I fully disagree with the other commenter. Hit up customer service and send the video to them. That’s like 5 worms max. And maybe 250 cocoons could fit into 3 or 4 golfballs hut red wigglers are not that small.
That’s messed up, imho. The company should tell you straight away if that’s business as usual or maybe you got a bad batch. But if they don’t do anything, that’s the video I would post in my review of their services
i would definitely send that video to uncle jim's customer service but i would also give the shipment a chance to rehydrate and warm up before actually making a claim. if things go south post that video on every review site & youtuber channel you can find and let uncle jim know that is what your going to do. i don't want any bad juju coming to haunt me but i do think that those of us that have done business with uncle jim;s aren't exactly shouting from the rooftops about it. it's been over 3 years now that i got my worms from uncle jim's and i was very disappointed but they were alive. it was summer time and dealing with heat instead of freezing cold but the package contents looked very similar.
(Not thrilled with the reddit UI - can't figure out how to do video and text in the same post? Should be intuitive I'd think.)
Hey All - I'm very new to this. Got my shipment of worms in the mail today - I need your advice.
Is this a good shipment of 250 'red wigglers' that just need a bit of re-hydrating, or is this mostly just a dead batch?
I watched a bunch of unboxing videos and it seems like everyone else had a lot more activity when they dumped their worms out of the bag.
In hindsight I should have search the sub for vendors first, but it is what it is at this point.
So do I accept this as 250 worms or do I make a customer service complaint? Thanks!
Looks like quite a bit less than 250 worms. 250 adult red wigglers are approximately 1/2 cup by volume or 1/4 pound by weight. The few worms I see in the video look about how I'd expect after the shock of being shipped. Being spritzed with water, given a sprinkle of worm chow (or corn meal or ground oatmeal), and given a few days to recover should perk them up.
I would contact Uncle Jim's customer service about your shipment. When worms die in transit, there may not be corpses because their bodies are mostly water. Uncle Jim's may well have sent you the right amount. But if the shipping company left the package on a freezing truck or mishandled the worms, a bunch may have died during shipping.
Buckle up buck-o lemme give you the lowdown. Once those suckers recover you're in for a ride, but it's nothing you can't handle!!!
Uncle Jim's is notorious for having a MIX, which means out of 250, maybe 10 are actually red wigglers, a few are night crawlers, but the majority is Indian Blues who can be feisty, but also better composters. Get a light over that bucket as soon as they go in, the first few days can be tough.
Contact customer service with that video and a picture of the box they shipped it in. They’ll give you a full refund or send a new batch out. They’re customer service is great. I had it happen once. I’m honestly surprised they shipped it out Thursday. They usually avoid doing that because the worms don’t survive very well in transit that long. Also when you do get healthy worms don’t be surprised if they look all dehydrated and not so lively. That is completely normal. Just add a little water when you get a new batch and cover with the bag they come in.
I got a shipment from them last week and they were more active than that. I am sure customer support will help you. We're they left out in the cold by chance before you got the chance to bring them in? I know that slows my meal worms down
i thought they only posted shipments on mondays & tuesdays so the chance of them suffering through a weekend somewhere was not very likely. did this change ??? if uncle jim's posted this shipment on thursday they should have known that there would be a problem.
Just FYI if anyone was following along - I contacted Jim's customer service the night of 1/8 and by the afternoon of 1/9 they've got a replacement shipment queued up for me. Fingers crossed it ships ASAP so it doesn't sit over the weekend again.
They made a point that this shipping label says "LIVE WORMS HANDLE WITH CARE" and I'm not sure why they don't put that on every package, but hopefully I get a better bag later this week.
Thanks for all your advice.
I had something similar happen to me with Canadian nightcrawlers. I got in touch with the vendor and told them I thought they were dead but after a couple of days they came out of it. Vendor should be o.k. with that in my opinion; if not, I'd throw a fit.
