A wild goose chase, or a wild worm chase to be more exact
@AbbyGreenhill (45496)
United States
July 20, 2016 12:13pm CST
Yesterday we were in the pool enjoying ourselves. All of a sudden my husband got the net and pulled something from the bottom of the pool. He put it on the cement area and it looked like a string - but it was moving...it was rather creepy. I didn't take a photo of it, but I will provide a link so you can see what it looked like.
He had a hard time killing it. It was about 7 to 8 inches long, very thin, dark brown and the 'tail' part moved. It took several hits with a piece of wood to kill it. About 20 minutes later my husband asked if I knew what a tape worm looked it. He thought maybe whatever this was had somehow come out of Ruby.
By then I was worried so I got out of the pool, changed clothes and head to the commuter. I looked up tapeworm, but the thing from the pool was not a tape worm.
So I Googled, 'long thing brown worm' and came up with a horsehair worm. Yes, the photo matched the 'thing' from the pool. I read up on this horsehair worm and reassured my husband it didn't 'come out of Ruby'!
Of course when we went in the pool earlier we both looked around to see if there were any more - thank goodness the one yesterday was it!
You can read about this interesting worm here:
Horsehair Worms (cabbagehair, gordiid or gordian worm), Gordiacea (Nematomorphora) Habitat: These active, long, thread-like roundworms are occasionally found on sidewalks or patios, in water-troughs and domestic water supplies, on cabbage plants and garden
13 people like this
12 responses
@JohnRoberts (109857)
• Los Angeles, California
20 Jul 16
That is still creepy. Some long worm in your pool.
2 people like this
@AbbyGreenhill (45496)
• United States
20 Jul 16
I'm surprised I didn't have a nightmare about it.
1 person likes this
@LadyDuck (457559)
• Switzerland
21 Jul 16
@AbbyGreenhill It surely was a very big grasshopper.
1 person likes this
@AbbyGreenhill (45496)
• United States
21 Jul 16
@LadyDuck It was! The biggest I've ever seen around here.
1 person likes this
@AbbyGreenhill (45496)
• United States
20 Jul 16
We don't have cabbage...it came from a bug - probably the giant grasshopper we found in the skimmer basket.
1 person likes this
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
20 Jul 16
@AbbyGreenhill I bet you did not have spaghetti for lunch afterwards.
@AbbyGreenhill (45496)
• United States
20 Jul 16
@Asylum LMAO - no - no way no how!
1 person likes this
@AbbyGreenhill (45496)
• United States
20 Jul 16
It still creeps me out, strange - when it started moving I almost lost it LOL!
1 person likes this
@suziecat7 (3350)
• Asheville, North Carolina
21 Jul 16
It would certainly have freaked me out. Glad you found out what it was.
1 person likes this
@AbbyGreenhill (45496)
• United States
22 Jul 16
Thanks...I think many of us learned a new creature.
@crazyhorseladycx (39515)
• United States
20 Jul 16
i'm somewhat saddened that'cher hubs killed't :( glad'ja found out what't was though 'n perhaps yer minds't better ease? dang, i need me some'f those to help with the grasshopper population!
1 person likes this
@AbbyGreenhill (45496)
• United States
20 Jul 16
Not sure they control anything..they hatch from grasshoppers the same I read.
1 person likes this
@crazyhorseladycx (39515)
• United States
20 Jul 16
@AbbyGreenhill really?? dang, i must'a not read through that thoroughly? i thought that 'twas the stage they could do harm? off to read 'gain!
@AbbyGreenhill (45496)
• United States
20 Jul 16
She's on flea meds so I knew she didn't have tapeworms. He worries about her more than I do and that's saying something. Of course now her nickname is 'wormy'.....
1 person likes this
@sallypup (57753)
• Centralia, Washington
20 Jul 16
@AbbyGreenhill Poor little Ruby. So picked on.
1 person likes this
@LeaPea2417 (36399)
• Toccoa, Georgia
21 Jul 16
Wow, I learned something new today. I have never heard of Horsehair Worms!
1 person likes this
@AbbyGreenhill (45496)
• United States
21 Jul 16
I think many of us learned something new.
1 person likes this
@PatZAnthony (14752)
• Charlotte, North Carolina
21 Jul 16
Well, horsehair worms don't need to show up here! Strange, aren't they?
1 person likes this
@AbbyGreenhill (45496)
• United States
21 Jul 16
We could have lived happily w/o ever seeing one up close!
@AbbyGreenhill (45496)
• United States
20 Jul 16
We have so many crazy bugs/insects here that you have to worry when you see something so weird - especially in the pool!
1 person likes this
@Jessicalynnt (50525)
• Centralia, Missouri
20 Jul 16
I'd be freaking out and getting out of the pool too!!!!!!!
@AbbyGreenhill (45496)
• United States
20 Jul 16
I didn't freak out I am much bigger! Lol
1 person likes this
@AbbyGreenhill (45496)
• United States
22 Jul 16
@Jessicalynnt Then it would be a sci-fi movie for sure. I found a blade of dry grass floating in the pool earlier and freaked out LOL!
1 person likes this
@Jessicalynnt (50525)
• Centralia, Missouri
22 Jul 16
@AbbyGreenhill if the wormy thing was your size everyone would be freaking out
1 person likes this
@BettyB (4117)
• Summerville, South Carolina
21 Jul 16
I hope you don't find anymore of those yucky things in the water.
@AbbyGreenhill (45496)
• United States
21 Jul 16
I make my husband check the pool before I go in LOL
