# I saw it!



## Maggie Cummings (Apr 26, 2010)

OK you guys, remember my picture of holes in my lawn with a branch or a leaf stuck in the hole like something was marking it's hole?
Well, I finally saw it. The biggest nightcrawler ever made. It was freaking huge and it pulled a leaf into it's hole as I watched. I didn't see legs or hands but I saw this really big worm and he pulled a leaf in the hole with him until it was at the level that I have seen before. I know it's not a nightcrawler, but it is something that looks exactly like a nightcrawler only really really really( I guess you get the idea) huge and I watched it pull in the leaf in his hole. Awesome!!!


----------



## chadk (Apr 26, 2010)

Why don't you think it is a night crawler?

I should get a pic of this next time... But on the days I do a deep clean on my water troughs, I sometimes use a little clorox bleach. Even greatly diluted with all that dirty water, when I dump it, the night crawlers come scrambling to the surface like you wouldn't believe. My kids and I gather them up and put them in a bucket of clean water and then release them in other areas. And many of them will be as thick as my finger and over a foot long. There are dozens of them from just an area about 5ft by 10ft where the water is spilled.

They also make an instrument that has 2 electrodes you put in the ground. The current causes the night crawlers to come to the surface where you can easily gather them (usually for fishing).


----------



## terracolson (Apr 26, 2010)

How cool!!! what were you doing to see it?


----------



## dmmj (Apr 26, 2010)

so you are saying it is big?


----------



## Shelly (Apr 26, 2010)




----------



## dreadyA (Apr 26, 2010)

Free box turtle food!!!


----------



## Nay (Apr 26, 2010)

HOLY CRAPPPPPP That is one big night crawler. We DO NOT have them that big here. I thought when we found one about 6 inches it was huge!!
Yummm Yummm....
NA


----------



## Maggie Cummings (Apr 26, 2010)

There it is. The picture that Shelley posted is what I saw. But how in the world can something without fingers pull a marker into the hole? Is that a nightcrawler? A nightcrawler on steroids? I'm pretty sure that's my mystery creature. I didn't see the one end because it was already halfway into the hole. But the rest of the worm looks just like the picture...


----------



## Shelly (Apr 26, 2010)

The picture I posted I believe was taken in Australia. Not sure if the get that large here.
They do have mouths, so I imagine they could grip something with that.
Oregon is pretty cool, wet and leafy. I think for a worm, that's a pretty good habitat.


----------



## dmmj (Apr 26, 2010)

OMG that looks like something out of a nightmare, I suggest fire and lots of it.


----------



## alfiethetortoise (Apr 26, 2010)

OMG. What the heck is a 'night cawler' and that picture remindsme of a very old film about giant freeky worms (worms perhaps?) that terrorise some people. It looks a bit like what we would call a 'slow worm'. They dont bite, people use them to fish, find them in dry stone walls....


----------



## chadk (Apr 26, 2010)

As for pulling leaves, they do have an opening or 'mouth' on one end. And they are also sticky - almost like a slug or snail. So as they pull back in, bits of grass or leaves will cling and be pulled into the hole with them.


This is what our PNW earthwoms typically look like:





http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthworm

I doubt the big australian worm would survive here in our climate - but not sure.


----------



## terracolson (Apr 26, 2010)

grosss, all the way around!!!


----------



## Kristina (Apr 26, 2010)

Could it be a caecilian or legless lizard?






EDIT: I guess there are no known species of caecilians in N.A.


----------



## egyptiandan (Apr 26, 2010)

There are giant worms out west  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_Palouse_earthworm
The other 2 native worms it could be are _Drilochaera chenowithensis_ or _Argilophilus hammondi_
Not sure how big the second 2 get. 

Danny


----------



## Kristina (Apr 26, 2010)

Maggie, I would maybe call Washington State University and let them know that you may have sighted one of those Palouse worms. They have been searching hard for one and it may be a BIG find.


----------



## chadk (Apr 26, 2010)

egyptiandan said:


> There are giant worms out west  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_Palouse_earthworm
> The other 2 native worms it could be are _Drilochaera chenowithensis_ or _Argilophilus hammondi_
> Not sure how big the second 2 get.
> 
> Danny



Here in the PNW we are a distinct western cascades climate and eastern cascades climate. On the west (maggie and I), you have the wet portland and seattle climate. On the east you have a very dry dessert like climate. The Palouse worm and those listed are all 'dry side' only worms 



kyryah said:


> Maggie, I would maybe call Washington State University and let them know that you may have sighted one of those Palouse worms. They have been searching hard for one and it may be a BIG find.



