[saopinax]

I was just putting stuff into the wormery and was about to throw in a couple of mouldy chillis (which I grew accidently instead of capsicums), when I wondered what their experience of eating different things might be.

I have read not to give them onions, for example or citrus, but have no idea why, other than that it is not good for them, but what is the basis of that?

Do they just not eat them and so the wormery falls over, rotting, or ... do those things disagree with their constitutions in some way.
None of this adresses "taste" I realise, but now I am curious.

[Avaboormavoro]

Acidic fruit is not recommended ..pineapple/citrus ..not sure why, either Onions- maybe the sulphur content is what they don't like? Not sure , sorry. Ours get mostly yukky potato/pumpkin/greenstuff..and some animal manure.

chili may well burn them ..as it does our mucous membranes , so I probably wouldn't inflict that on them ....

[BinasiDombrs]

Given what they eat, you'd like to think they can't taste it...

I wonder if it is more a case of the oils/volatiles in the "food" causing irritation to the skin of the worm? I've copped chilli oil on bits of my body I wish I hadn't, not pleasant. If I had to crawl naked through my food, curries would definitely be off my diet...

[pipojambo]

I don't think anything much eats orange peel it may be the acidity or it may be the oils but they seem to be very persistant in the environment.
In a similar vein, we have a real plague of black dung beetles, they are piled up thick on the doorstep each morning, we sweep them away but the occasional one gets squashed and I have noticed that not even the meat ants are interested. I guess they taste like Sh**.

Oh and I am trying to get the image of woolly crawling naked through a bowl of curry from my mind, its not a pretty image.

[Avaboormavoro]

I guess they taste like Sh**. But lots of things eat sh**

[pipojambo]

Hi binjy
Tis I PaulS
I was reading just the other day (Ed Yongs Not exactly Rocket Science Blog) that cats cant taste sweet. I guess Ravens can't taste putrid, dung beetles sh** is heaven and I guess as wooly said earthworms have a different idea of whats yummy. I guess they must have some basic sorts of taste receptors so they can avoid toxic stuff. Not just smelly rotten stuff but heavy metals and such.

[BinasiDombrs]

Oh and I am trying to get the image of woolly crawling naked through a bowl of curry from my mind, its not a pretty image.

That the before or after image???

[CoiI8XIj]

Fascinating.

The short version:

They have no eyes but can 'see' light. They have five hearts but no lungs. Each worm has both sets of reproductive organs and during intercourse both parties become fertilised but they don't reproduce asexually. Different types of earthworms can live from one to ten years and reports of up to 20.

They have preferences in diet with some studies showing they like maple over oak leaves and clover over grass.

They are capable of aestivation.

Reference and a very interesting read: How Earthworms Work.

[pipojambo]

That the before or after image???

Nooo the middle bit as its happening.

It was orrible mate, orrible I tells ya.

[thomaskkk]

Given what they eat, you'd like to think they can't taste it...

I wonder if it is more a case of the oils/volatiles in the "food" causing irritation to the skin of the worm? I've copped chilli oil on bits of my body I wish I hadn't, not pleasant. If I had to crawl naked through my food, curries would definitely be off my diet...

i think woollybutt is close

any food stuffs that have a potential drying / acidic effect on their bodies can't be a good thing if you read the following paragraph from the site nut linked to

Earthworm Anatomy
As far as animals go, the earthworm is pretty no-frills. It's essentially an eating (and defecating) machine. A mouth at the front end of the earthworm leads to what amounts to a long tube where the organic matter and dirt from the worm's diet pass through until it exits the other end. Along the way, organic matter is pushed into the crop, where food is stored, and then into a gizzard, where tiny pebbles previously eaten by the worm are used to grind food for further digestion. The intestinal walls of the worm are lined with blood vessels that are effused with blood by one of the aortic arches, the earthworm's five hearts. The vessels absorb and distribute nutrients from the food. On its way out, microbes living in the worm may attach to the dirt and remaining organic material, and the entire package is deposited as worm feces, called castings. These castings may be deposited within the dirt or in tiny, cone-shaped piles with a hollow center on the surface of the ground.

That's pretty much the long and short of the earthworm's existence, but in addition to having five hearts, the earthworm has some other interesting anatomical features. Breathing through its skin is one. An earthworm lacks any kind of lungs, but like any other aerobic organism, it still needs oxygen to carry out essential processes and to rid itself of carbon dioxide that builds up as waste. Instead of inhaling and exhaling like us, the exchange of these gases in and out of the earthworm takes place passively through the skin. An earthworm can even survive submerged in water if it contains enough available oxygen.

For this breathing to occur, an earthworm's skin must always be moist. This need is generally assured by the mucus the worm excretes naturally through its skin. But earthworm slime is no match for hot, dry air. Without enough moisture at the skin, the gas exchange can't occur and the worm can't breathe. If you've ever seen a dead, desiccated earthworm curled up on a sidewalk on a warm day, you've likely met an earthworm that suffocated to death.

Because this need to avoid heat necessitates staying out of the sun, earthworms have evolved a means of determining if the sun's out. This leads us to yet another interesting earthworm fact: They don't have eyes but they can detect light. Specialized photosensitive cells on the earthworm's skin convert light into electrical impulses that the worm senses and reacts to, moving back below ground or under the cover of plant matter."

thanks for that link nut ... another site to get lost in

[Avaboormavoro]

Interesting stuff I had no idea they lived that long!! (amongst other facts )

[Enfonebew]

Worms don't have a "sense of taste" as such. They do have chemoreceptors which enable then to sense a wide range of soil goodies.