Worms in water buckets

[JillA]

I didn't take a photo, I was too keen to get them emptied and gone, but this morning Caspar and Sabria each had a few thin black worms at the bottom of their water buckets. No poo or other contamination, the water was clear except for the odd bit of straw. About the thickness of a thin cable and about 2 - 3 inches long, alive and moving. Anyone had any similar, or know where they came from? No sign of any more when I refilled the buckets under the tap, unless they were in egg form. We have mains water to the tap. If there are more this morning I will try and take a photo.

 

[binkymerlin]

we do... turns out it was the birds washing the mud off the worms before they ate them. but sometimes the birds would loose grip and drop them. we watch this most days

 

[JillA]

Thanks for that - in indoor stables inside a barn? There is a resident robin, I wonder if he is the culprit................the one tub that was in a corner half hidden by a rug hanging on its rail didn't contain any, so could be.

 

[Archiepoo]

worms can survive in fresh water cos they absorb the oxygen from it so dont panic! ,just fish them out and send them on their wiggly way

 

[its_noodles]

we do... turns out it was the birds washing the mud off the worms before they ate them. but sometimes the birds would loose grip and drop them. we watch this most days

Interesting. I think u should video it and post it here...

 

[braindead]

They could possibly be leeches. Leeches are black

 

[MochaDun]

Was this stable or field? I occasionally find the odd earthworm in the bottom of my stable bucket - I assume they fall in from the roof of the stable block, the roofs are bit leaky so very damp and there's lots of moss and vegetation growing on roof and in gutters where blocked so like an aerial habitat for the worms. Not had black ones though..

 

[indie999]

I always had earth worms in the water trough I never knew how they got there. When I had a good clean out lots of baby ones in the bottom too. I would safely fish them out. The big large ones were normally dead but loads of babies wriggling! I know the pigeons were often drinking and I sort of guessed either they fell in somehow? Anyone know? It looked quite a healthy lot of worms. but they werent black??

 

[braindead]

Do they look like this?
http://www.wildflowerapothecary.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/leeches1.jpg

 

[Spiritedly]

They could possibly have been mosquito larvae.

 

[JillA]

Do they look like this?
http://www.wildflowerapothecary.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/leeches1.jpg

No, I don't think they were flat nor that they had a clear "head". They seemed to be pointy at both ends. In the stable, Mochadun, but they were definitely not earthworms. There weren't any this morning.

 

[langtonhighway]

I too reckon they are brought by birds, mostly.

One other thing to be aware of in the summer is that if you put yellow water bins out in your field, it attracts bumble bees, which then drown

So sad to see several dead bees in your horse's water when you go to re-fill it. The other colours don't seem to attract them so much, but they make a bee line (sorry) for the yellow ones. I

I always put a little ladder of meadowsweet or long grass drooping over the side to give them something to climb out of.

 

[indie999]

I also had little flat bugs that would dart around(I am sure they belong in a pond). Mine were definitely earth worm babies? I did get the all lengths and would fish out as many as possible. I definitely had no leeches. Yes I too rescued many bumble bees and my containers are black. But no idea what the OP ones were? The worms were usually at the bottom in the muck(usually bird muck). It was a self filler type system and when i gave it a major scrub the bugs were all living at the bottom.