So You Want to Start a Worm Bin, Part 1

There are basically two things you want to consider:

1. the type of worm bin you want which is based on where you'll keep your worms
2. where to get your worms
• We'll talk about where and how to get worms in the upcoming Part 2.

Before we get into worm bin details, worm requirements should be noted. Worms need to be warm to eat and poop at a decent clip.  If the worms are too hot, they'll lose all of their body moisture and die, leaving a pool of worm ooze. If too cold they'll freeze. If chilled, worms will simply eat less as they get sluggish. Optimum ambient temperature seems to be about 80-100°F, though temperatures down in the 40's won't kill them.

Living in southern CA and keeping my worms in my apartment, the temperature stays about the same all year long, though it is cooler and more damp during the winter.  I have yet to turn the apartment heater on (primarily because I don't know how to work the crazy contraption) and my worms have been fine, though they are slower to eat in the cooler months. And they live in the coldest corner of the apartment.

If you have a place outdoors where you can keep your bin insulated from extreme temperature changes, you can look into outdoor worm bins online.  The sites you come across will go into detail regarding insulation and the types of worm bins used outdoors. If I could, I'd have an outdoor worm bin.  Not because I don't care to have worms in my apartment, but because I'd make a BIG ONE!

As my experience is of the indoor variety, I'll focus on that from here on out.

The type of indoor worm bin you choose will essentially be based on aesthetics as no one worm bin is better than another, based on the assumptions I've made from what I've read.  If you'd prefer something shipped to your door, there are premanufactured worm bins available on-line ranging in price from $35-900 and some of those come with worms. Simply Google worms bins and you'll come across Can-O-Worms, Worm Factories, VermiHuts and so on, all of which are plastic.

If you want a pre-fab wooden worm bin, simply Google "wood worm bins".  Wood Worm Farms offers a variety of cute worm bins and even has a YouTube video on their site illustrating what you get for your money and how to set it up, though it looks quite small.

Many counties/cities in CA offer discount pricing of pre-fab worm bins if you prove you live in the area. Here's one site I came across when Googling "worm bins CA". You should check with your city to determine if you can get one at a discount.

Alternatively, you can make one at home of wood or plastic, which will cost less than $50, depending on how fancy you want to go. Here's an example of how to build a wood worm bin, complete with schematics.  Certainly, the measurements could be scaled accordingly.

I opted to go extremely cheap, making one from plastic 10-gallon Sterilite brand totes.  After all, I'd use it to keep worms that will eat my garbage and crank out poop.  I didn't, and don't need anything fancy, only something functional. With plastic, it would essentially last forever and the footprint would be fairly small.

So far, no visitor has been able to tell where my worms are.  My parents sat in my apartment no more than 2-4 feet from the three worm bins while chatting over coffee. Only until they inquired about the worms and I pointed at the bins did Mom express her sheer disgust at being in such close proximity to something so heinous.

That proves that worm bins do not smell and even plastic worm bins look like regular plastic containers, potentially holding things such as photographs of precious children.