Have separate pictures.
next follow up.

These are worms from under the pots that have roses.
The roses have buds.
I have to make tea NOW !.
I'll go on and on about that probably in a tea for roses thread.

I took lots of separate pictures but they aren't adequately composed: shadows in wrong place. I'll give the worms a rest and do it over (apparently "do overs" are common something or other . . .lingo ?) unless excruciating detail about tea proves more interesting.

Looking at the tail, it could be a common rain worm. Or probably a young Canadian Nightcrawler (Lumbricus terrestris)?

The worms in the first photo are most definitely mendocino wild worms. They were caught in a worm trap I inadvertently created in the back yard.

In October I filled three 10 gallon black plastic planting pots full of dry horse manure to save for future worm food. These were set on the ground 5' from a garden bed and 20' from a worm bed. We received over 20" of rain in November and December. When I went to feed the herd last week, there were hundreds of these worms in the pots. They look like large mature EF to me.
The manure juice trickling out of the pots sent out the 'call of the wild'. There were even mole holes directly under the safe confines of two of the pots.
The contents of the pots were dumped into a large tote to create their own home.

I got a new camera last week and have had trouble resizing photos to post. I sent the pic to Barbara and she posted it for me. I will try and clean-up a volunteer today for a better pic, for ID purposes. In the above pic they were "caught in the act'. I think I have the camera settings right now.

Thanks Barbara. Good luck everyone and happy wormin'

Pete

If this thread is too nerdy for you, you're a geek. Or you could be a dork.

If you are vermicomposting, probably you are not watching Fox News
or the Seahawks whip the Panthers.

With the exception of one famous Texan vermicomposter.
Who will the Seahawks play in the Superbowl ?

Here is a link that might be useful: nerd - geek -dork

Those look an awful lot like the Eisenia Hortensis I have. Just about the same as EF but bigger with the tiger stripes and large citellum. That larger of these EH are nearly quarter inch diameter and 4 inches long.

Four volunteers crawled forward for a bath and pics.

I am not an expert, but the two darker worms look like EF, and the other two look like garden worms. When I used to freshwater fish, the darker red wigglers worked best. Not much interest in the other type of garden worm by fish OR chickens. Maybe my hens are spoiled.

I am surprised the garden worms climbed up in the manure. Maybe it was to flee the mole. That mole was like a bear waiting for spawning salmon.

If anyone can positively ID these guys, It would be interesting. In one photo I blew up of the darker worm, I counted 13 segments above the clitellum. It stretched out to 4".

Happy wormin'

Pete

Here is one more photo. It represents my two favorite hobby's.

Now if I can only figure out how to remove the borders on this photo program I accidentally added! I am a geek.........

My guess on this one? EH?

Otis, looking at videos and pics, EH (euros) are fatter... much more girth.

I was searching around, and think they may be Lumbricus rubellus. T don't see yellow in their tail.

The pic below is from my carpet bed. These guys may be EH. I am sure I have EF also.

I tilled my no-till patch this afternoon and collected some Lumbricus es. Shall I add pictures to the photo gallery ?

Video about Eisenia Hortensis linked herewith:
Ha ! mortar tray & burlap.

Here is a link that might be useful: EH/ Euro Nightcrawler

WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE!

(My apologies to Hillary Clinton for usurping her quote when answering questions about that embassy attack)

chuckiebtoo

If one can't distinguish, they are all good.

See Mary Appelhoff thread.

"WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE! "
I've been vermicomposting for awhile and have never Identified the creature I am culturing. I think I may have 3 or 4 different species. I have wild worms in my soil and bins. Hundreds of pounds of these worms have been transferred to other people, assuming they were EF without knowing for certain.
Different worm species have different requirements when held captive.
What kind of worms lurk in my yard and come into manure? Can I culture them? Can I set out 10 pots of horse manure in the winter, and dump into totes for instant worm bins? That is what difference it makes to me!
I have very poor vision. My newly acquired camera has allowed me to stop the wiggle and zoom. For the first time I am having a good look. The only way to really find out will be to soak the different species in a shot of tequila and then look under magnification.

Here is a pic of my new 'indoor' bins. The old horse water trough below and the blue tote of wild worms are on top covered in straw.

Edit for a better pic . This is a place to ponder worms.

This post was edited by mendopete on Thu, Jan 15, 15 at 22:23

mendopete, Nice set up. It clearly shows the one end raised a bit. With the two large bins you have a lot of volume there. Also goes to show that one bin is never enough. Plus one needs assorted buckets for maximum vermi fun. Is that a log there? Do you sit on the log to work with your worms?

Ha Pete, I see you found a fisheye filter in your fancy foto program. That is the effect that caused the distortion on that last image.

I'm eyeballin them chairs over there, looks like a nice place for a cold refreshment ;)

On the topic of those worms, I was always under the impression red wigglers were quite small. This is just from what we used for fishing so who knows maybe they werent grown up yet but they were about 2" or so long and maybe an 1/8" diameter at their thickest.

Those pictures you posted looked like redworms but bigger, thats why I said EH. To me though this is also very similar to all the red earthworms we always dug so maybe the European Nightcrawler is the same thing we have always had or at least close enough so as not to have notable differences.

When I get a chance I will try and get some glamor shots for comparison. I still have a couple buckets that I want to stir so that will be a good time to grab a few larger worms for a photo shoot.

I replaced the previous pic.

Anyone help with this one? EF??

Fresh casts being born!

This post was edited by mendopete on Thu, Jan 15, 15 at 23:18

"a fisheye filter in your fancy foto program" I thought he took the picture from inside of a fish bowl. Take another look. Nobody is going to know what we are talking about now.

I thought the only way to definitively determine the type of worm was after death by a bit of chromosome or something. Even then we only know what that one was. Not what the others next to it are. Other than that aren't we just guessing even with counting up all the parts?

I have the slow eating, non breeding worms.

They are holding up little signs saying they want to move to Hawaii.

Certainly an "action" shot there mendopete.

Did you know they named a type of worm after you?