[viettaclark]

I'm hoping I haven't eaten something BAD!!!
I was picking the last of the strawbs and some of the big ones had been slugged which doesn't bother me and I pop the odd one in whilst picking.
However I noticed these tiny white worms, about 1cm long and as thin as a piece of thread that were living in the slug holes. They were very similar to the thread worms the kids got when younger (but thinner) and I'm pretty sure I ate some!!
Has anyone any idea what they are and whether they'll infect me?

[sunshineband]

Unlikely to infect you Vietta as you are not made of the same material as a strawberry, so no worries on that count.

Your normal stomach acids would have finshed them off pronto.

As for what they were, not sure but I'll have a think.


I reckon they are what we called pot worms as a child. Thye live in soil and eat the same kind of things as earthworms, so were probably on the strawberry as the slug had started the damage already.

They wouldn't go on an undamaged fruit.

Hope that is reassuring 

[Aunt Sally]

They would be nematodes, vietta. 

Quite harmless to you and very important and benificial to the soil

[Paul Plots]

What is important (now you've had the "all-clear") is whether or not they tasted nice. 

[viettaclark]

Strawbs were lovely after this hot spell but I think you'd need a few hundred worms to suss out THEIR flavour!!
Thanks for your replies....I thought they might be nematodes. Shame they're not the slug munching ones....

[Salmo]

Most nematodes are invisible to the naked eye. Yours may well be tiny earthworms.

[JayG]

I was thinking "spotted snake millipedes" which are very fond of carrying on the good work started by slugs (although they do of course have pinkish spots rather than being completely white.)

As the saying goes, "It's all free extra protein"!   

[savbo]

I seem to remember from one of my old textbooks that if you took away everything in the world but left the nematodes where they were, you could still make out the shape of continents, forests and cities, and there would be wiggly columns where the humans were as we have so many in our bodies...

I'll get me coat....

[Aunt Sally]

Most nematodes are invisible to the naked eye. Yours may well be tiny earthworms.

They could be earthworms which are about half an inch in length when they hatch.

Soil nematodes range in size from 0.3–3 mm

[Paul Plots]

I was thinking "spotted snake millipedes" which are very fond of carrying on the good work started by slugs (although they do of course have pinkish spots rather than being completely white.)

As the saying goes, "It's all free extra protein"!   

This sprang to mind:


The Microbe
The Microbe is so very small
You cannot make him out at all,
But many sanguine people hope
To see him through a microscope.
His jointed tongue that lies beneath
A hundred curious rows of teeth;
His seven tufted tails with lots
Of lovely pink and purple spots,
On each of which a pattern stands,
Composed of forty separate bands;
His eyebrows of a tender green;
All these have never yet been seen--
But Scientists, who ought to know,
Assure us that they must be so....
Oh! let us never, never doubt
What nobody is sure about!
Hillaire Belloc

[slugwarrior]

hi,  i would concur about them being spotted snake millipedes.  i get loads of them in my spuds.  something a bit unervving about them all uncurling and wriggling out of a hole.  I tried to put a photo on but alas technology fails me.  if you type it into google images there are plenty of photos that would help identify them.  usually they just look off white but in the close up photos they are actually quite pretty really.......

[Aunt Sally]

Fascinating - I've not come across them before but I expect I'll see loads now 

[viettaclark]

No...not milipede, no legs. I think they were baby pot or white worms. They feed on acidic stuff so strawberries fit the bill!
Whatever...I'm not going to peg it! I didn't really think I would. The amount of garden I eat (yum) it's amazing I never get any stomach probs.....

[sunshineband]

No...not milipede, no legs. I think they were baby pot or white worms. They feed on acidic stuff so strawberries fit the bill!
Whatever...I'm not going to peg it! I didn't really think I would. The amount of garden I eat (yum) it's amazing I never get any stomach probs.....

My dad always said you have to eat a peck of dirt before you'd go..... he didn't actually mention volume of small invertebrates, but I'm guessing it would be pretty massive overall   

[hamstergbert]

Nobody likes me, everybody hates me
Think I'll go and eat worms.
Short fat hairy ones, great long skinny ones
See how they wriggle and squirm!
Bite the heads off, suck all the juice out
Throw the empty skins away,
Nobody Likes me, everybody hates me
So I eat worms all day!


(Audience participation classy singalong - with suitable actions and slurping sounds - from last winter's Burley in Wharfedale panto!)