Texas Rains Bring Out Giant Poisonous Worms, Chop One In Half And You’ll End Up With Two
You know the saying, “Everything’s bigger in Texas”? Well, that definitely applies to worms… and not the kind you want in your garden.
After heavy rains around Houston, locals have been warned to watch their lawns, sidewalks, and driveways.
That’s because foot-long, poisonous hammerhead worms are coming out of hiding, and they’re freaky in a way that sounds straight out of a sci-fi movie.
These aren’t your normal earthworms. They’re invasive, toxic, and, get this, they can literally regenerate if you cut them in half.
Ashley Morgan-Olvera, M.S. of the Texas Invasive Species Institute, shared in an interview:
“It will regenerate. So if you chop it into two pieces, you get two worms.”
Yep. Chop one up, and congratulations, you just doubled your problem.
Instead of DIY surgery, experts say to wear gloves and trap the worms in a plastic bag with salt, vinegar, or citrus oil, then pop them in the freezer overnight.
Even after they’re no longer alive, do not touch them with your bare hands. If you do, wash the area immediately with soap and water, then hit it with hand sanitizer.
Hammerhead worms, also called shovelheads or arrowheads, get their name from their wide, triangular heads that look a lot like hammerhead sharks.
They can reach up to 15 inches long, and yes, they’ve been mistaken for snakes more than once.
But the real horror show is what these worms do to earthworms.
Earthworms are garden heroes who help soil stay healthy. Hammerheads, on the other hand, are basically toxic predators.
They slime their prey with paralyzing poison, then stretch their mouths over the earthworm to digest it.
That same slime can irritate human skin and make pets sick, so keep your distance.
As if that weren’t enough, hammerhead worms reproduce in a way that’s straight out of a horror film.
The back half of the worm can break off and grow a new head, creating a genetically identical clone.
It’s a literal “chip off the old block,” according to Dr. Blake Layton Jr. from Mississippi State University.
This process can repeat several times a month, with the new head forming in just about ten days.
These creatures love dark, damp spots and mostly come out at night. Their taste is so bad that predators avoid them entirely, which is why they’re so hard to control.
Originally from Asia, they probably arrived in the U.S. through plant shipments. Now, hammerhead worms have been spotted all across the South, from Texas to Florida, Georgia, and even as far as California.
So, if you live in one of these areas and the rain has left your yard looking like a horror movie set, watch your step… and don’t even think about slicing these worms in half.
In Texas, sometimes even the worms are bigger and scarier than life itself.