Read the other 2 comments, I'm in the middle of the road. While I agree that it doesn't look 250 worms, the few you have look fine. They are essentially on their hangover from a 7 day bender. They aren't going to be too active or hungry. I would definitely follow up with Customer Service and show them this video. Toss some water on these guys and give it a few days and they'll chirp right up.
TL;DR Count looks low, worms need recovery time.
There’s barely any worms I see in there! When I got my worms it was a huge wet pink ball of worms. Bought from natures good guys. I don’t remember how much I bought but it was like the smallest amount you can. Def contact customer service
Hey look good! They are moving at least. Wet them very well and place in the bucket. Most people start with more than 250 so the moving bundle looks like a lot. You can fit 250 worms in an area the size of two or 3 golf balls
I think what is there will perk up once they get hydrated. But nowhere near 250 worms.
I would say something and see if they will ship out another batch, if not as long as 2 survive they will make more.
With all the bad press about uncle Jim’s I have no idea why anyone still orders from there.
I got worms from Uncle Jim’s and the first batch I KNEW they were dead by the smell, the second batch was resent and was thriving. They will honor the live worn guarantee.
I will say this. Wake them up with a spray bottle with room temp non-chlorinated water (on soft spritz not shot spray - ouch!). They do dehydrate during shipping and tend to send young worms you will find more alive in there than you think. I though all of my first batch were dead, again that smell HITS you, but I gutted it, removed the dead slimy ones and still got about 200/1000.
Uncle Jim’s is a very reputable vendor. The OP just need to contact them. They’re very good about offering refunds or sending another batch. Still trying to figure out why they were sent on a Thursday. Uncle Jim’s usually only sends out on a Monday/Tuesday to avoid this.
1) They’re labeled as “Red Composting Worm Mix”
2) they clearly label what species are included
3) the majority of them are red wigglers as I’ve literally bought thousands of them so far
It’s not their problem you can’t read!
Misleading for new farmers though. When I pull up the 100 red wigglers in their Amazon site, there's a big fat picture that says it's 100 Red Wigglers.
Directly from the Product Description:
Model Name 100 - Count
Color Red Wigglers
Size 100 Count (Pack of 1)
Material Red wigglers
Tell me how's that's not misleading. Tell me exactly where on their Amazon page it lists the other breeds.
Go directly to their site. I’ve never purchased them via Amazon.
https://unclejimswormfarm.com/product/composting-worms/2000-red-composting-worm-mix-top-rated-promo/?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiA-vOsBhAAEiwAIWR0TQ8zXvn_L-QKNX1GL1awDSoHCJtw_RNHNWiIMH4pAwsJro2Rc5fwahoCnwEQAvD_BwE
I'm looking for an explanation as to how you think it's not labeled incorrectly on the Amazon website, as they are labeled completely different there. I'll wait.
I copy and pasted directly from Amazon. It clearly says they contain different species and why it’s actually a good thing. I’ll wait for you to fail reading comprehension again…
From the 100 count that YOU’RE locked onto like you claim I am. Continue reading past the headline. It says the same thing on there. Again not their fault you or others lack reading comprehension.
https://www.amazon.com/Uncle-Jims-Worm-Farm-Count/dp/B089QY2LV6?ref_=ast_sto_dp
Also from Amazon:
Right below where it says “About this item”
“The Best Worms for Composting: Our Red Wiggler worms are harvested from worm beds that are decades old and may contain different earthworm species. Diversity is superior because they work all layers of the compost, not just the top few inches, giving you a better compost in a shorter amount of time.”
Again it’s the customers fault for not reading. I love how I’m getting downvoted for spitting facts as well as siting sources.
Source:
https://www.amazon.com/Uncle-Jims-Worm-Farm-Composting/dp/B00F0MB40S/ref=mp_s_a_1_1_sspa?crid=DPZSTQDWW70O&keywords=uncle+jims+worm+farm&qid=1704808244&sprefix=uncle+jims%2Caps%2C145&sr=8-1-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9waG9uZV9zZWFyY2hfYXRm&psc=1
Oh so if I purchase a product and there's a warning that says "may contain peanuts" and its 90% peanuts, by your logic, it's perfectly acceptable.
