Why did the presence of these creatures make you throw the bags away? Anything that composts vegetation does not look or smell that good for that matter. By the way, did you break the leaves up before you bagged them?

The worms were just doing their job, you should leave the leaves until they have broken down. This may take a couple of years. I would put your bags into a larger chicken wire enclosure on bare ground, to keep off animals and allow the worms to escape when they run out of food.

What did you spray them with?

Yea, I'd ask the same thing, what do you mean, you sprayed the bags?

The way to do it is more or less what you've done - pack the leaves into black bags, if they're dry and crispy, run some water over them from the hose, poke a few holes in the bottom, tie the tops and stand them out of sight somewhere, preferably on open ground - if they're on a patio or something, they tend to leak fluid which could stain the stones. I found it took two years before you'd got a baggy looking black bag with thick, black, rich soil like stuff in the bottom... not leafmould, but good rich compost.

I have to say, your description of yellowish orange, short fat 'worms' sounds much more like those large, orangy coloured slugs than worms.

Follyann=Folly and lots of it.