Unless she completely changes her description and now says it was whitish in color (albino looking), then I doubt that would be maggie's worm... And considering she said she had hundreds of them around her yard, the common earthworm is more likely. 

Maggie, simple test would be to get a bucket of water, and add a tablespoon of bleach. Pour on the ground and get the camere ready


----------



## egyptiandan (Apr 26, 2010)

This is where I got the 3 species from Chad (I can't post links to PDF) Here is the search (click on the second one) http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...+west&btnG=Search&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

Where the basin is http://www.nwd-wc.usace.army.mil/TMT/basin.html

Danny


----------



## chadk (Apr 26, 2010)

Yes, the Palouse region is the specific area of the greater columbia basin in question. It is on the dry side - on the washington \ idaho border (almost dead center of the chart you linked to).


----------



## Stephanie Logan (Apr 26, 2010)

I am going to have nightmares tonight...

Our Coloradoan nightcrawlers are of much more modest dimensions.


----------



## ChiKat (Apr 26, 2010)

Stephanie Logan said:


> I am going to have nightmares tonight...



Ugh seriously, especially after that picture Shelly posted. 
I feel like I'm going to be sick.


----------



## Tom (Apr 26, 2010)

Shelly said:


>



They have some darn near that size in San Louis Obisbo, CA. We measured and they were all around a foot without stretching them.


----------



## ChiKat (Apr 26, 2010)

And thank you again for re-posting the picture so that it's on both pages. Wouldn't want anyone to miss it!


----------



## DonaTello's-Mom (Apr 26, 2010)

Wait!!! San Luis Obispo????? Oh just great, I live by San Luis...........I'm never walking barefoot in my yards again!!......Thats just plain nasty!


----------



## pugsandkids (Apr 26, 2010)

Oh my...I assisted 7th graders in dissecting earthworms today, then I click on this. Too many worms!


----------



## Maggie Cummings (Apr 26, 2010)

DonaTello said:


> Wait!!! San Luis Obispo????? Oh just great, I live by San Luis...........I'm never walking barefoot in my yards again!!......Thats just plain nasty!



Too funny...you have me cracking up. I think it's just a big nightcrawler. I have the holes all around the yard and in each hole is a stick or a leaf or a stem of some sort making or closing off the entrance to the tunnel. I have them all over the yard and I think if they were the giant one in Shelley's picture I would have seen them before this.
Something I forgot to say there are small red wigglers around every hole, like they are a nursery of a sort. I collect great worms from Bob's poop pile every other day. Nothin I like better than digging in Bob's poop. eee ha


----------



## jmu114 (Apr 26, 2010)

I feel sick... seriously. 
I already don't walk in my backyard barefoot...but I might have to put on my rain boots from now on.


----------



## dannomite (Apr 27, 2010)

Think of the size of fish you could catch with that big ugly beast


----------



## stells (Apr 27, 2010)

OMG... you guys have some freaky worms... i'l stick with my little piddly earthwroms i get here...


----------



## Stazz (Apr 27, 2010)

HOLY HOLY HOOLLLLLLLY SMOKES !!!! I would literally, more than likely, have a small to medium stroke if I saw that come out the grass. I dnt do worms, not even itty bitty tiny ones...I just don't, LOL! Why I could not have a carnivorous turtle ! My goodness, Maggie, you sure have some experiences living where you do, rabid coons and all !


----------



## Maggie Cummings (Apr 27, 2010)

It's a great place to live...keeps me entertained all the time


----------



## Stazz (Apr 27, 2010)

It sounds like a fantastic place to live, apart from giant creepy crawlies  But its great to be kept entertained ! Not much happening here in Dubai hahaha....camels maybe? haha. They ARE scary. When my mom was visiting recently, we went for an hour camel ride - I do not feel comfortable with a camel. They're super scary. I was petrified for the whole hour, and our bedouin guide did not speak english, which was not fun, as he would not tell us when he was stopping for a break, and suddenly our camels jerk down to let us off, my heart skip many beats on that adventure!


----------



## Maggie Cummings (Apr 28, 2010)

Stazz said:


> It sounds like a fantastic place to live, apart from giant creepy crawlies  But its great to be kept entertained ! Not much happening here in Dubai hahaha....camels maybe? haha. They ARE scary. When my mom was visiting recently, we went for an hour camel ride - I do not feel comfortable with a camel. They're super scary. I was petrified for the whole hour, and our bedouin guide did not speak english, which was not fun, as he would not tell us when he was stopping for a break, and suddenly our camels jerk down to let us off, my heart skip many beats on that adventure!




You certainly wouldn't have that experience in Oregon!!!


----------



## chadk (Apr 28, 2010)

Stazz - how about camel spiders?? Yikes!!


----------

