How Redworms Reproduce

If you’ve ever laid in bed at night, staring at the ceiling and wondering “How do worms make babies?” Have I got a post for you.

Many of us have louse bins that make some mighty finevermicompostfor ourgardens . I know that we ’ve done so for years and are grateful for all of our reddened wiggler friends . Which reminds me that I ’ve been mean to call for you something .

Have you ever wonderedhowworms do the wild thing ( is it just me ) ? I ’m going to take the chance that you , too , lie in bed at night , staring at the ceiling and wondering “ How do worm make babies ? ”

We ’re just gon na dive in here .

It Takes All Kinds of Kinds

Worms are master reproducers and part of their achiever ( and I suspect master plan ) is due to the fact that they are hermaphrodites . This means that every worm gestate both male and distaff procreative parts . In other discussion , theyallhave eggs as well as sperm .

This isalreadyinteresting , am I ripe ?

Just so we ’re clear , individual worm species have their own trend of baby - louse - fashioning and this is a word about red wiggler breeding . Although they have all of the necessary equipment , they still do n’t go it alone . That ’s right . It work out that the all - comprehend worms enjoy having an enthusiastic partner as much as the next species .

If get very close to the trunk of a redworm , you ’ll see a wide band about a third of the room down the body from the head . This is sometimes called a saddle or a dance orchestra , but the scientific Holy Writ isclitellum . If you may see a clitellum , this designate that the worm is a mature adult and is capable of breeding and making baby worms . Pretty simple so far , but if you require to be sure that you ’re appear at a produce up , you have to have decent eyesight .

Most redworms contact mature breeding age at about 10 weeks , although it ’s potential for them to get there at 8 week . They ’re now capable of producing 2 or 3 cocoons a workweek for 6 to 12 month , mean that a single breeding worm can easily produce nearly 100 baby worms in 6 months . As I take that last condemnation in , I ’m almost ashamed that I ever complain about my brood .

Love Potion #9

When worms get through breeding years , they breathe glandular secretions that attract a checkmate . When two redworms find each other and fall in worm - love ( awwwww ) they wiggle very close together with their heads and prat in opposite directions . ( You picture that come up , right-hand ? )

The saddles then secrete a mucous secretion that track each worm . ( I be intimate , I live … just endeavor to detain with me here . ) While they are covered with wretched stuff , each louse take spermatozoan from the other into their receiving pouch . ( I did n’t think it could get worse , either . ) The spermatozoon is held in the computer memory sacs until after the worm go their separate ways . Then the clitellum liberate another substance that hardens and covers the outside of the band , which forms a cocoon .

At this point , the worm backs out of its saddle while posit into the stria its own eggs and the lay in sperm from its partner . The eggs become fertilized , and the banding seals itself off at both ends after the worm has slid out . The separate clitellum is now called an egg case , ballock theca , or cocoon .

You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby

cocoon are lemon - shaped and around the size of a caryopsis of Elmer Rice . egg start out white , switch to jaundiced , and then to light brown . When the tiny worms pass hatch long time , the ballock takes on a ruddy cast .

Each cocoon can contain as many as 10 fertilized eggs inside it , from which one to three baby will come forth . Hatching start after three weeks or more . When the infant worms first hatch , they ’re translucent white-hot or pinkish and 1/2 to 1 inch long .

Huh . Fascinatingor what ? I know thatIwon’t be lie awake anymore … question .

Are you still here ?

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