WTF is this strange worm?!

[Oolon Colluphid]

So I went to sit on the loo just now, and happened to glance into the otherwise spotless water at the bottom. And found this.

A quick bit of work with a long screwdriver got it into a jam jar, and thence to the plastic bowl we use for the dog's water when my Dad comes round. Then camera, edit, photobucket, and here.

Question is, just what the hell is it, and how the hell did it get into our toilet bowl? :eek:

http://i402.photobucket.com/albums/pp108/Oolon/Worm1.jpg

http://i402.photobucket.com/albums/pp108/Oolon/Worm2.jpg

It's about 10cm (4 inches) when stretched out, but can contract to about half that. The apparently head end -- well the bit that's more active and seems to be seaching its environment -- is to the left in the first pic and right in the second.

It moves quite slowly, but every so often performs very rapid twisty coily movements. Not sure if it's trying to get rid of that bit, about two thirds down its length, that looks like stuck-on skin or something.

The 'head' can taper really thin, or be more bunched up.

Help! :eek: :D

[VoxRat]

Looks a lot like an earthworm.

[Goldie]

It looks like an earthworm. I have no clue how it ended up in your toilet.

[Ray Moscow]

Yep, earthworm.

I suggest wearing clothing instead of gardening in the nude.

[Berthold]

I'd say it even has the saddle (though not very pronounced) in the right place.

Someone dropped it in to frighten you, not knowing, of course, that you as an expert would immediately ;) recognize it for what it is?

[Oolon Colluphid]

Well my first thought was earthworm, obviously, but it stayed totally still when I had it out of the water on the, erm, ledge part of the bowl. And only 'revived' once back in the water. Plus, it can't 'arf twist around when it wants to. THese behavious -- I'm not unacquainted with earthworms ;) -- plus its location...

Can earthworms swim, then? Obviously they're okay in water, but this thing really seems much more actually at home in water. Indeed, it seems happy enough back in the jam jar where it is again...

[VoxRat]

Perhaps it's a Hopeful Monster, mutant earthworm? Pioneering a hitherto unexploited ecological niche?

[Oolon Colluphid]

I guess it bloody teleported. This is an upstairs loo; it's just way too implausible that it could have made it up the wall, in through the closed window, over the bath, and up and into the toilet bowl. On the other hand, it's some impressive swimming on its part to get up there. And how could it get through the flush valve, even if it had made it to the roof, into the attic and into the water tank?

[BWE]

http://www.backyardnature.net/earthwrm.htm

[BWE]

It looks like an earthworm. I have no clue how it ended up in your toilet.

when someone says something like this, you gotta figure they do, in fact, have an idea how it got in your toilet.

just sayin.

[Goldie]

It looks like an earthworm. I have no clue how it ended up in your toilet.

when someone says something like this, you gotta figure they do, in fact, have an idea how it got in your toilet.

just sayin.

lol
Got a dog?
The dog could have been in the dirt and gone for a drink in the bowl.
Earthworms WILL drown, but it seems they can survive quite a while in water.
Put him in the grass and I bet he makes a run for it.

[David B]

If someone were gardening in a sitting position, then a worm might have lodged in clothing, and subsequently become dislodged while visiting the lavatory?

David

[Garnet]

I guess it bloody teleported. This is an upstairs loo; it's just way too implausible that it could have made it up the wall, in through the closed window, over the bath, and up and into the toilet bowl. On the other hand, it's some impressive swimming on its part to get up there. And how could it get through the flush valve, even if it had made it to the roof, into the attic and into the water tank?

Occams Razor.

Somebody pooped the thing. :evil:

[Berthold]

Then it's a new species. The discoverer has the right to name it. :)

[dug_down_deep]

Well my first thought was earthworm, obviously, but it stayed totally still when I had it out of the water on the, erm, ledge part of the bowl. And only 'revived' once back in the water. Plus, it can't 'arf twist around when it wants to. THese behavious -- I'm not unacquainted with earthworms ;) -- plus its location...

Can earthworms swim, then? Obviously they're okay in water, but this thing really seems much more actually at home in water. Indeed, it seems happy enough back in the jam jar where it is again...
Or perhaps it was gratefully taking a breather, having been freed momentarily from its death struggle in the icy deeps. Whereupon you promptly dropped it back into hell, to watch it squirm some more. :eek:

Do you have kids?