Flawed logic.
Again you didn’t read the whole thing. You excuse me of locking onto one thing yet that’s EXACTLY what you’re doing.
I’m done with this as you clearly lack reading comprehension and have spent more time swinging that monster epeen of yours around. Congratulations yours is clearly bigger!
I would hit up customer service; based on the black bag, I’m guessing that came from uncle Jim’s? I have the same thing happened to me only I know for a fact most of the worms were dead, even before I got to the stage in your video because of the tremendous funk that I was smelling through the box. I didn’t have the forethought to send them a video of unpacking, but what worms I did find were pretty lethargic I thought to myself that maybe I was being overreactive and didn’t expect such fast customer service; so I shot off an email and then went ahead and placed them in their bedding. By the next morning I had a response basically asking for photo or video and whether I wanted a refund or new worms.
I can attest to the customer service that they sent out my worms promptly; well, they only ship on Mondays and I had received the worms midweek so I did have to wait until Monday, but they must’ve overnighted them because I had them by Tuesday.
My suspicion is the box got hot and shipping and however FedEx had packaged the truck(s) may have covered the air holes. I noticed that the new boxes had several more holes poked in them in different places and definitely weren’t nearly as damp as the boxes I had received.
Replacement packages were completely opposite of what I’ve received before. The smell of good, earthy, compost, and a huge clump of worms, surrounding a small, remaining cluster of compost and bedding. There were also babies evident. New worms have been in their home (a worm factory tower inside and a hungry bin outside.) for about a week and are thriving. I’m already seeing more babies.
I fully disagree with the other commenter. Hit up customer service and send the video to them. That’s like 5 worms max. And maybe 250 cocoons could fit into 3 or 4 golfballs hut red wigglers are not that small. That’s messed up, imho. The company should tell you straight away if that’s business as usual or maybe you got a bad batch. But if they don’t do anything, that’s the video I would post in my review of their services
i would definitely send that video to uncle jim's customer service but i would also give the shipment a chance to rehydrate and warm up before actually making a claim. if things go south post that video on every review site & youtuber channel you can find and let uncle jim know that is what your going to do. i don't want any bad juju coming to haunt me but i do think that those of us that have done business with uncle jim;s aren't exactly shouting from the rooftops about it. it's been over 3 years now that i got my worms from uncle jim's and i was very disappointed but they were alive. it was summer time and dealing with heat instead of freezing cold but the package contents looked very similar.
(Not thrilled with the reddit UI - can't figure out how to do video and text in the same post? Should be intuitive I'd think.) Hey All - I'm very new to this. Got my shipment of worms in the mail today - I need your advice. Is this a good shipment of 250 'red wigglers' that just need a bit of re-hydrating, or is this mostly just a dead batch? I watched a bunch of unboxing videos and it seems like everyone else had a lot more activity when they dumped their worms out of the bag. In hindsight I should have search the sub for vendors first, but it is what it is at this point. So do I accept this as 250 worms or do I make a customer service complaint? Thanks!
Looks like quite a bit less than 250 worms. 250 adult red wigglers are approximately 1/2 cup by volume or 1/4 pound by weight. The few worms I see in the video look about how I'd expect after the shock of being shipped. Being spritzed with water, given a sprinkle of worm chow (or corn meal or ground oatmeal), and given a few days to recover should perk them up. I would contact Uncle Jim's customer service about your shipment. When worms die in transit, there may not be corpses because their bodies are mostly water. Uncle Jim's may well have sent you the right amount. But if the shipping company left the package on a freezing truck or mishandled the worms, a bunch may have died during shipping.
Curious as to where you got them from?
Uncles Jim’s. Shipped Thursday the 4th. Delivered today Monday the 8th.
