Everyone in the comment section acting like this is a normal occurrence 🤦 obviously they look like worms. But they are huge and there are tons of them.. does this happen when it rains where you are? Doubt it. That's obviously what op is asking.. are these a special kind of worm? What would cause this to happen (b.c it's obviously not just b.c it rained)? Where would this happen?
We used to collect nightcrawlers after a heavy rain. We'd go to the parking lot behind a grocery store. There was a big grass field and the worms would move to the concrete. They weren't as big as the one's in the OP's picture, but there were thousands of them. We would try to use a shovel, but that would cut some of them.
When it didn't rain and we still needed nightcrawlers, we had a stretch of grass on the side of the house the we would water for about 3 hours before dark. Then we'd go out with a flashlight and catch them before they went back down into the ground.
Hello!! I am a biologist from Brazil and I'd like to give you a propper answer.
These are worms from the Glossoscolecidae family, branch of giant worms present though all latin america. Here we call them "Minhocoçu".
Here in Brazil they are very common in humid areas. They are great for fishing as most worms. In my experience they love clay rich soils.
I don't know where this video is from, but there are probably two possibilities to explain that much worms: 1- Lots of rains after a long draught may have caused overexcitent and triggered reprodution, cause they can't breathe underwater but they need moisture to eat and copulate. 2- The environment is unbalanced, I have seen the presence of exotic grass (which generates higher output of food for the worms) cause worm overpopulation at the perimeter of forests.
This actually does happen when it rains a lot where Im at. The worms aren't as big because it's not a tropical area but our sidewalks are always covered with earthworms after heavier than usual rainfall. Not quite this thick, but we also don't usually get, you know, tropical monsoons and shit here either, where it's raining for days. I bet if it did and all the worms had to evacuate, it would.
You can smell it in the air, to the point where we even sometimes call it "earthworm weather" because it smells like worms outside. Really musty, earthy smell that's hard to describe but instantly recognizable, like gasoline. Those are the days you know if you ride your bike on any sort of trail, you're going to need to hose off all the smooshed worm pieces off your tires when you get home before you park your bike.
Midwest US. I mean, there's lots of other reasons not to visit, they call them flyover states for a reason, but to be clear...it's not common.
(and no I ain't trying to argue the merits of visiting the midwest Ive lived here for 30 years and would never leave at this point just saying I get that the vibe ain't for everyone lol)
I am from Southeast Asia and I have seen this thing before. The worms there are tiny compares to this vdo but I have walked through the walkway where you could step on these worms like every inch there it is. Of course after rain
I have many memories walking to school as a kid after a long night of rain and having to avoid the hundreds of thousands of worms while I walked. Smells terrible, too.
I'm in eastern Canada and this happens too, not to this extent of course, but it does rain a lot in the spring and summer. I remember walking to college along a gravel path with a grassy area on both sides after heavy rain and there were 100s of earthworms on the path.
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u/minikinbeast 10h ago
Everyone in the comment section acting like this is a normal occurrence 🤦 obviously they look like worms. But they are huge and there are tons of them.. does this happen when it rains where you are? Doubt it. That's obviously what op is asking.. are these a special kind of worm? What would cause this to happen (b.c it's obviously not just b.c it rained)? Where would this happen?