Strange Issue with My Red Wigglers! - Ask Extension
Hello!
I’ve had my red wigglers for 2 1/2 years now and up until now they have multiplied and have grown beautifully.
Today I went to go feed one ...
Knowledgebase
Strange Issue with My Red Wigglers! #576826
Asked July 04, 2019, 12:42 PM EDT
Hello!
I’ve had my red wigglers for 2 1/2 years now and up until now they have multiplied and have grown beautifully.
Today I went to go feed one bin of worms and I noticed that there were 2 worms sitting on top of the soil and they looked very very strange. They just looked kinda lumpy and at the end of each other then there is like a ball formed shape, But I can’t tell if it’s their head or their tail where the ball shape is formed(see the last pic).
So I moved the smaller one and noticed that he was bleeding a little bit. And it kinda looks like a yellowish looking substance is oozing from him as well.
I started to dig through the bin a bit and noticed that there are little pieces of worm through out the bin.. like pieces of worm:(
Could somebody tell me what might cause something like this to happen?
I feed them different foods all the time, and the other day I dumped a vegetable smoothie that was starting to go bad and it was just today when I was digging trough the bin that I realized that the smoothie I dumped in here had like 4 whole lemons in it.
Could that be the reason that this is happening to my worms? I’m completely devastated!
What should I do from here?
Thank you for your time!
Multnomah County Oregon
Expert Response
Thank you for your question. Red wrigglers cannot tolerate acidic foods (and pine or fir needles) in their bedding. I suspect they were trying to ‘escape’ the lemons. I’d suggest you separate them from their castings, (which you can add to your garden) and start a new bin. If you need info in doing that, here’s an OSU article on the topic: https://catalog.extension.oregonstate.edu/sites/catalog/files/project/pdf/em9034.pdf
Good luck!