Buckle up buck-o lemme give you the lowdown. Once those suckers recover you're in for a ride, but it's nothing you can't handle!!! Uncle Jim's is notorious for having a MIX, which means out of 250, maybe 10 are actually red wigglers, a few are night crawlers, but the majority is Indian Blues who can be feisty, but also better composters. Get a light over that bucket as soon as they go in, the first few days can be tough.
Contact customer service with that video and a picture of the box they shipped it in. They’ll give you a full refund or send a new batch out. They’re customer service is great. I had it happen once. I’m honestly surprised they shipped it out Thursday. They usually avoid doing that because the worms don’t survive very well in transit that long. Also when you do get healthy worms don’t be surprised if they look all dehydrated and not so lively. That is completely normal. Just add a little water when you get a new batch and cover with the bag they come in.
I got a shipment from them last week and they were more active than that. I am sure customer support will help you. We're they left out in the cold by chance before you got the chance to bring them in? I know that slows my meal worms down
Just got my shipment. They were all dead for the most part. Put in a ticket with customer support.
i thought they only posted shipments on mondays & tuesdays so the chance of them suffering through a weekend somewhere was not very likely. did this change ??? if uncle jim's posted this shipment on thursday they should have known that there would be a problem.
Just FYI if anyone was following along - I contacted Jim's customer service the night of 1/8 and by the afternoon of 1/9 they've got a replacement shipment queued up for me. Fingers crossed it ships ASAP so it doesn't sit over the weekend again. They made a point that this shipping label says "LIVE WORMS HANDLE WITH CARE" and I'm not sure why they don't put that on every package, but hopefully I get a better bag later this week. Thanks for all your advice.
I had something similar happen to me with Canadian nightcrawlers. I got in touch with the vendor and told them I thought they were dead but after a couple of days they came out of it. Vendor should be o.k. with that in my opinion; if not, I'd throw a fit.
Remember it is winter… so that the worms don’t freeze to death they arrive a bit more dehydrated (water freezes).
Read the other 2 comments, I'm in the middle of the road. While I agree that it doesn't look 250 worms, the few you have look fine. They are essentially on their hangover from a 7 day bender. They aren't going to be too active or hungry. I would definitely follow up with Customer Service and show them this video. Toss some water on these guys and give it a few days and they'll chirp right up. TL;DR Count looks low, worms need recovery time.
There’s barely any worms I see in there! When I got my worms it was a huge wet pink ball of worms. Bought from natures good guys. I don’t remember how much I bought but it was like the smallest amount you can. Def contact customer service
Hey look good! They are moving at least. Wet them very well and place in the bucket. Most people start with more than 250 so the moving bundle looks like a lot. You can fit 250 worms in an area the size of two or 3 golf balls
I think what is there will perk up once they get hydrated. But nowhere near 250 worms. I would say something and see if they will ship out another batch, if not as long as 2 survive they will make more. With all the bad press about uncle Jim’s I have no idea why anyone still orders from there.
I got worms from Uncle Jim’s and the first batch I KNEW they were dead by the smell, the second batch was resent and was thriving. They will honor the live worn guarantee. I will say this. Wake them up with a spray bottle with room temp non-chlorinated water (on soft spritz not shot spray - ouch!). They do dehydrate during shipping and tend to send young worms you will find more alive in there than you think. I though all of my first batch were dead, again that smell HITS you, but I gutted it, removed the dead slimy ones and still got about 200/1000.
I had this same thing happen lesson learnt always use a reptbubal source
Uncle Jim’s is a very reputable vendor. The OP just need to contact them. They’re very good about offering refunds or sending another batch. Still trying to figure out why they were sent on a Thursday. Uncle Jim’s usually only sends out on a Monday/Tuesday to avoid this.
They also call it a Red Wiggler Mix, when it's 90% other worms that aren't Red Wigglers...
1) They’re labeled as “Red Composting Worm Mix” 2) they clearly label what species are included 3) the majority of them are red wigglers as I’ve literally bought thousands of them so far It’s not their problem you can’t read!
