this post was submitted on 05 Sep 2023
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What is this thing?

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submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 11 months ago) by Bronohomo to c/whatisthisthing
 

I live in Arizona. These have been coming out in the evening. They are 1-2” long and looking like really skinny earthworms. I took it to the local pest supply store and they had never seen anything like it.

Update: my pest control company had never seen anything like it. They sent some examples to ASU to identify. Turns out they are a type of millipede. Very uncommon in this region.

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[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Did you pick it up, OP? Is it scaly or slimy? If it's scaly, it may be a Western Threadsnake. If it's slimy it's some variety of earthworm.

[–] Bronohomo 7 points 1 year ago

I haven’t picked one up…they are freaking me out. They are about the same diameter as the old iPhone corded earphones…very tiny.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I hope someone will chime in who’s more knowledgeable but, yeah, it looks like an earthworm to me. Just…longer? Not a sewage worm, by chance?

This site may help you match it: https://www.trees.com/gardening-and-landscaping/types-of-earthworms

[–] Bronohomo 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

At first that’s what I thought…I found tubifex worms image online and thought that was it. I’ve also have a recording of one moving…it kinda glides like it has a lot of legs…but it’s so tiny, I can’t tell if it has legs.

[–] peopleproblems 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Is it "gliding " in a wavy pattern, or in a straight line?

A wavy pattern, where it glides like that makes me think it's a threadsnake

[–] Bronohomo 2 points 1 year ago

Hmmm…I’ve seen it move more on the wavy side…reminds me of how a centipede moves.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Looks to me like a juvenile Texas Blind Snake. I'm no reptile expert though, can't tell for sure

https://www.reptilefact.com/texas-blind-snake.html

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yo! I from Phoenix. I lived by some mountains and we'd get baby snakes randomly for a few weeks at a time throughout the year. They look a lot like skinny worms and could range in color from pinkish to dark brown. As to what type of snakes they were, I have no idea.

[–] Bronohomo 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That’s interesting…I live in some foothills around phoenix with a fairly large lake across the street. I was surprised that the pest control had never seen something like it. Last night, I captured 15.

[–] Feirdro 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

How long have you lived in the state?

[–] Bronohomo 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] Feirdro 2 points 1 year ago

Sounds like a climate change symptom, then. We’ve got a lot of critters here we never had before. And a lot are gone we used to have. Well, ok, mostly the latter. But some of the former too.

[–] Thursday 4 points 1 year ago

give it a name.