What is the best bedding for red wigglers?

We have a decade of combined experience in raising red wigglers. We have experimented with many different bedding and bedding mixtures to raise red wigglers. Everyone wants to know what the very best bedding is before they start raising their worms. We are here with the answer- drumroll please... the best bedding is actually a mix! This mixture is 60% mulched leaves and 40% percent aged horse manure. The horse manure needs to be composted and weathered by the rain- preferably a year old. Combine these two ingredients and make sure they finish releasing excess heat. Once this mixture cools off, congratulations, you now have the best bedding for your red wigglers. To maintain healthy bedding for worms, make sure you have both carbon and nitrogen-based bedding as substrate for the worms with the ratio leaning heavy on the carbon side to ensure that the mixture remains safe for your worms and balanced for your worm castings. What if you don't have access to mulched leaves? Not to worry- other things work as well. Here's some other beddings we have had success with:

Carbon Rich Beddings-

Shredded Black And White Newsprint.

Dried Pine Shavings(Commonly sold at tractor supply, etc as animal bedding).

Shredded Plain Brown Cardboard.

Rinsed Coconut Coir.

Please note using bleached paper, colored inks, and glossy papers and cardboard are unhealthy for your worms and kill them over time. Stick to plain papers and cardboards only, with black and white newspaper ink being the exception since they are soy based. 

Nitrogen Based Beddings-

Composted Horse and Cow Manures(a year or older, weathered by rain)

Black Kow Bagged Compost(immediately ready for use)

Composted Rabbit Manure(a year or older, weathered by rain).