[JamesBannon]

I guess it bloody teleported. This is an upstairs loo; it's just way too implausible that it could have made it up the wall, in through the closed window, over the bath, and up and into the toilet bowl. On the other hand, it's some impressive swimming on its part to get up there. And how could it get through the flush valve, even if it had made it to the roof, into the attic and into the water tank?

Occams Razor.

Somebody pooped the thing. :evil:

It wouldn't be the first time! Actually, it looks more like a brandling than a plain earthworm. Been digging in dung heaps recently?

[Oolon Colluphid]

See, all these options are plausible from what you've heard so far. However:

All three of us got up this morning. Had usual wees and poos. Flushed loo. Daughter went to school, then back to friend's house. We went to work. Came home. Daughter having tea with friend, so not home. Found worm.

No dog, no gardening since Saturday (and that was only pushing the mower around).

I tell ya, it bloody teleported.

[Oolon Colluphid]

I better go rescue the poor sod from the jam jar (now in the shed) though. I guess, if it's not some aquatic weird thing, keeping it in that till tomorrow (or longer) may not be good for it.

I nearly said 'for him', but iirc they're hermaphrodites.

[Puck]

It's a butthole worm. After you pooped it this morning, it swam back up the plumbing. You need to see the doc asap.

:D

[Coragyps]

One of my earliest memories involves a very active whitish worm, considerably larger that that one, in the toilet at my grandma's house. I had vomited it into the toilet within some unremembered time period after moving from Japan to Oklahoma. But I sort of think mine was a roundworm, and Oolon's looks annelid.....

[premjan]

My puppy threw up a worm once - might have been sort of like that. If it is an intestinal worm it ought to be slimmer than an earthworm.

[Peez]

It certainly looks like an earthworm to me, or more generally like an oligochaete (http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Oligochaeta.html): 'worm'-like, segmented, with a clitellum. Tiny hair-like setae may be extended from the sides. You will have to work out where it came from yourself. :)

Peez

[Peez]

Coragyps:
One of my earliest memories involves a very active whitish worm, considerably larger that that one, in the toilet at my grandma's house. I had vomited it into the toilet within some unremembered time period after moving from Japan to Oklahoma. But I sort of think mine was a roundworm, and Oolon's looks annelid..... Some nematodes (roundworms) almost look segmented, but one dead give-away is that nematodes have much simpler musculature and tend to display a ‘thrashing' movement as opposed to the complex movement that annelids (including oligochaetes) are capable of.

Peez

[Peez]

premjan:
My puppy threw up a worm once - might have been sort of like that. If it is an intestinal worm it ought to be slimmer than an earthworm.I am guessing that you are referring to a cestode (tapeworm): they are strongly segmented, but are very flat, lack a clitellum and setae, and have a distinct, head-like scolex.

Peez

[Peez]

FYI:

dichotomous key to invertebrate phyla (http://www.msc.ucla.edu/oceanglobe/pdf/Invertebrates/Inverts_Key_Phyla.pdf)

dichotomous key to Annelida (http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Dichotomous_Key/Annelida)

Peez

[premjan]

http://www.vetsci.usyd.edu.au/veterinary_services/sydney/images/fleas%20ticks%20and%20worms/Worm.jpg
This was roughly the way it looked - too thin to tell if it was flat.

[Oolon Colluphid]

Well, I discovered one thing: earthworms are not naturally aquatic. When, with its identity firmly established, I retrieved the jam jar last night, it was at the bottom of the water, contracted to its smallest, and completely unmoving, rather solid and stiff. I tipped it out onto a paving stone next to the grass, and it looked decidedly deceased. But it's gone this morning, so either it recovered and wandered off, or more likely a passing hedgehog or blackbird made a snack of it. Sic transit gloria men's room.

[Peez]

[b]premjan:
This was roughly the way it looked - too thin to tell if it was flat.[b]It is hard to tell from that photo, but it looks like a nematode.

Peez

[Puck]

Like the fool I am, I did a search on Cool Iris yesterday for Intestinal Worms. :eek:

Not for the squeamish, trust me.

[Berthold]

Not for the squeamish, trust me.
Would any fascinating parasite be a suitable topic of bedtime reading for a squeamish person? ;)

[Matty]

Second Pucks diagnosis of a bumworm.

