"Lowly" Earthworms

Every time I wonder what I'm going to write about, someone either emails me or calls about something that gives me inspiration. This time it was the woman who emailed me about my fruit fly blog and mentioned that she raises earthworms and wondered if we needed any. Not many people can say they need earthworms, but we actually do! We use them to feed some of our animals, we use them for our fishing camps and our educator has a worm farm at one of the local Community Centers. What is a worm farm for, you might ask? Not to make worms for other animals to eat usually, although that can be a reason to have a worm farm. But many people do it to get compost. If you add bedding, worms, and food scraps to a container the worms will eat the food scraps and turn them into compost. Compost makes a great, nutrient-rich soil that is perfect for growing plants. They are critical recyclers in nature too by breaking down organic material like like dead plants, poo, and dead animals. In doing this they make valuable nutrients that are essential for soil to be fertile.

There are several types of Earthworms (not all of them are good candidates to live and grow in worm farms):

Nightcrawlers-Are a common earthworm in the North and are the ones seen in fields and lawns at night. They are often used as fishing bait, but they supposedly aren't that easy to raise since they reproduce slowly and require special conditions to breed.
Field Worms (aka Garden Worms)- Also make good fish bait and are smaller than nightcrawlers, but also not good to farm.
Manure Worms (also called Red Wigglers since they tend to squirm when handled)- Are easy to raise and so are one of the favorites of worm farmers.
Red worms (are another type of manure worm)- Are smaller and lighter than the manure worms and are the other type that people raise.

Raising Earthworms means you need to know a little bit about their reproduction. You might remember from your high school science class that they are kinda freaky because Earthworms are usually hermaphroditic (each individual has both male and female reproductive organs), although like some other hermaphrodites, they don't usually self-fertilize. A mutual exchange of sperm occurs between two worms during mating, then mature sperm and egg cells and nutritive fluid are put into cocoons. The eggs are fertilized by the sperm cells within the cocoon, which then slips off the worm and is put in (or on) the soil. The eggs hatch after about 3 weeks, each cocoon producing from two to twenty baby worms with an average of four.

I believe that Earthworms are underappreciated. They've been around for 120 million years. In the time of the Pharoahs the famous Cleopatra said they were sacred and Aristotle called them "the intestines" of the soil. Charles Darwin said of Earthworms "It may be doubted whether there are many other animals in the world which have played so important a part in the history of the world...." True, for without Earthworms and their chewing their way through the dead stuff on Earth (and then pooping out their nutrient-filled castings), and without them crawling through and aerating our soil, we would have virtually useless soil for crops. And we all depend on crops as the base of our food chain. So next time you see the "lowly" Earthworm, instead of saying "yuck", say "thanks."

Paco the Parrot

We got another parrot. Yes, we are crazy. That's partly why we work where we do. It is hard for us to say no to animals that need homes. Paco was at a good home that couldn't care for him anymore, just like TJ, our other African Gray Parrot. TJ is a Congo African Gray, Paco is a Timneh African Gray. The Congos are a bit larger with red tails and all black beaks, the smaller Timnehs have maroon tails and pale upper mandibles. Both are near threatened in their native Africa.

Paco seems to be a more accepting soul than TJ. TJ likes a few people. Paco likes everyone. TJ bites a lot. Paco doesn't bite at all, at least not hard. Paco is here on a trial basis though. He had developed a habit of feather picking with his original owner and we are hoping his feathers start growing back, a sign that he is doing well here. Birds pick their feathers for a variety of reasons, and Paco's owner thought it was due to stress from one of their family members having a serious illness. His lack of feathers does make him cute. And harder to resist (see picture above). But we want him to be less stressed and more stimulated and start looking like an African Gray again!

Right now, he's doing pretty well. We are spending time with him, he has other bird buddies down where his cage is, and he loves to sit in the sun. He has been trying a variety of foods, including lots of fresh fruit and vegetables, which might also help his feather situation. I will keep people updated, but a few positive thoughts for Paco as he learns to adjust to his life here after 12 years somewhere else would be appreciated.

Pesky Fruit Flies

We have pesky fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster), lots of them. The Genus name Drosophila translates to "lover of dew" which is definitly reflective of their habitat requirements- they need moisture. They also need warmer temperatures to survive and reproduce. I never knew they could thrive inside all through the year outside of a Genetics lab until I worked at Tanglewood. Why do we have a fruit fly problem? Because we have rotting food here and there. Not because we are gross, unsanitary people, but because we have animals that we feed rotting vegetation to, namely hissing cockroaches and giant millipedes (animals that are decomposers). Rotting food is a favorite of the fruit fly since it is moist and, well, food.

I am quite familiar with fruit flies, I have looked at many of them really close up, and I have delved into their "private lives" as has anyone who has taken Genetics in college. I spent some time crossing several varieties of fruit flies (wild type with mutant wingless, dumpys, others I don't remember). We had to feed them special fruit fly food. I'm not sure what it was made of, but it looked like instant potato flakes until you added water, then it turned blue and semi-solid. It had a unique smell that I still haven't quite forgotten. Fly Nap, the substance used to knock out the flies (but hopefully not kill them) while you were moving them or observing them under the microscope, also has a unique smell, but I shouldn't know that. Never sniff Fly Nap...

We had to use virgin females in our mating experiments. Making sure a fruit fly is a virgin isn't easy and you don't have much time to capture virgins. You basically had to know their life cycle and be hanging around the genetics lab when you estimated they might hatch out (which could be at 2am), and get them before they mate since they are ready to mate 12 hours from when they hatch. Getting them as soon as you can after they hatch gives your experiments a better chance of being accurate.

I used to feel sorry for the flies we used in our genetic experiments. We were supposed to "dispose of" them in a killing jar when we were done with them. I always let mine free in a rogue "save the animals" type mission that took place when the professor wasn't around (sorry Dr. Kline). Now I am kind of regretting adding to the fruit fly population. We spend quite a bit of time here figuring out how to get rid of them. The best way we've found is to cut a plastic pop bottle, put liquid and/or a banana in the bottom, invert the top and place it into the bottom to make a funnel. You tape the sides and place the trap where the fruit flies are. They go to the banana/liquid (which can be cider vinegar, fruit juice) and get caught in the funnel and die. Maybe they die happy because they were eating? That is what I tell myself anyways, after all I saved hundreds of them back in the 90's, so can't be considered a real hater of the fruit fly, can I?