# Keeping terrestrial planarians?



## GiantVinegaroon (Oct 19, 2009)

While I was collecting soil samples for a class today I happened upon a terrestrial planarian.  I currently have it in a petri dish with a lid and weight.  It's being kept on filter paper dampened with spring water.  However, he's been curled up since I brought him in.  Is this normal?  Should I replace the damp paper with soil?


----------



## Kirk (Oct 19, 2009)

From what I know of them, land planarians are fairly cryptic, and usually prefer to be hidden. They're carnivorous, and require humid conditions. It might be best to keep it in conditions similar to the habitat from where you found it, maybe a small terrarium. But be careful about any openings from which it could escape.


----------



## GiantVinegaroon (Oct 19, 2009)

Kirk said:


> From what I know of them, land planarians are fairly cryptic, and usually prefer to be hidden. They're carnivorous, and require humid conditions. It might be best to keep it in conditions similar to the habitat from where you found it, maybe a small terrarium. But be careful about any openings from which it could escape.


I thought about doing that.  Replicating the habitat.  Shouldn't be hard at all.  Just would involve getting a clump of soil from under the rock it was found under!  I understand they eat earthworms...


----------



## Kirk (Oct 19, 2009)

ScottySalticid said:


> I thought about doing that.  Replicating the habitat.  Shouldn't be hard at all.  Just would involve getting a clump of soil from under the rock it was found under!  I understand they eat earthworms...


Yes, some eat earthworms, and there are some introduced planarian species that appear to be decimating native earthworm populations. They might also feed on small arthropods. Don't be surprised if you never see it once in a terrarium.


----------



## GiantVinegaroon (Oct 19, 2009)

Kirk said:


> Yes, some eat earthworms, and there are some introduced planarian species that appear to be decimating native earthworm populations. They might also feed on small arthropods. Don't be surprised if you never see it once in a terrarium.


Yea I don't expect it to surface in a terrarium...unless maybe I leave dead worms or arthropods at the surface?


----------



## Kirk (Oct 19, 2009)

ScottySalticid said:


> Yea I don't expect it to surface in a terrarium...unless maybe I leave dead worms or arthropods at the surface?


They might prefer live food, and if they do emerge it'll probably be at night.


----------



## P.jasonius (Oct 19, 2009)

You might try a flat rock, or at least a flat-bottomed rock (so you can pick it up and look under it) to put in the keep.  
Do you have pics?  There are some good looking flatworms out there.


----------



## GiantVinegaroon (Oct 19, 2009)

P.jasonius said:


> You might try a flat rock, or at least a flat-bottomed rock (so you can pick it up and look under it) to put it the keep.
> Do you have pics?  There are some good looking flatworms out there.


No pics right now.  I'll try and get some later


----------



## Scythemantis (Oct 20, 2009)

I found over twenty of the shovel-headed predators here in Florida last year, and couldn't get a single one of them to eat. I tried all sizes of earthworm, all kinds of substrate...everything I read online said they were INSATIABLE and could slaughter every worm they come across, but all my earthworms just squirmed around the soil until they died slowly. They should be withered in places and expel a lot of blood if the planarians attack them.

You may be pleased to know, though, that I saw my worms crawling around all the time after nightfall, even under electric lighting. Maybe they can only detect natural sunlight?

A few species aren't carnivorous, mind you. If it has a spade-shaped head and a long body it probably is, but there are some stringy and leaf-shaped species whose diets are harder to research.


----------



## GiantVinegaroon (Oct 20, 2009)

Well I got some soil from underneath the rock I discovered him under.  I dropped in a small earthworm yesterday and hadn't seen it while sifting the soil to see how he was doing.


----------



## dtknow (Oct 20, 2009)

Interesting. That sounds like it'd be a neat addition to a viv with a worm problem. Do they leave bad slime trails? I remember trying to feed these to various animals and they excrete a viscous slime that gums them up or tries to.


----------



## Kirk (Oct 20, 2009)

Scythemantis said:


> I found over twenty of the shovel-headed predators here in Florida last year, and couldn't get a single one of them to eat. I tried all sizes of earthworm, all kinds of substrate...everything I read online said they were INSATIABLE and could slaughter every worm they come across, but all my earthworms just squirmed around the soil until they died slowly. They should be withered in places and expel a lot of blood if the planarians attack them.
> 
> You may be pleased to know, though, that I saw my worms crawling around all the time after nightfall, even under electric lighting. Maybe they can only detect natural sunlight?
> 
> A few species aren't carnivorous, mind you. If it has a spade-shaped head and a long body it probably is, but there are some stringy and leaf-shaped species whose diets are harder to research.


The most common call I get regarding worm sitings in southern California are for the introduced planarian, _Bipalium kewense_. These have been distributed through much of the southern US. I added this page to my site to give a bit of info on them.


----------



## Galapoheros (Oct 20, 2009)

I liked reading that page on your site.  The first time I saw that species of Flatworm in Texas was when I was a kid in the late 60's, in Houston after a rain.  They were climbing up the sliding glass door, I thought they were really cool and have seen some since in Bryan tx and San Marcos tx.  Good info on the Horsehair worm too for me.  When I was a kid, I would go to the local golf course during a flood and once found a puddle full of a bunch of those Horsehair worms, some white, some brown with a dark tip.  I "thought" they were terrestrial/burrowers and tried to keep them that way, didn't realize the adults where aquatic.


