Earthworm mass suicide in backyard!?

Question

hi i live in australia wa. on the pavement surrounding the backyard lawn at my house there a about 500 dead earthworms. the past few days it has been raining. Can anybody explain the reason behind this please? This is really... freaky..

Answer 1

Do you fertilize your lawn? or possibly the PH of the soil.  Def. Not suicide i think earthworms lack that ability.  I would have it checked out.

Answer 2

ewww...! thats groos i hate worms

Answer 3

Typically when it rains the soil becomes moist. When Saturation levels get to a certain point worms tend to rise to the surface. It could be that the ground is to wet for them and they see refuge on the surface and end up on the hardtop where they bake and dehydrate.

Answer 4

there might be flooding causing the worms too drown.

Answer 5

Don't get me wrong, I don't know much about worms! But you might find the following blog link interesting - it mentions that when the slugs come out after the rain, they feast on earthworms. It might explain it - maybe they were just very hungry on this particular night!

Kind of gross though...

Answer 6

i love worms.

this happens every time it rains, it happens at my school to.  it is becuase after long rain the ground cant soak up and more water, and it can drown the earthworms.

the go up atop land to wait for the ground to dry or go look for other soil.  since they dont moove to fast, they get dried up before they have a chance to find soil.

Answer 7

they cant swim.

Answer 8

the come out when it rains cause it nice and wet outside. Then the water starts to dry up, and the pavement heats up faster than they can escape back to the soil so they fry up and die!

Answer 9

It's not suicide, they are actually reacting to the rain in an attempt to survive.

When it rains the soil becomes saturated and there is no air for the worms to breathe.  They come to the surface to get air but then they become vulnerable to other hazards such as sunlight, predators, being stepped on or driven over, or drowning in puddles.  Even so, during rain, they have a better chance of surviving then staying in the saturated ground where they will most definitely drown.

Edited to add:

I found a link,

http://www.livescience.com/mysteries/080...

Answer 10

my best idea is it possibly what your using on your garden if you are or possibly acid rain.

Answer 11

Check for a gas leak!

Urgently!

Answer 12

I've noticed that when it rains, earthworms move from the earth to a less-porous surface, likely sidewalks.  If there are a lot of earthworms and/or lots of rain (like over a few days), there are more.

Earthworms don't breathe with lungs.  I think their gas exchange system is through their skins.  Anyway, they leave sodden earth to try not to drown.

I first saw this decades ago, so I don't think it's caused by acid rain.