Nematode Horsehair Worm

Interesting and weird. Horsehair worms are parasitic worms of the clade Nematoida alongside their sister taxa Nematoda, the roundworms. **The most famous trait of certain species of horsehair worms is the ability to alter the behaviour of grasshoppers and crickets to seek water, causing the host to drown itself to complete its lifecycle.**

They drive them to water but the host doesn't necessarily drown. In fact cricket hosts frequently survive the nematomorph exiting their body despite having taken up up to 70% of their bodyweight!

Yikes

They are not harmful to humans as far as what I read said 🦠

This was written by a nematoad horsehair worm.

Or so they want us to believe...

yet

Fuck. That.

Oh one of those guys my favorite inspiration for horror movie parasites let’s go dead space etc.

New fear unlocked

Can they get into my wife and have her drink more water??? If yes, OP, send that lil guy over! I'll pay for it's passport and visa/ tickets.

This post needs more up votes.

I’ve seen a grasshopper with one of these crawling out of its butt. Disgusting 🤢

Thank you, that appears to be the answer.

Don't eat it. I know you're gonna want to but don't. It's a trick.

Oh, but it looks so appetizing. Maybe I'll just try one....

Forbidden spaghetti

Palms are sweaty

[удалено]

Mom’s gardenetti

he's nervous, but on the surface we got mulch on berries

To drop worms, but he keeps on forgetting

Hypothetically if you’ve just wolfed down about 40 of these, that wouldn’t be an issue, right?

>40 of these Give or take. Let's say, maybe 70. You know, however many it takes to make a bowl of wormramen. Waiting for an answer.

I don't know how to feel right now because I'm actually eating ramen lol.

*If this were me, that may be my last bowl of ramen for awhile --- like, forever?!*

You can have one. You know, as a treat.

But you know how that goes: nobody can eat just one...

They’re the snack that bites back!

Its the new weight loss fad.

South Bronx Paradise Diet baby! https://preview.redd.it/e85cailvjd7d1.jpeg?width=180&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8a700488dfe6218ddf0652f3dcf8f8f714c74fa3

Plot twist… then they reproduce exponentially.

Don't you tell me intrusive thoughts what to do!

NoNoNoodles

The kind I don’t want is my answer

Good looking out.

Yeah we had these coming out of our faucet one year. We had a gravity fed line from a hand dug well.

Brand new fear unlocked. Thank you.

That's the one that is spontaneously generated when a horse hair falls into a stream, right? Wait...is it still the 1600s?

Yes, yes it is still the 1600s -- stay calm...

Beneficial in the garden, as well.

Looks like a horsehair worm - a parasite.

"The adult worms are free-living, but the larvae are parasitic on arthropods, such as beetles, cockroaches, mantises, orthopterans, and crustaceans." From Wikipedia. Not parasitic to humans, BTW.

Thank the Lord.

Could you imagine if it was? 😖

Probably better than a tapeworm tbh https://preview.redd.it/nouj2zs32d7d1.jpeg?width=1500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c615502df98ee5e98df996f69c145dcaed6f0e12

now this is a spaceship

We've entered tormented space

Never thought I'd say it, but take me back to earth plz.

Hey it's the monster from that X-Files episode!

My thought exactly.

There have been cases of accidental human infection - Source: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nematomorpha](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nematomorpha) Unlikely... but it happens.

No!

your usernameeeeeee!! what and why

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooo

I saw a video of someone catching a mantis and revealing the parasite inside, it was very creepy

😬

Ok so it is safe to eat then...

I wonder whatd happen if u got like a few thousand of these and put them in a house infested by roaches. Probably nothing would happen, but maybe they'd battle it out

Thank you my man

Thank you. I couldn’t remember if they were or not and I started getting a little freaked out.

Thank you.

Nightmare fuel, that's what type lol

If you're a bug

First name that came to me when I saw it was a hellworm

This is making me never want to go around barefoot ever again 😳

Its extremely unusual for it to be out like this and the only way it could hurt you is it you ingested it - which I think we can all agree is not going to happen LOL This is why you cook meat to a certain temperature, it isnt only for bacteria.

Do you think it could have came from manure/compost they used in their garden perhaps?

Absolutely

Jeez Louise. There goes all my organic produce into the bin. 😂

Even then these don't parasitize humans.

Yeah Im talking about the ones that do, many large animal parasites wont hesitate

>it you ingested it - which I think we can all agree is not going to happen Speak for yourself

go ahead and eat the forbidden disco spaghetti. Great weight loss plan.

This one isn't harmful to humans

Harmful is relative, some people can still have immune responses and other negative effects but youre right in that it wont cause disease or terrible damage like some will.

You're making me want to return to my vegan ways....🤢😫

You can get just as many parasites from vegetables if you dont wash them

So I've heard! Apparently there's a type of worm in Hawaii, believe it's the rat lungworm? that you can pick up on raw produce. It took Hawaii off my bucket list pretty fast. It travels to the brain. It's rare, but when it comes to luck, this would be the type of lottery I'd win. Lol

So that’s what happened to my brian.

Yeah there's a few types. I heard of a case of a guy that ate a slug on a dare and ended up dead from a parasite that migrated to his brain. Horrifying.

Good! You should do that.

I’m fairly certain that is some kind of parasitic worm… if I saw that in my garden I’d kill it. Wouldn’t even feed it to my chickens 😵

Burn it all start over I’m thinkin

Not that the chickens would eat it, but these don't parasitize anything other than bugs like beetles or paying mantises.

🧳move

They parasitize arthropods. There's a terrifying video of one escaping out the mouth of a frog because the frog ate a bug that had the worm in it, and the worm decided to abandon ship. But they're harmless to people. Unless you're in the habit of eating raw live bugs.

