New Zealand flatworm

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 13-08-2018 08:20AM

New Home wrote: »

A few very hot months later... I was wondering if anyone had noticed any difference in the numbers of flatworms they've encountered recently (purely to satisfy my own curiosity).

Now that you raise it, I neither saw any nor heard of any this summer so far.

recedite · 13-08-2018 09:21AM

recedite wrote: »

According to the report above, in warm weather they go deep down into the soil, curl up, and "aestivate"....

The question is, how long would they survive in that state?
Currently the surface layer of the soil is damp, but below about 10 cm its still dry. Presumably its damp again if you go much deeper down.

magicbastarder · 01-09-2018 05:45PM

https://twitter.com/collieennis/status/1035898503170584576

recedite · 02-09-2018 09:05PM

magicbastarder wrote: »

https://twitter.com/collieennis/status/1035898503170584576

I'd be burrowing deep too, if I was being hunted by that guy. Pugilistic zoologists are the worst sort!

taxusbaccata · 06-11-2018 10:21PM

New Home wrote: »

A few very hot months later... I was wondering if anyone had noticed any difference in the numbers of flatworms they've encountered recently (purely to satisfy my own curiosity).

Definately. I am delighted with the cooking they got this summer. I noticed an oven dried flatty during the day and was delighted. I only came across 2 live flats since the summer drought - 1 on my clay paths at night which used to host at least 15 per night at any one time, and 1 hiding in a pot both. Both crushed into fertiliser.

Flatworms cannot burrow like our natives and are reliant on pre existing gaps and holes. Droughts will really set them back. I wonder do frogs eat them? Beetles definitely don't I have observed. The NZ kiwi is its natural predator down south.

New Home · 06-11-2018 10:48PM

I don't know... maybe hedgehogs and blackbirds do? I don't know if ghey have any toxins that would be bad for them, though. I'd say that nematodes and stuff like bacillus thurgiensis might have an effect on them.

vistafinder · 10-11-2018 06:34PM

I checked under all the traps around the garden today and not one to be seen.
Haven't checked them with months.

I spread some home made compost on the beds the compost heap is covered over with black plastic and they are always under it no sign there either or through the compost when I was spreading it. And no eggs there.

Maybe they went to Twickenham.

Will keep an eye more regular for a few months see how it goes.

biddyearley · 08-06-2021 04:13PM

Hens love the buggers.

magicbastarder · 02-05-2024 03:01PM

Thread resurrection. I just moved the bin storage unit (takes two wheelie bins) to clean behind it as it hasn't moved in probably eight years. I found 20 flatworms under it; and loads of eggs, which are quite distinctive.

I threw the first half dozen or so of the worms into the pond, then thought 'i wonder if they can swim?' but then confirmed with the rest of them that they can't swim in boiling water.

TTTT · 05-05-2024 10:04AM

My garden and polytunnel is full of the bastards. I chop them and feed them to the hens and ducks. I rarely find earthworms when digging unfortunately ☹

mossie · 22-04-2026 02:03PM

Resurrecting the thread again. I found 2 of these at the weekend, first in my yard. Is boiling water still the recommended option for sending them to their maker? I'm sure i won't make a dent in the population but every little helps.

New Home · 22-04-2026 03:28PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124413746#Comment_124413746

I usually just put them in a jam jar and leave it in the sun, other people bash them with a stone. If you have hens they'd eat them. Boiling water is as good a method as any, but they do die if the temperature rises above a certain temperature (see old posts), hence my jam jar.

mossie · 22-04-2026 03:33PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124413964#Comment_124413964

Thanks. I don't have any hens so I'll try the jam jar.

Boardnashea · 07-05-2026 02:46PM

Jam jars and boiling water or salt seem like a lot of work. Would stomping on them not be as efficient and no more cruel?

New Zealand flatworm

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