A destructive "jumping worm" species is threatening gardens in Colorado and the West, state officials said, as they urged green thumbs to keep their eyes peeled for the invasive pests.
There are "currently no effective eradication methods" for the "Asian jumping worm" — also known as a "crazy worm" or "snake worm" — which has been detected in the Hilltop neighborhood of Denver, according to a Tuesday statement by the Colorado Department of Agriculture (CDA).
The agency is "asking nurseries, landscaping contractors and landowners to be on the lookout for any signs of the invasive jumping worms and report any suspected sightings."
“Preventing any spread of the jumping worm in Colorado is critical to protecting our state’s healthy soil and native plants,” CDA director of plants Wondirad Gebru said in a statement.
“Since there are no effective eradication methods, we are asking gardeners and landscapers to be vigilant, inspect their materials, and report any possible sightings to our agency.”
The worm is native to East Asia. It was first spotted in California at a nursery in Napa County in 2021 and then out in the wild in Sonoma County in 2023, according to that state's Department of Food and Agriculture.
"True to their name, these worms wriggle vigorously and can even jump," the California Department of Food and Agriculture said in December.
"They are more voracious and quickly growing than most native earthworm species. They typically live near the surface of soil and can rapidly deplete leaf litter and reduce the amount of beneficial microorganisms in soils."
Asian jumping worms are red-and-brown colored, and will violently thrash around with a snake-like motion when disturbed, according to the Colorado Department of Agriculture. The key difference between jumping worms and earthworms native to the U.S. is the band around the body, called the clitellum. On the jumping worm, it is white to light gray and completely encircles the body.
The telltale sign that jumping worms are in your garden is that the top of the soil looks like it’s covered in coffee grounds, which is in fact the worm’s feces, the CDA says.
