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markusparkus
User

A Hatchling Earthworm

Posts: 23

what is it - 2006/05/04 13:01 Howdy all,
So I made myself a little worm bin (small desk drawer with holes drilled in it) and put in some bedding and then went worm hunting. I decided I'd just grab a handful out of the dirt rather than risk killing a whole pound of em. I'm keeping them out on the porch behind a cardboard sunblock. I live in Austin so it get's hot here.
So far so good. I got a good number(maybe 100)of worms out of the ground and after a few losses they seem to be settling in nicely.
So yesterday my wife says there are ants crawling over the cover of my little bin. I'd had ant trouble before and so put the bin up on stilts in some water. Seems that the soap in the water wore out and so the ants were able to cross the water and up into the bin.
I got out some tape and then began cleaning them out of the bin. Odd looking ants. They walk with their pointy butts kinda up in the air. Makes them look bent.
I can't really tell if they are a problem or not. Last time they were in the bin, they were working on pulling an entire worm out. I don't know if the worm was dead before they got to him or not. He looked kinda healthy, for being dead.
Anyway, I'm turning the bedding to flush out more ants (and because I'm very curious about what's going on in the bin) and I see this thing that I assume at first is a piece of thin thread about two inches long. Mostly white with a slight yellow tint. And then it moves! I pulled it out and couldn't make heads or tails of it. It started to look like it was drying quickly so I put a little bedding on it. I then went through the bedding and found another one. I put them in a plastic containder with some dirt to see if they'll grow into anything recognizable.
Any ideas about what this is? I'd include pics but I still haven't bought a digital camera.
I'm wondering if maybe they are baby planria? I wonder this because when I was gathering the worms on the first night in a gully out behind my apartments, my wife and I turned over a large stone to find the biggest planarian I've ever seen. It was easily close to three feet long. A monster. I had a very hard time not killing it.
Any thoughts on my mobile thread?
And are there any wormers here in Austin who might be interested in selling me a few worms? I'd like to get some more but not a whole pound just in case I do something stupid.

-Mark

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WormMainea

User

A Protected Species Earthworm

Posts: 149

Re:what is it - 2006/05/04 13:50 I don't have the foggiest idea what the white worm like creature might be. A three foot long planarian is HUGE. Here in Maine, I've not seen one longer than about an inch or so.

HAPPY D may hae an image on his site that will help you ID it.

Here's what I do know:

Ants are BAD and planarians are VERY BAD.

Ants will make a mess of your worm bin. If the legs are in water (even without soap), I suspect that the ants are coming from inside the bin ('the call is coming from inside the house' for you horror movie fans!).

Planarians (if that's what you have) KILL worms. They are predators of worms-- not a good thing for a worm bin.

I strongly suggest that you dump that bin and start over with fresh bedding and comercially obtained worms. Might be best not to use outdoor soil. I don't add any "grit" to my new bins beyond a little potting sand, coffee grounds, and egg shells.

I bet you can conect with a local supplier who can get you some worms. Good luck! WormMainea.com

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markusparkus
User

A Hatchling Earthworm

Posts: 23

Re:what is it - 2006/05/08 09:47 Ok, I managed to get a few low res shots of this thing in case anybody is interested. You can view at: http://senator.org/~mparker/worms/creepy.html

I went ahead and dumped the bin. Instead of tossing the worms however, I gave em a bath. I put a cloth in a plastic container and then dumped the worms in. The booked it out of the water and up the sides of the cloth where I picked them up and put them in a fresh bin. Sealed with fine mesh at the top and nothing else (cept newspaper, old tea, some sand and a piece of fruit). Turns out I didn't have as many worms as I thought so I'm going to have to get a decent starter number or else I'm going to be waiting forever for some decent castings.

This is so very interesting. I kinda feel like a kid about it. Wheeee!

-Mark

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Jerry
Visitor

A Juvenile Earthworm

Posts: 37

Re:what is it - 2006/05/08 23:30 Mark,

Take your unknown to the University biology dept. for identification.

Jerry www.jetcompost.com or www.compostsolutions.com
THE SIGNIFIGANT PROBLEMS WE FACE CANNOT BE SOLVED AT THE LEVEL OF THINKING WE WERE AT WHEN WE CREATED THEM

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markusparkus
User

A Hatchling Earthworm

Posts: 23

Re:what is it - 2006/05/12 14:33 After some more searching, I've decided that they were horsehair worms. Were. They died. Not that I miss them... they really creeped me out.

-Mark

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WormMainea

User

A Protected Species Earthworm

Posts: 149

Re:what is it - 2006/05/13 19:07 Nice detective work!

WormMainea.com

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