I have been digging worms here. Will there be a problem mixing the red wiggler worms with them?
Is any type of shredded paper ok? Everyone says shredded newspaper and never mentions shredded paper such as what would come out of an office shredder.
Thanks for your patience. Joyce
Joyce, earthworms you are digging up in your yard live in the soil. The red wigglers will not survive in soil as they are strictly a composting worm, eating decaying organic products. In short, yes either let the earthworms go or try placing some decomposed material if you have some, leaves, shredded paper, cardboard… in a pile and let them go.
As for the type of paper to use for your red wigglers I highly recommend you stick to shredded newspaper, brown, non waxed cardboard…
I tried using some office paper which I had shredded and placed on one side of a worm bin. The worms did not care for it and actually stayed away from it. My guess is that it was probably bleached paper, which much of your white paper is in order to get the brilliant white color. Bleach and worms do not mix!
If you wish to test some paper, you can always place a little in a corner of your bin to see how the worms will react. In fact I do this with new foods and grain mixes I come up with prior to utilizing throughout our bins.
I will be shipping your worms out Monday, July 13, 2009… Thanks for the order and let us know how you make out 
Bruce
P.S. Check out our all new Red Worm Online Store!
Thanks for the tidbit on the shredded paper. I have been mixing newspaper with the white paper. Now I will have to go through my bedding and try to remove the paper. I noticed in my red wiggler bin that there is a lot of shredded paper still but the yard leaves I put in there have almost been completely composted. I took your advise and bought a garden claw to breakup the soil. This is how I noticed what was composted and what was not.
Also, you were right about using the cinnamon in the bin. I lost all my mature red wigglers except for a lot of babies.
By the way, I wonder if I should change out the bedding completely before I get the 2lbs of wigglers I ordered from you.
Chuck in Oklahoma
Chuck,
If you have the time and used cinnamon I would change the bedding as a precaution.
The leaves can decompose faster than the paper and might have been favored by the worms over the paper too.
Bruce