ATLANTA — While in recent years it's been suggested you kill the invasive, snake-like Hammerhead worm, in Georgia that's not necessarily the case.
"These worms are harmless to people and pets. And in fact, they are helping to control the invasive Asian jumping worm that is displacing our native earthworms, the Nightcrawlers," Dr. Nancy Hinkle, a Veterinary Entomologist at the University of Georgia explained.
Hammerhead worms prey on earthworms. Ashley Morgan-Olvera, Director of Research and Education at Texas Invasive Species Institute said the problem is the importance of earthworms in our ecosystem.
"They're not exactly native themselves. They were brought over hundreds of years ago. And just like our environments have adapted to honeybees, a lot of our environments have adapted to the presence of earthworms, particularly areas that we reside in that we're trying to grow plants or grow food in particular, Morgan-Olvera said.
She added: "So if earthworms are suddenly eliminated from the environment, that means the nutrients that they cycle, the nutrients that they provide isn't there. So if our plants suddenly didn't have earthworms to provide nutrients, it could cause our plants to die."
Morgan-Olvera said their team encourages people to kill any Hammerhead worm they come across.
"If you're worried about even touching them, just have a spray bottle of vinegar while you're out in your yard," Morgan-Olvera said.
She explained the vinegar "instantly destroys them."
"So it's a quick and efficient method and something that you can do every time you're out in the yard," she said.
Dr. Hinkle said the only problem with that in Georgia, is the Hammerhead worm is beneficial in helping control the Asian jumping worm.
"Most of the earthworms in Georgia are invasive earthworms. They're out competing our native earthworms. So something that's controlling these interlopers is actually good. Yes, the hammerhead worm is also an invasive, but it's been here over a hundred years," Dr. Hinkle said.
She added: "It's doing us a benefit by controlling the pest earthworms that we find in Georgia."
In case you're wondering, yes, the Asian jumping worm can actually jump.
"These are very twisty and very active, and they will actually jump without legs," Dr. Hinkle said.
Both Dr. Hinckle and Morgan-Olvera stressed that the Hammerhead worm for the most part is harmless. The worst thing that may happen is an allergic reaction such as a rash. They both reiterated if you do touch a Hammerhead worm, you need to wash your hands immediately afterwards.
Morgan-Olvera also said to make sure you don't try to cut the worm into two pieces.
"If you cut it in half, it could become two worms," she said. "So that's not how you handle them."