They seem to be settling down. I've been checking on them every two hours or so and there have been two or three rebels climbing the sides. I think I have the moisture level quite constant. I have the bin in the bath and the room temperature is pretty constant. We are going into summer now, but that room doesn't get direct sunlight - so I think that's ok. I haven't seen any springtails. I ground up some eggshells in my coffee grinder and mixed that into the bedding.
Thank you so much for your help.
I'm learning all sorts of interesting things on this website.

What did you use for bedding??? Maybe you needed to rinse the bedding first? Is it too wet?

Best not to feed or put compost in to begin with, just some damp newspaper on top. I personally like to use a mix of outside dirt, soaked peat moss and some wet shredded newspaper. Top with a blanket of wet newspaper. This seems to be a nice, neutral bedding that the worms take to quickly.

Definitely check your bedding! Maybe some dry newspaper on top will help, if it's too wet.

Best wishes!

-TH