It can be a bit of a surprise to pop open your Subpod, ready to give your worms their first meal, and discover that they’re gone! 

If this has happened to you, don’t panic. Even if your Subpod is installed directly into the ground, your worms won’t be very far away. There is often a simple explanation as to why your little friends decided to take a worm-cation - and a simple fix!

Here are the two most common reasons why your worms have vanished and how to bring them home.

Worms are curious little creatures with minds of their own. They may have been drawn out of the Subpod into the surrounding soil by something enticing. Do you have fresh manure in your soil? Compost worms love the microbial life that dwells in this natural fertilizer, and it may have tempted them out of the Subpod.

Sometimes your worms don’t like the bedding you’ve chosen. While shredded cardboard and paper are generally suitable bedding material, we recommend using coconut peat. Coconut peat absorbs moisture and stays damp more consistently, plus, your worms will happily munch on it if they get hungry.

It’s also possible that your bedding material is too wet. Worms like moist environments, but no one likes to swim in their sleep! To see if your bedding is ideally moistened, grab a handful of it and squeeze. If one or two droplets of water come out, you’ve got it right! If no water comes out, wet it down some more. If a little stream trickles down your hand, add more bedding material. Keep adjusting until you get it just right!

Let’s go fishing for worms! If you’ve adjusted your bedding material, or figured out that there’s manure in your soil, it’s easy to reel them in. Set the scrap bucket aside for now, and instead, add in just one single banana peel. The peel will attract microbial life and encourage your worms to come back to the Subpod.

Follow our advice and your worms should be home in a few days!