A reader reached out to us about a worm he found in his toilet bowl. He said that no one had recently used the toilet, so it definitely didn’t come from a human. He is curious how this critter got into his toilet, and if it could be a parasite.

He describes it as a mini, skinny earthworm, and after examining the photo he attached we agree. Like an earthworm, it is pink and long. We cannot tell from the photo if it is segmented like an earthworm or not. We can assure our reader that this is likely not a parasite.

We believe that our reader has found exactly what he described – a mini earthworm! Not necessarily mini, but smaller than the typical earthworm you might find in your garden. Although we cannot see the segments on the worm in the photo, we are still fairly certain that this is an earthworm. It looks just like an earthworm, and earthworms are discovered in toilets on a regular basis. We can explain to our reader how this may have occurred in his home.

Earthworms usually live in soil, but can survive completely submerged in water as long as the water has enough oxygen that they can absorb through their body surface (they don’t have lungs!) We suspect that this worm found its way into a cracked pipe that led to the toilet bowl. We advise that our reader simply place this worm back outside. If more worms appear, then he should contact a plumber to deal with potential pipe problems.

To end, a reader found what we believe is an earthworm in his toilet bowl. We suspect the worm traveled through one of the sewage pipes to arrive in his toilet.

Summary

Article Name

Worm in Toilet Bowl Likely an Earthworm

Description

A reader reached out to us about a worm he found in his toilet bowl. He said that no one had recently used the toilet, so it definitely didn’t come from a human. He is curious how this critter got into his toilet, and if it could be a parasite.

Author

Dori Franklin