[damitall]

It was in fact The Worm Of Ultimate Truth and Wealth.

And you KILLED it.

[dug_down_deep]

Well, I discovered one thing: earthworms are not naturally aquatic. When, with its identity firmly established, I retrieved the jam jar last night, it was at the bottom of the water, contracted to its smallest, and completely unmoving, rather solid and stiff. I tipped it out onto a paving stone next to the grass, and it looked decidedly deceased. But it's gone this morning, so either it recovered and wandered off, or more likely a passing hedgehog or blackbird made a snack of it. Sic transit gloria men's room.
Viz-a-viz the metabolic processes, he's had his lot. All statements to the effect that this worm is still a going concern are from now on inoperative.

[Brianna]

Had it rained recently? worms sometimes come in on shoes...

[Coragyps]

but one dead give-away is that nematodes have much simpler musculature and tend to display a ‘thrashing' movement...

That's how I remember her, all right. Probably didn't like cold water...

[Oolon Colluphid]

Had it rained recently? worms sometimes come in on shoes...
Nice try too. But while, yes it had rained, and heavily*, this was the upstairs loo, and my wife would have had my balls for earrings if I went upstairs in my shoes, let alone ones with sufficient mud on to harbour a worm (and let along if I then washed my shoes in the loo!)

* I wondered how the rain could have been involved. Sure, a worm might get into the soil pipe**, but the sort of water quantities and pressure that'd enable a worm to float (and as I've noted, it didn't float) or swim up what would have to be a twenty foot column of water and get up around the U-bend don't seem exactly plausible... not to mention that that would have pulled in more than just a worm, and the water in the bowl was normal, clean and clear.

** although even that is highly unlikely, since a few years ago it collapsed, and so Dyno-Rod completely reshaped and relined the pipe for a long length in each directions.

No, the only way into the toilet bowl has to be up the soil pipe. Could a worm crawl 20ft vertically up the inside of an unblocked pipe?

You can see why I thought it had to be some other sort of critter, despite its appearance :D

[Ray Moscow]

No, the only way into the toilet bowl has to be up the soil pipe. Could a worm crawl 20ft vertically up the inside of an unblocked pipe?


Apparently, they can. It's pretty amazing, though.

[DMB]

Could it not have come in through the water pipes? I've had small wormy things turn up that way in the past. Of course, it causes a scandal when it is allowed to happen.

[Oolon Colluphid]

Way too big, I think, to have survived the trip, whole, through the nozzle into the cistern, which is a spray rather than a pouring... though I suppose it might survive the trip through the siphon.

[Matty]

well in that case my friend, it is time to trim the winnets :)

[dug_down_deep]

Could your wife be trying to drive you insane?

[Matty]

or a bulimic pet sparrow?

[Oolon Colluphid]

LOL @ both!

My wife could well be trying to drive me insane (it's a short drive), but I was the last one out the bathroom in the morning, and as it happens, first on the scene in the evening. Plus, she's loophobic. Seriously.

[Ray Moscow]

Maybe you have birds nesting in the loft, above the water tank, and a worm (intended for the baby birds) fell in?

In which case, an occasional worm is the least of the water-tank worries.;)

I think the "ascent from the sewer" scenario is more likely, or perhaps you've taken to sitting bareassed in the garden, as might be fashionable near Winchster for all I know.

[dug_down_deep]

This could potentially be one of those Richard Gere hamster stories, and Oolon is just hiding the origin, for obvious reasons.

[Matty]

but that wouldnt be sexual in any case. He would just be checking how well designed earthworms are for anal purposes. Not very if he kept losing it, presumably. Vesitigal wing nubs, ex-tails and Houdini bumworms, its all the same really.

we await the new add on to the website with baited breath Oolon. :)

[Garnet]

I told ya he pooped it.

[Ray Moscow]

Gentlemen, we could be witnessing the evolution of a new intestinal parasite: the anal earthworm!

[Goldie]

Rats do it... I saw how on TV they showed how easy it was by using a clear toilet.
Still I don't know why an earthworm would be living in a sewer instead of in a nice pile of clean compost.

