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Red Wiggler
Scientific Name:
Eisenia fetida
Type:
Invertebrate
Habitat:
Moist environments with lots of organic material like farms and leaf litter
Range:
Worldwide
Status:
No listed status
This species is
NON-NATIVE
to the Truckee Meadows.
Identification:
Red wigglers are smaller earthworms that grow between 2 and 5 inches long. They are rusty-brown in color and can be identified by their light- and dark-colored bands. Red wigglers live on the surface of soil.
Fast Facts:
Red wigglers are excellent composters. They are the most commonly used worm for home vermicomposting systems (composting using worms to break down organic waste).
Red wigglers lack sensory organs like eyes, ears, and noses, and instead rely on receptor cells that are sensitive to light, touch, and chemical signals.
Red wigglers grow and multiply quickly. Under the right conditions, a group of worms can double their collective mass in 60 days.
Sources:
NC State Extension, Wormy FACTS and Interesting Tidbits, 2017, https://composting.ces.ncsu.edu/vermicomposting-2/wormy-facts-and-interesting-tidbits/
Earthworm Watch, Eisenia fetida, 2016, https://www.earthwormwatch.org/content/going-worm-hunt-eisenia-fetida-stripy-worm
Oklahoma State University Cooperative Extension Program, The Basics of Vermicomposter, 2021, http://pods.dasnr.okstate.edu/docushare/dsweb/Get/Document-9424/BAE-1528web.pdf
Image: Rob Hille, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Eisenia_foetida_R.H._(2).JPG, license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en, cropped from original.
Contributor(s):
Haley McGuire (research & content)
Alex Shahbazi (edits & page design)