[whistler]

I was out in the garden raking leaves this afternoon and under a large leaf was what I first thought of as a very large slug.  It was dark grey with a paler underside, it had a kinda hammerhead and a tapered end. It was hard at first to see how long it was as it was well buried, one of my chickens managed to pull it out and it was maybe 5" - 6" long and about 1" wide and very flat.  My chicken pecked it a bit but didn't want to eat it so I put in my council compost bin.   It was not a slow worm or a glow worm.

Anybody got any idea what it is?

[WG.]

Oh dear - sounds like a New Zealand flatworm

[WG.]

Check this : http://www.chat.allotment-garden.org/viewtopic.php?p=100776#100776

[mashauk]

Sorry to be ignorant (before someone extracts the michael), but are earthworms just common or garden - um garden worms, and what's the difference between them and compost worms?

[gobs]

Earth worms(plenty of types of) live in your garden soil, worms in your compost live in compost or manure. But what's referred to here is flat worms, who live in your garden soil and eat earth worms. In the short.

[Aunt Sally]

Oh dear - sounds like a New Zealand flatworm

Sounds like it to me too  :shock:

[Selkie]

How wide spread are they now in the UK?

Not sure if they've made it here yet.

[WG.]

Your wetter climate suits them better Dewey.  They are certainly loads in Ulster

[Selkie]

Oh no....I don't think we've got any in the area though (yet), nasty things.

[gobs]

Someone please explain.

This link says flatworm eat 1or 2 earthworms a week, other creatures we have been having around for centuries do eat more in an hour. Why do we need to be worried?

[WG.]

Because they can virtually wipe out the population and then stay in limbo to strike again as others move in.

[gobs]

Because they can virtually wipe out the population and then stay in limbo to strike again as others move in.

Thanks, so that would assume they multiply very fast then, I must have missed that bit. I mean to wipe out eating one-two a week you need a lot of flatworms.

[Selkie]

Because they can virtually wipe out the population and then stay in limbo to strike again as others move in.

Do any predators eat the flatworms?