----------



## GiantVinegaroon (Oct 20, 2009)

dtknow said:


> Interesting. That sounds like it'd be a neat addition to a viv with a worm problem. Do they leave bad slime trails? I remember trying to feed these to various animals and they excrete a viscous slime that gums them up or tries to.


Most planarians are like that.  They don't have a complete gut tract so it's possible that nitrogenous wastes are excreted through the skin and get trapped in the slime, making them taste bad.


----------



## Techuser (Oct 20, 2009)

There are also some non-burrowers planarians, those arent predators are they? I  use to see a colored species in tree trunks


----------



## Kirk (Oct 20, 2009)

Techuser said:


> There are also some non-burrowers planarians, those arent predators are they? I  use to see a colored species in tree trunks


Most species are carnivorous, but I don't have a count on which that are terrestrial might be herbivores, if at all. I've seen some in tropical habitats that are visible during the day, but this is probably more a matter of high humidity allowing for more venturesome excursions.


----------



## GiantVinegaroon (Oct 20, 2009)

Kirk said:


> Most species are carnivorous, but I don't have a count on which that are terrestrial might be herbivores, if at all. I've seen some in tropical habitats that are visible during the day, but this is probably more a matter of high humidity allowing for more venturesome excursions.


That's what I'd guess.  I don't really think any are herbivorous


----------



## Finntroll86 (Oct 21, 2009)

Some are decomposers or rather all can eat dead organism? Also how big is the one you found?

I guess if you wanted a colony just break out the knife lol.


----------



## Galapoheros (Oct 21, 2009)

Haha, actually I tried that one time but I couldn't get it to work, none made it.  Only tried it with a couple though.


----------



## Finntroll86 (Oct 21, 2009)

Galapoheros said:


> Haha, actually I tried that one time but I couldn't get it to work, none made it.  Only tried it with a couple though.


Lame! Which way did you cut? vertically or horizontally? I wonder if only few species of flatworms can do it, or if it needs perfect environmental conditions(nutrients, temp, bacteria/protozoan free, etc.) to do so.


----------



## Galapoheros (Oct 21, 2009)

lol well, I'm thinking that they need good enviro conditions AND you need to do it right.  I took a biology class in college where we sliced down the center of the head of Planaria, not many made it.  Then one day, by myself I was hunting around the San Marcos tx river floodplain for "anything" and found several of the big flatworms under rotting logs.  I tried it with those and I couldn't get it to work, they just retracted, where the "head" almost disappeared ...not that it can't happen though.


----------



## dtknow (Oct 21, 2009)

Supposedly if you cut the incision correctly you can end up with two headed/tailed planarian.


----------



## blazetown (Oct 22, 2009)

Interesting thread....but I still wanna kill half the planarians and other 'worms' on the planet....

P.S. you should name it Flat Head the googly eyed wiggly worm


----------



## Scythemantis (Oct 27, 2009)

blazetown said:


> Interesting thread....but I still wanna kill half the planarians and other 'worms' on the planet....


Huh? I've never heard of anybody having anything against planarians.


----------



## blazetown (Oct 27, 2009)

Actually there not that offensive at all. I hate the worms that Kirk studies lol...and anything parasitic.


----------



## Kirk (Oct 27, 2009)

blazetown said:


> Actually there not that offensive at all. I hate the worms that Kirk studies lol...and anything parasitic.


Then I'm sure you'll love my pics in this thread.


----------



## saltyscissors (Oct 27, 2009)

When down the marsh in my area, I sometimes find horse leeches (predatory). Beautiful creatures, think they'd be hard to care for?
Oh and planarians look really awesome. They look like little hammer-head jelly snakes. .


----------



## GiantVinegaroon (Oct 28, 2009)

Finntroll86 said:


> Some are decomposers or rather all can eat dead organism? Also how big is the one you found?
> 
> I guess if you wanted a colony just break out the knife lol.


I don't know if they eat dead organisms.  I offered a piece of a worm that broke free when I tried picking it up to feed my frog.  He moved his head but just went under the soil.

GOOD NEWS: He DID eat a live earthworm the other day...that was fun to watch as he wrapped around it kinda like a snake.  That piece of worm is now mush and is being eaten by the little collembola in the soil.

As for his size...not too sure...I haven't tried measuring him, and he's very elastic...which makes me what exactly qualifies for a precise measuremant of a planarian...

I can say he's stretched his body out over 2 inches while holding onto worms though.


----------



## GiantVinegaroon (Oct 28, 2009)

dtknow said:


> Supposedly if you cut the incision correctly you can end up with two headed/tailed planarian.


I've only seen this done with aquatic planarians.  I've seen there are papers on regeneration of terrestrials, and they say it's been done and the process takes about two or three weeks.  I am contemplating going out and collecting a few more to try this out(definitely not gonna risk the one I've grown attached too lol).


----------



## GiantVinegaroon (Oct 28, 2009)

blazetown said:


> Interesting thread....but I still wanna kill half the planarians and other 'worms' on the planet....
> 
> P.S. you should name it Flat Head the googly eyed wiggly worm


He doesn't have eyespots :}


----------



## blazetown (Oct 29, 2009)

Kirk said:


> Then I'm sure you'll love my pics in this thread.


I don't know how you could stand that. I would have ripped it off and stomped it to mush lol. The only time I cant stand touching them is when I'm putting it on a hook as bait.


----------

