Growing Worms
Each species of earthworm has different requirements, habits, and needs. People who raise worms must be aware of these idiosyncrasies taking advantage of the worms nature where possible and staying one step ahead of them when their more feral traits, are less compatible with cultivation.
Those who try and fail, (whether with home vermicomposting or commercial) to keep a healthy worm population, probably have not done there homework or perhaps they have trouble with the concept of "enclosed ecosystems". The cure for the first of these problems is to get some books on the subject, read them, and apply the gleaned knowledge. The second is a tad more complex as it requires a rudimentary understanding of 'ecology' and the life sustaining interaction between the various plants, animals, and inorganics.
When one domesticates an animal, which worms are, the welfare of that animal becomes the moral, (if not financial), responsibility of the perpetrator. To properly care for any such animal, particularly those with feral habits, one must provide conditions which will be conducive to the animals well being. To be able to provide such an environnment, in a restricted area with highly concentrated populations, (abnormal but useful) without detrimental impact on the animals, requires extensive knowledge of the animal being raised. This knowledge allows one to stay a step ahead of potential problems, or to avoid those problems entirely by producing and maintaining, for the animal, an environment with which it is compatible. The handler/user is the one who put the worms in the box, bin, or pit...so that person is responsible for their welfare. Fotunately, it isn't really all that complicated...
In other words ya gotta be smarter than the worms to successfully raise them. I think it is safe to say that just about anyone willing to invest the time in learning about the worm variety they intend to raise and putting forth reasonable effort and dilligence in their care, should find that their worm populations will do very well indeed! It really isn't that big a deal.
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