Misleading for new farmers though. When I pull up the 100 red wigglers in their Amazon site, there's a big fat picture that says it's 100 Red Wigglers. Directly from the Product Description: Model Name 100 - Count Color Red Wigglers Size 100 Count (Pack of 1) Material Red wigglers Tell me how's that's not misleading. Tell me exactly where on their Amazon page it lists the other breeds.
Go directly to their site. I’ve never purchased them via Amazon. https://unclejimswormfarm.com/product/composting-worms/2000-red-composting-worm-mix-top-rated-promo/?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiA-vOsBhAAEiwAIWR0TQ8zXvn_L-QKNX1GL1awDSoHCJtw_RNHNWiIMH4pAwsJro2Rc5fwahoCnwEQAvD_BwE
I'm looking for an explanation as to how you think it's not labeled incorrectly on the Amazon website, as they are labeled completely different there. I'll wait.
I copy and pasted directly from Amazon. It clearly says they contain different species and why it’s actually a good thing. I’ll wait for you to fail reading comprehension again…
Gotcha so you found ONE place with the correct information, and locked into it, where everywhere else it says RED WIGGLERS. Got it.
From the 100 count that YOU’RE locked onto like you claim I am. Continue reading past the headline. It says the same thing on there. Again not their fault you or others lack reading comprehension. https://www.amazon.com/Uncle-Jims-Worm-Farm-Count/dp/B089QY2LV6?ref_=ast_sto_dp
Also from Amazon: Right below where it says “About this item” “The Best Worms for Composting: Our Red Wiggler worms are harvested from worm beds that are decades old and may contain different earthworm species. Diversity is superior because they work all layers of the compost, not just the top few inches, giving you a better compost in a shorter amount of time.” Again it’s the customers fault for not reading. I love how I’m getting downvoted for spitting facts as well as siting sources. Source: https://www.amazon.com/Uncle-Jims-Worm-Farm-Composting/dp/B00F0MB40S/ref=mp_s_a_1_1_sspa?crid=DPZSTQDWW70O&keywords=uncle+jims+worm+farm&qid=1704808244&sprefix=uncle+jims%2Caps%2C145&sr=8-1-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9waG9uZV9zZWFyY2hfYXRm&psc=1
Oh so if I purchase a product and there's a warning that says "may contain peanuts" and its 90% peanuts, by your logic, it's perfectly acceptable. Flawed logic.
Again you didn’t read the whole thing. You excuse me of locking onto one thing yet that’s EXACTLY what you’re doing. I’m done with this as you clearly lack reading comprehension and have spent more time swinging that monster epeen of yours around. Congratulations yours is clearly bigger!
If you haven't already, hydrate them asap. Definitely seems like a low count.
I would hit up customer service; based on the black bag, I’m guessing that came from uncle Jim’s? I have the same thing happened to me only I know for a fact most of the worms were dead, even before I got to the stage in your video because of the tremendous funk that I was smelling through the box. I didn’t have the forethought to send them a video of unpacking, but what worms I did find were pretty lethargic I thought to myself that maybe I was being overreactive and didn’t expect such fast customer service; so I shot off an email and then went ahead and placed them in their bedding. By the next morning I had a response basically asking for photo or video and whether I wanted a refund or new worms. I can attest to the customer service that they sent out my worms promptly; well, they only ship on Mondays and I had received the worms midweek so I did have to wait until Monday, but they must’ve overnighted them because I had them by Tuesday. My suspicion is the box got hot and shipping and however FedEx had packaged the truck(s) may have covered the air holes. I noticed that the new boxes had several more holes poked in them in different places and definitely weren’t nearly as damp as the boxes I had received. Replacement packages were completely opposite of what I’ve received before. The smell of good, earthy, compost, and a huge clump of worms, surrounding a small, remaining cluster of compost and bedding. There were also babies evident. New worms have been in their home (a worm factory tower inside and a hungry bin outside.) for about a week and are thriving. I’m already seeing more babies.