Oak Leaves, Compost and WORMS!

I spent the day at my mom's house yesterday.  She has huge oak trees, and I'm in the market for organic matter to add to my compost pile, so I took some trash bags and started filling them with the fallen leaves.  After scraping up the leaves on the side of her house I noticed the most beautiful, black compost underneath.  Years of shrubs combined with fallen leaves naturally created compost!  Knowing I want (and need) organic compost I started scooping it into the bag along with my newly collected leaves.  Two or three scoops in, I noticed the biggest, squirmy worms I've ever seen!  Of course I tossed as many as I could find into my compost and leave bin.  This morning I dumped the whole bag into my compost pile.  I hope the worms I got will help decompose the pile faster.  Eventually I would like to build (or buy) a worm bin, but am not confident I will be able to keep them alive.  You see, we tried worms in the past with not so good results.  My worms hated their new home and kept escaping.  I would find their dried up bodies all over the house.  It was like a worm murder scene.  I hope these beauties stay in the compost bin and reproduce.  :)