"Bizarre creature baffles onlookers as it squirms on the ground"

originally posted by: theantediluvian
a reply to: Butterfinger

I saw the video somewhere else and it appears to be not one, but multiple horsehair worms. I read a couple comments claiming that it was horsehair worms mating. I have no idea. I couldn't readily track down any information about horsehair worm mating (not even on horsehairpornwormhub.com).

And yes, horsehair worms are straight out of a nightmare. Also, they don't infect just insects but a variety of arthropods, including crustaceans.

It's like I feel I should just mosey on over to horsehairpornwebhub.com because why not but I believe that someone, somewhere, would put me on a list or kill my inbox with...information.

This world is not easy.

a reply to: Butterfinger

Love those bugs. With drawn butter, or cocktail sauce...

Well you leaven something new everyday

Well, there goes any hope for a good nights sleep tonight

Earth worms make bundles and look weird too. I have seen them do this in the stream under water here and have no idea why they don't get out of the water or if they are trying to save themselves from drowning.

Wikipedia: Tubifex "The worms can survive with little oxygen by waving hemoglobin rich tail-ends to exploit all available oxygen, they can also exchange carbon dioxide and oxygen through their thin skin, similar to frogs. They can also survive in areas heavily polluted with organic matter that almost no other species can endure. By forming a protective cyst and lowering its metabolic rate, T. tubifex can survive drought and food shortage."

Some of the creepiest little critters roam this world. I wonder how many are out there that nobody knows exist?
Cool find.

a reply to: Butterfinger

Might need to go back to using DDT.

a reply to: SeaWorthy

Good lordy have mercy thats disturbing!

a reply to: knowledgehunter0986

I found one in a cockroach one night. It was one of those big wood roaches that come out here in the spring and get into everywhere for a while. I had crushed it and dropped it in the toilet at 3am, so I was only half awake. This nasty worm thing came squirming out of the dead roach like a nightmare from hell and scared the living crap out of me!

You can imagine what that does to you when you're only half awake.

a reply to: ketsuko

I don't know how I would've reacted.. if I hadn't seen this thread and seen that thing coming out of an insect, I probably would've thought it was some type of alien creature. No joke!

Even now, it's hard to believe that thing is real.

originally posted by: eManym
its a horsehair worm. They are known for living inside of the praying mantis.

a reply to: knowledgehunter0986

I went back to bed.

Even though I remember it too well for it to have been a dream, I'm still not fully convinced it wasn't just a nightmare.

Did briefly consider waking the husband to tell him about it and ask him if I was asleep, but then I figured he'd never believe me. I didn't know such things were possible then. It was a bit of a relief when I learned that those things actually did exist, so it actually could have been real.

originally posted by: Butterfinger
a reply to: eManym


Mystery solved it seems.

Anyone have enough to call in a Nuke from orbit?

A nuke will make it replicate and spawn into billions of them 100 times their normal size! Bad idea!

a reply to: SeaWorthy

there was an video sometime back that showed an large ball of them in an california sewer but odnt serach for it unless you never want to eat ever again...

That's a beautiful creature!