Toilet Rat
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwvYGQPaaZ8

[Brianna]

Had it rained recently? worms sometimes come in on shoes...
Nice try too. But while, yes it had rained, and heavily*, this was the upstairs loo, and my wife would have had my balls for earrings if I went upstairs in my shoes, let alone ones with sufficient mud on to harbour a worm (and let along if I then washed my shoes in the loo!)



Pant leg? You don't have kids or animals that could of moved it there?

Seriously it is a sign from god that you need to stop drinking so much! :)

[Ray Moscow]

I think we're forgetting the obvious here:

If Allah wills an earthworm in your toilet, an earthworm there shall be! It is an easy thing for Allah to accomplish.

[DMB]

I think we're forgetting the obvious here:

If Allah wills an earthworm in your toilet, an earthworm there shall be! It is an easy thing for Allah to accomplish.

Thanks for reminding us of reality, Ray.

[Berthold]

Seriously it is a sign from god that you need to stop drinking so much! :)
Now that's a new one.

Pink elephants are proverbial; German drinkers, less megalomaniac, allegedly prefer white mice; actually quite often it's insects.

Oh, well, the camera must have been hungover, too. :D

[dug_down_deep]

I think we need a CT scan of Oolon's colon if we're going to make any progress on this investigation.

[Matty]

cant you just have a look next time you are up there?

oh SNAP. :)

[dug_down_deep]

I can't actually see out of that thing.

[Puck]

http://failblog.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/fail-owned-fish-bait-fail.jpg?w=500&h=375

[Sodong]

Well Oolon, just be thankful it's not Tiddley your tummy pal (http://kisrael.com/journal.aux/2006.05.28.tapeworm.jpg)...Of course, that would solve the mystery of where it came from :D

[Garnet]

Gawd.

[Matty]

i love all those plushy nasties, my mate has a plushy ebola virus in pride of place on his desk, and its possibly the only time you can give your partner the gift herpes (or aids or syphillis, if you like variety) and they be pleased about it :)

[Puck]

oooh... they are products you can buy? Now there's a stuffed animal I wouldn't mind putting owning.

[Matty]

http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/plush/6708/images/888/

Ecoli or FSM? You decide

http://www.thinkgeek.com/images/products/additional/large/bacteria-ecoli.jpg

[Sodong]

I think that e coli may be about to conjugate!

[Oolon Colluphid]

Ooh, I wants ebola and toxoplasmosis!

I'm already the proud owner of a couple of items from Infectious Awareables (http://www.iawareables.com/), with my ties with Ebola Zaire:

http://www.5clickstore.com/iawareables/images/Productzoom/z_1342.jpg

and tuberculosis:

http://www.5clickstore.com/iawareables/images/Productzoom/TB_tie_illst_1400.jpg

... being favourably commented upon... till they hear what they are, at which point it's not unusual for the commenter to back away slowly...

Quite how they've got the nerve to have:

http://www.5clickstore.com/iawareables/images/Product/bnav_gonorrhea.gif

... I'm not so sure. Can't imagine it's a big seller, even among the sorts of people who'd like this sort of thing :D

[Puck]

Thanks, Matty. Those are cool, Oolon, I ought to get a tie like that for Bobby, and not tell him what it is. ;)

*i can't believe I wrote 'putting owning'. wtf?)

[Matty]

top notch on those ties etc. I need a new one (well, i need one other than my wedding tie which is all i own) and i think i shall most deffo get it from there.

[dug_down_deep]

The gonorrhea briefs are the best. I wish I had a few extra bucks to spend on them. :D

[Berthold]

Well, this (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paisley_(design))* is somehow biomorph, too. Just, I call them Daphnias and quite like them, my aunt calls them uteri and doesn't.

*Whoever complained recently, watch out, it's a wikipedia link! :evil:

[Ray Moscow]

Problem solved: http://groups.google.co.uk/group/uk.rec.naturist/browse_thread/thread/ba20a704971e7f9a?fwc=1

Oolon's was just a bit early, that's all.

[4321lynx]

Anyone in the house or a visitor suffering from human roundworms? (Ascaris lumbricoides). It sure looks like one.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ascaris

[Brianna]

Anyone in the house or a visitor suffering from human roundworms? (Ascaris lumbricoides). It sure looks like one.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ascaris

ewwwwwwww.

[espritch]

Seriously it is a sign from god that you need to stop drinking so much! :)

I'm pretty sure an earthworm in the loo is a sign from god to start drinking more.

