6 Fundamental Requirements
- Moisture - Damp like a wrung out sponge, but not dripping wet. Worms breath through their skin so it is critical that they are kept moist.
- Oxygen/Air Flow - Air flow is critical to a no smell environment. Worms breath through their skin so they need oxygen to breath as well.
- Temperature - Optimum temperature is between 60-80F (16-27C). Any colder or hotter and the worms metabolism slows down. They live in the top 6-12" of soil so they will freeze in the winter and dry out in the summer.
- Darkness - Worms skin is very sensative to light and they like it dark.
- Habitant/Bedding - like a ratio of 20 parts carbon (newspaper,cardboard,etc) to 1 part nitrogen (food scraps).
- Food - See Feeding/Caring for worms page.
- Peace and Quiet - Worms do not like to be disturbed and are very sensitive to vibration noise. When they sense motion they get scared and head downward to try and escape.