Yesterday I recieved a gallon bucket with 2 quarts of soil and at least 1 and 1/2 cups of manure worm eggs, both were dusty dry. Will the eggs mature from this state of dryness or is it a lost cause?

-- mitch hearn (moopups@citlink.net), April 27, 2002

Answers

Mitch, what a revelation! Learn something everyday. I don't know how I thought earthworms multiplied? . . . .but I NEVER knew they laid eggs. Tell me more. Can you see the eggs in the soil if you know what to look for?

-- Judy (JMcFerrin@aol.com), April 27, 2002.

The eggs are between a pencil lead diameter and a BB in size, they are pink and soft, there is between 4 to 20 inside. When hatched the young are white, about 1/8th inch long, and about as thick as a coarse hair. My question is: Do the eggs remain dormant when dried out?

-- mitch hearn (moopups@citlink.net), April 27, 2002.

Found a picture of a cocoon, guess you could compare your cocoons against this picture and try to determine the degree of drying that has occurred or wait and see if they hatch, didn’t find a definite answer. Earthworm Cocoon, http://pc65.frontier.osrhe.edu/hs/science/bworm.htm

-- BC (desertdweller44@yahoo.com), April 27, 2002.

If the moisture levels were adequate in the soil to maintain the viabilty of the cocoon, they will hatch. If the cocoons are viable, they will hatch out within a few weeks. Otherwise they're dead.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), April 27, 2002.

Mitch,

It seems to me from my dark memory that worm babies need adults to care for them. As I recall, the woman who I got my first worms from did some experimenting with baby worms and egg cases. She seperated them fromt he adults. She was interested in finding out if worms took care the babies or if they were just left to fend for themselves. As I rememeber she found that the adults did indead take care of the young and the ones she seperated out died.

Maybe Jay has done some sort of similar research.

-- Susan in MN (nanaboo@paulbunyan.net), April 27, 2002.

My studies indicate the hatchlings do utilize older worms to imprint feeding and foraging ability quicker . I regularly seperate hatchlings into modified environmental conditions here in the lab utilizing liquidfied nutrients.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), April 27, 2002.