I got my worms! Now what?

"Worms, you're home!" 

Since you chose a pre-established ecosystem, you can place the contents of your Starter Colony in the worm bin setup of your choice. 

Air: 

Make sure that your worms have enough airflow. If you're using a bin or system with a lid, there should also be air holes.

Moisture: 

Worms breathe through their skin, so it's important to maintain an appropriate moisture level in your bin. While there is a little wiggle-room, classically we advise maintaining moisture at the level of a "wrung-out sponge." Mist with water* if too dry. Add a little more bedding if too wet. Worms like the extra-moist little crevices in the bottom of the bin, but if the bin gets too wet and soggy you may see increased mites or pests and (if it were REALLY wet) it could even threaten the worms. 

How Much and How Often to Feed: 

I recommend starting with 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup food scraps placed in a "trench" type row in your bin. This feeding pattern gathers your worms to "mingle" when they arrive to eat, and your worm population will slowly grow! Sprinkle with a little grit and cover food with pre-moistened bedding. Check back in 3-5 days and don't refeed until they've eaten most of it. As your herd grows, they'll eat more and faster! 

MOST IMPORTANT ADVICE for Beginners:

Do not overfeed your worms. Especially as your population of worms is small and growing, they can't eat food scraps very quickly. If uneaten food scraps or even moistened dry foods accumulate, your bin's pH can change quickly and can kill the worms. There was a quote going around the worm-farmer circles that goes something like, 

"Overfeeding your worms can make bad things happen fast.

Underfeeding your worms can make bad things happen slowly."

I have experienced this personally when I got my first set of red wigglers. You'll find the sweet spot and feedings can grow with your worm population. 

One More Note Regarding Water: 

 * = To preserve the microbially-rich environment your worms need, use dechlorinated water. This would include distilled/filtered/rain water, unsoftened well water, or allowing chlorinated tap water to sit for ~24 hours with lid off to allow chlorine to off-gas before use.

For Style-Points:

• Grinding food scraps will increase the surface area available to microbes, making meals into fast(er) food for your worms. 
• Consider microwaving and cooling any food scraps that contain seeds IF you're not jazzed about the idea of your castings sprouting 10,000 tomato seedlings in your cucumber bed. (Can you tell that this comes from personal experience?) 
• Worms will autoregulate their populations based on available food and space. If your bin starts getting pretty full, you can either divide into multiple bins or upgrade to a bigger bin.