Super Worms: Where Do They Come From, Where Do They Go?

Unless you've been living outside of the US, everywhere you turn, there has been some kind of unsavory weather hitting your area - for the Mid-Atlantic, it has been rain. It wasn't like it was raining for 10 days straight -but it sure felt like it. Just buckets and buckets of rain.

And with rain comes a nice little surprise on the sidewalks and driveways - worms. After a rainy day, I tend to see slimy worms laying on my driveway or scattered about the sidewalk from the parking garage to the office. I had asked the question, long ago, why there are so many worms after a rain storm. The answer I got was just that the worms come from the nearby grass - the rain kind of flushes them out.

Okay - so that's kind of understandable. I guess if it's been raining buckets, eventually the holes in the soil will flood and the worms get displaced from their 'homes.' So how is it that they end up smack in the middle of a sidewalk, a good two feet away from the grass, and not tangled up in other parts of the lawn? How is it that they can cover just about everywhere on the sidewalk no matter how far the grass is? Do they swim there when there's lots of rain? Do they surf a grass blade over and just run out of steam and lie there awaiting their fate in the middle of the driveway? Sometimes I wonder if they don't jump there. After all, a rain storm in human world is like a virtual tsunami in worm-land!

When the weather becomes sunny again and the sidewalks and driveways are drying up, some worms dry up in their place - and because they're in such high traffic areas, some inevitably get stepped on. But there are those that make it back - make it back into the grasslands....how is that and when do they do it? Whenever I pass them (I try not to step on them), they're just laying there. Maybe they wait until the sun is down and travel at night. Maybe cause they do it at night, they're able to jump back into the grass. Maybe they're Super worms!

Okay - I know my questions are getting out of hand....but honestly, this isn't something that I find worthy of a wikipedia look-up. I'll just sit and wonder and wait for a Pixar animated film about it...the secret lives of worms.