How does worms have babies

If conditions are not right for hatching, such as dryness, my cocoons can be dormant for years and hatch when conditions are right. My babies will hatch in weeks. The new baby worms are whitish, and you can practically see through them but I think they are beautiful, just like any parent. They are on their own as soon as they are born. In about six weeks, they will produce their own baby worms. Earthworms spend their life underground, so witnessing their reproduction cycle can be tricky.

The benefits of worms in the garden got me to thinking about this question, so I did the research to find out the answer! I wrote this article to explain how worms lay eggs and answer questions about the process, so you can stop wondering how our little garden helpers multiply and grow. When worms are around six weeks old, this clitellum forms. Inside the clitellum are both female and male reproductive organs.

When mating happens, two worms join together by coming in contact at the clitellum, with their heads pointed in opposite directions. Once the worms touch and connect at the clitellum, they both exude a mucous membrane that envelops them completely. This mucus protects the worms as they mate.

Inside the membrane, sperm passes from each worm to the other. Each worm then stores the sperm from the other worm in their seminal receptacle. Once this sperm storage happens, the actual mating is complete. The worms then separate and go on about their life and the next stage of reproduction: forming the cocoon and filling it with eggs and sperm.

Related How To Raise Nightcrawlers. Worms do not give birth since babies come from eggs and are not live born. The process of forming a cocoon full of worm embryos starts when the worms separate after mating. At this stage, each worm forms a new mucous tube, which then passes over the area of the worm that contains its eggs.

The eggs stick to the inside of this mucous tube as it travels toward the head of the worm. As the tube reaches the seminal receptacle, the sperm comes in contact with the eggs.

As we back out of the narrowing cocoons, eggs and sperm are deposited in the cocoon. The earthworm brain is a bilobed mass lying above the pharynx in the third body segment.

Sensory nerves leave the brain and run forward into the prostomium extreme anterior end and first segment. The brain of the active, predatory polychaetes a class of marine worms is more complicated.

If an earthworm is split in two, it will not become two new worms. The head of the worm may survive and regenerate its tail if the animal is cut behind the clitellum. But the original tail of the worm will not be able to grow a new head or the rest of its vital organs , and will instead die.

Most people already know that worms are hermaphrodites. This means that they have both male and female reproductive organs. However, they cannot reproduce alone.

They must pair with another worm for successful reproduction to occur. Cocoons with be shipped with bedding and the cocoons are hard to see because they are moist and the bedding sticks together.