I’ve also had mites in my bin and used Diatomaceous Earth sprinkled on top of my bin with no harm to my worms.

You could try to use Use Diatomaceous Earth it’s made for ants and other critters.
-Diatomaceous earth is a fine powder made from fossilized algae that’s safe for worms but lethal to ants. Sprinkle it around the outside of the worm bin. Be cautious not to let the diatomaceous earth get into the bin, as it could harm the worms if inhaled. Let me know how that works for you. Also how are you feeding? Is it an outside or indoor worm bin?

I already know your stress with buying bait. I started growing worms because I fish, so what I done to save money was went to Walmart or your closest bait shop, and bought 4 containers. I got 2 containers of red wigglers and 2 of the European nightcrawlers and started a bin with around 120 worms in 6 months of feeding organic food scraps from fruit to vegetables they doubled in size. That same worm bin today has well over 2,000 worms I feed them once every week and they keep breeding and producing worm castings for my garden and to fish with. Check out my post on feeding a worm bin and also if you don’t want to take the slow route I bought my last set of worms from Meme’s worms. I got 1 LB(1,000) of red wigglers and plan to buy 1LB(1,000) of European nightcrawlers just for fishing, because I have 2 bins.

Hey Peter! Question, did you by chance put worms in your bin from outside? Reason I asked is because, I was doing some research here in Alabama where I live on the Alabama jumping worms. They say that worm is invasive and will eat your other worm species as well as cause issues in your garden. If you didn’t get back to me so we can figure this out together!