Fascinating Worm Facts
- Some earthworms consume their own weight in a combination of food, water and soil every day.
- Their dry body weight is two-thirds protein. They are low in cholesterol.
- Under ideal conditions two mature worms can multiply to 1500 in a year.
- A worm system 1.0 metre long by 2.0 metres by 30 centimetres deep can cope with the average compostable household waste for a year.
- A well run worm system does not smell offensive.
- In a healthy farm paddock there is more weight of protein below the surface in the form of earth worms and soil organisms than there is on the hoof above the ground.
- Of the 8000 worm breeds in the world 2500 to 3000 are earth worms. The balance live in water. These figures do not include parasitic worms found in the intestines of animals.
- There are around 300 identified species native to Australia and nearly 200 native to New Zealand.
- Worms mate only with worms of their own species.
- Worm eggs - capsules - can survive drought and the coldest Australian and New Zealand winter, provided they are deep enough in the soil or it is well mulched.
- Earthworms have no known diseases.
- The influence on most healthy worm populations by birds is insignificant. The exception being in heavily grazed pasture and wet from winter rain where birds can reduce worm populations by up to 50% potting media.