[BWE]

Had it rained recently? worms sometimes come in on shoes...

which sometimes end up in loos. I read that in the news.

[JamesBannon]

Anyone in the house or a visitor suffering from human roundworms? (Ascaris lumbricoides). It sure looks like one.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ascaris

It's the wrong colour. Also, it's a bit small.

[dug_down_deep]

Had it rained recently? worms sometimes come in on shoes...

which sometimes end up in loos. I read that in the news.
Scares people takin' poos and makes them sing the loo blues.

[Puck]

But a worm is such a lowly lot, you hate to find them in the pot.

[JamesBannon]

But a worm is such a lowly lot, you hate to find them in the pot.

Good protein! :evil:

[Free in Freeport]

oh, its already been said. never mind

[Free in Freeport]

http://www.fray.com/drugs/worm/01.html

[David B]

Well, when I looked at the pic in the OP, I didn't think it looked like an earthworm.

But then, I'm not familiar with what earthworms look like when long submersed in water, leave alone submersed in a fluid that, for all I know, has some big chunk of chemicals hooked onto the bowl in order to make the toilet smell like fake pine, or fake lemon, or whatever.

So I'm prepared to give it the benefit of the doubt, and not assume that one (at least) of the Colluphid clan has a nasty infection of parasites.

Might be worth checking out, though, Oolon

Davod

[Free in Freeport]

My grandmother told of the prescribed tapeworm cure in her day:

Fast for 3 days, then sit in a tub of warm milk. When the worm comes out of your ass to drink the milk, pull it out.

[dug_down_deep]

http://www.fray.com/drugs/worm/01.html
This is hilarious. Everyone needs to click on this link. :D

[Puck]

It will, however, make your bum pucker. ;)

[Berthold]

So I'm prepared to give it the benefit of the doubt, and not assume that one (at least) of the Colluphid clan has a nasty infection of parasites.

Might be worth checking out, though, Oolon

Davod
It is an annelid, and most likely an oligochaete. Any parasites among them? (it's definitely not a leech)

[Oolon Colluphid]

I think I've solved it.

Firstly, I'd forgotten (a) that the cistern filling valve thingy had to be replaced last year, so it now pours in rather than the former spray, and (b) that there's two water tanks in the roof: one for the main, hot water system, and another for just the loos (I think). The hot water system tank is covered; I'm not sure how well covered the other one is.

Then yesterday, doing a spot of gardening (it's a bank holiday, and I've officially hit middle age :o), I watched a starling repeatedly taking worms into next door's eves, where there undoubtedly is a nest.

Now, I've seen no sign of a nest in our eves, neither by torch around the corners of the roof nor visiting starlings, but a project for this summer is to have some nice, environmentally-unfriendly UPVC 'roofline' put up in place of the rather scrotty wood.

So it looks like the worm got there via avian transport.

Poor thing survived being caught in a bird's beak, survived through the water system, only to be drowned in a jam jar.

[Oolon Colluphid]

is[/I] an annelid, and most likely an oligochaete. Any parasites among them?
Apparently yes, but of things like mussels.
http://www.springerlink.com/index/4A64DBLJMUM2BM4A.pdf

[Ray Moscow]

On the other hand, I think Oolon might have something to tell us about this:

World Naked Gardening Day (WNGD (www.wngd.org/))

[Matty]

is[/I] an annelid, and most likely an oligochaete. Any parasites among them?
Apparently yes, but of things like mussels.
http://www.springerlink.com/index/4A64DBLJMUM2BM4A.pdf

Hmm. Have you found yourself taking long weekends by the seaside and just sitting on a rock, filtering, recently :)

[Berthold]

That would be a new mythical beastie: The Wereshell.

[Occam's Aftershave]

Not for the squeamish. :eek:

Five most horrific parasitic worms (http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/featured/most-horrific-parasitic-worms/10497)

[Ray Moscow]

... the Lord God made them all.

[Matty]

damn straight.

ahhh. bless lookit the way that filarial worn is so perfectly designed to slot itself into he hosts lymphatic system and cause elephantitis. Perfect infallible design. You silly evolutionists think that happened by accident, like a leg cell suddenly turned into a worm LOL.

[dug_down_deep]

God is good, god is great. Thank him, then go masturbate.

[Notta]

This is currently the best thread on the site!