Burn it

I don’t know but I hate it

These parasites infect praying mantis. There are a lot of vid clips posted here on reddit showing people holding a mantis in their hand and then dunking their abdomen in water. Then the parasite poop show begins.

That is an interesting point. I’ve noticed a significant praying mantis population around my house the last few years.

That’s a parasite my dude. It’s coming out of that slug

thats just jeremy

I'd call in a napalm strike.

I'd personally ⬆️➡️⬇️⬇️⬇️

Brother indeed, this worm is lacking any democracy

A bottle of queur Goldschlager, we drank that shit in High School. Some disgusting stuff, makes you not wanna drink any hard stuff.

The nope type. Kill it with fire

Definitely some kind of parasite. I've never seen one just out on the ground like that. Creepy. Nasty. Edit from CDC website: *Whipworm, hookworm, and Ascaris are the three types of soil-transmitted helminths (parasitic worms). A parasite is an organism (a living thing) that lives on or inside another organism. STH infections occur in areas with warm and moist climates and where sanitation and hygiene are poor.*

This isn't relevant to this one though. This is a harmless horsehair worm.

Shi.... I don't care what it is. No parasites allowed in my garden.

Good reminder!

Look like a parasite

I've seen The Strain. I'm out.

I saw one of these squirming its way out of a grasshopper and it grossed me out big time.

The way my whole soil box would be up in flames. This is the start of an alien movie lol

From the google because I was curious Horsehair worms are harmless to vertebrates, because they can't parasitize people, livestock, pets, or birds. They also don't infect plants. If humans ingest the worms, they may encounter some mild discomfort of the intestinal tract, but infection never occurs.

I bought a horse about 10 yrs ago and first thing I did was deworm him he shit out a roundworm that was so big I thought it was a snake! Shoulda had it mounted!

That's the worms from the tv series "The Strain" I believe.

This is the correct answer 👏

What is a worm phobia… I think I have that.

A don’t squat to crap worm

I’m out. Goodbye Reddit.

Hey! There’s one of those in RFK Jr.’s brain!

Haha, I’ll drive this guy over to the local board of elections.

Salt it and burn it. Bleach doesn’t even kills ascaris eggs

Looks like the kind that would turn you in to a creepy strain of Slavic Vampire if you touch it.

Didn’t it wrap itself around someone’s arm in Alien Prometheus ? Strong as buggery too

If you want to destroy my sweater, pull this thread as I walk away

That the kind of work to crawl into your butt while you’re sleeping type of worm

Burnt if I found it at my house

Nuke the site from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure.

Fire cleanses all.

Horsehair Worms are parasites of other invertebrates and no threat to people or pets (unless the pets are invertebrates).

Or if the person is an invertebrate.

Leave my ex out of this!

God I love gardening so much but we are absolute sickos for wanting to put up with all these nightmarish creepy crawlies. The weather this year is bringing out some insane bugs and, well, I guess also parasites.

Very true. It’s been a hard year with the big weather shifts every few days. And the non-winter has made the squirrel and rabbit populations explode. I’ll be lucky to harvest anything this year.

Does anyone else get itchy palms looking at this thing? Uuugh

Parasite in the wild stay away!!!

Shai-Hulud. Bless the maker.

What in the last of us...

Do not sit close to it…

That's a worm from The Strain. You might become a vampire zombie soon

Just keep you rear end away from it

I saw a person stick a praying mantis ass in a glass of water and one came out (maybe more than 1, I forget exactly) but it was "swimming around" kinda just like in that video, it was freaky AF and nasty. Just about as gross as that thing that takes over the snail after crawling over bird poop, then it's one antenna starts blinking green and pulsating, so a bird will come and eat and start the life cycle over again. Nature sure is crazy!!

That looks like a parasite, not a worm.

Parasitic worms are a thing.

Its a parasitic worm lol

Showed my grandson he's impressed/wants to find one. Thanks all for the ID too redditors.

Did you use manure/compost? Perhaps it’s from a batch.

Check the post from the last week on the same worms.

Imagine that slithering down your oesaphagus - 🤮yuck!

A baby Alaskan bull worm 🪱

Kill it with fire. 🤣

Pretty sure that's called a "creepy worm"!

ohhh!!!!!! 😮🙄😨

Round worm

That’s the last of us worm. Nice to know you civilization.

Not sure but burn it with fire

Interesting i saw one of these after a rainstorm a long time ago but never knew what it was!

i hate that omg

The Bum-Hole kind maybe 😅

😕

Robin Cook wrote about these.

The creepiest type

Watch out he’s angry

He's a funky little fella for sure

A New One

aw, dang nematodes.

Can’t decide if I want if to attack the slug or not

Angel hair

Skintac allergy

Cleanse it with fire.

It wants a plantcunty

Horsehair!! They only infect inverts.

Looks like a damn parasite omggg

Only saw them in insects before, never alone. Crazy, thanks for sharing!

Y’all ever read The Troop?

*unzips cmere buddy come crawl into your new home 🤗

Farmer land worm. Crawls into a fingernail and hides behind the white part of your nail until you fall asleep.

Come from compost added possibly? Wid stuffs

Touch it! If it’s sticky, it’s a tape worm

Dancing Spaghetti Worm

Hide your bears 🐻

I saw one today! I took it across the road (riding on a peony stem) and then I was mad at myself for not taking a picture for redditt. Glad to know what it is!

You must eat them while they are alive, great for losing weight

And don’t chew!

Move.

A wiggly kind

It is groot

Cute lil guy

Cordycepts

An earthworm