What is the difference between earthworms and night crawlers?
The earthworms that you see in your garden soils and are used for composting are also called red wigglers. They are red and you can find them in just about any garden. They are great for the soil because they can eat upwards of 50% of their body weight in a single day. They convert this organic matter into some the most fertile poop in the animal kingdom.
Worm poop is very prized by farmers of all kinds and you can have red wigglers (earthworms) shipped to you live from many different worm farms around the country. My neighbor when I was growing up was a worm farmer.
One of my earliest jobs as a 10 year old was to take care of the neighbors farm when they would go on trips. I had to feed the pigs, chickens, cows and of course the worms. My job to keep the worms fed was to go out in the cow pasture and scoop up the cow poop and put it on top of the dozens of worm pens so that they could eat it.
When worms feed it sounded like the snap, crackle and pop of rice crispies when you pour milk on them.
Those worms were the larger night crawlers that are better for fishing with. The night crawlers are more gray in appearance and they are much more vigorous. This is why they are preferred over the smaller more lethargic earthworms (red wigglers).
Night crawlers as their name implies come out at night to feed when there is enough dew on the grass to keep them moist. Worms breathe through their skin and need to stay moist to survive. They come out at night or after a hard rain.
Night crawlers can burrow down in the soil for a couple of yards as they feed. They are great for aerating the soil and their poop is excellent for fertilizing the various plants in your garden too.
The problem with the night crawlers is that they can’t be shipped as easily as the red wigglers. They need to be pampered with a refrigerated compartment or they will die. The red wigglers can be transported at room temperature and they will be just fine.
Can earthworms and night crawlers drown?
The answer is no. They can live fully submerged in water for many days at a time. They breathe through there skin so as long as the water has dissolved oxygen in it they can survive. You are probably thinking, ” If that is true, then why do they come out when it rains?”
Worm scientists believe that worms surface during and after a rain event for a couple of different reasons. They think the primary reason is because it is easier for them to get around when the ground is wet.
It is very dangerous for a worm to travel when it is dry because they need to stay wet to breathe. We have all seen the dried up corpses of night crawlers that tried to cross a sidewalk or a driveway but they dried up and died in the attempt.
Worm scientists also believe that the worms think the vibrations of the rain drops are similar to the vibrations caused by their biggest predator the mole. Worms will move to the surface to escape a hunting mole. This is another theory about why worms come to the surface after and during rain events.
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