Arkansas Jumper Worms

Brought some worms from work home a few years ago in some compost.  My home was built on some very poor, acidic soil type land that used to be a pine tree thicket and there was not a worm to be found. Now they are all over my yard and have changed the entire composition of the soil here for the better.

I'm not sure of the correct taxonomy for this jumper worm we have here locally so I'm not going to say it's a particular one. It resembles photo's I've seen of those called the Alabama and Georgia Jumpers but its habits do not exactly match up with what I've read, like they say...

"Jumpers are very similar to African Night Crawlers. Both are warm climate species with similar temperature tolerances and breeding rates. Both are very muscular with a snake-like motion; very quick to burrow back into the ground.
What differentiates the Jumpers is that they are an endogeic species. They build extensive lateral burrows. They also prefer compacted soil (including clay) and can burrow deep to avoid cold temps. For this reason they are claimed to be great for aerating hard garden soil."

I was disturbing these monsters in the surface soil just under the grass back in Winter while transplanting garlic.  Though we were having mild days, the nights were still freezing or below and the ground was very cold as I was pulling weed roots and such while these worms went nuts.  They are very muscular like the quote describes and thus the nickname "jumper" is given because that's what they do when distrubed, jump around wildly and they're hard to get a hold on haha!  Here's a photo I took today of one on the driveway after a big rain event...

That's a common sized one.  My boot is exactly a foot long so there ya go, a foot long worm, big round as a pencil.  Wouldn't take too many of these bad boys to make a meal eh?  I've been looking at some worm recipes but give me a break, I just recently ate my first insects. Maybe someday. :)

I don't believe these are burrowing worms.  They are commonly found locally in yard debris piles and they really like rotting wood and leaves.  Rake the leaves back on a shady creekbank in some places I know and these will make the ground seem alive with all their thrashing about!  And talk about composting...these worms put every other worm I have ever personally raised to shame and they reproduce just as well as any. 

Trick is though, they do not seem to like plastic containers at all.  They will do well in an outdoor pile in all climates if kept moist but just try to keep them in a tub or bucket and good luck haha!  I put a bunch in a five gallon bucket once and a weighted window screen over the top.  The next day there wasn't a single worm left in the bucket!  I thought somebody came along and stole them until I saw another batch make the escape right through the openings in a standard window screen.  When doing so, they can make themselves fit through. Don't ask me how but they can also squeeze under a door seal and come right in the house or into the garage if they are fleeing alot of rain which they don't seem to like much.  One would think it would cause all their insides to exit their posterior!

I was at one time going to send some of these worms to an online friend who knew somebody that could positively identify them.  We sort of lost touch somehow and it never happened.  Perhaps someday I'll learn exactly what species they are.  Until then, they will be Arkansas Jumpers.