The life cycle of a red wiggly worm goes through different stages. It starts from the cocoon or egg stage, to the mating stage again. But we’ll never really know which came first, just like the chicken and egg theory. But did you know that all types of earthworms are hermaphrodites? It’s true. And just like red worms, they also have male and female reproductive organs. But despite this, they will still need another of their kind in order to mate and reproduce. But on a lighter note, let’s break down each stage that takes a worm to maturity.
The life cycle of an earthworm begins with a cocoon (the egg stage). It is usually much smaller than a grain of rice and is yellow in color. It also takes about 3 weeks to incubate the eggs, and they will eventually change their color to red, to maroon after a while. At this time, about 4-6 worms are already developing inside the egg and will start to hatch in a month or so.
The next stage is the Youth stage. This would be the stage where the newly hatched worms have already emerged from their cocoons. They are about ½ inch in size when they start out, and would only be this thick when 4 strands of human hair were combined. Other than that, these baby worms also start out without genitalia. They only develop these reproductive organs at a later stage. But despite that, these worms are already capable of eating and can be instantly used for vermicomposting.
Now, the mature state would be the next stage. This is when a juvenile worm begins to mature into an adult worm. But the baby worms will have to spend 40 to 60 days before reaching this stage. But along the way, his genitals are already developing. As soon as their clitellum (apart from the body of a worm containing the male and female genitalia) is fully developed, they can begin to mate with other worms of their kind. And as soon as their clitelles turn orange, they can now mate with other Eisenia Foetida worms.
The last stage of this cycle before returning to the egg stage would be the mating stage (unless you want to include the actual last stage in a worm’s life cycle, which is death, but even that is uncertain). This composting worm is a hermaphrodite, but they will still need another worm in order to mate. These worms usually have a heightened sexual desire when the temperature starts to feel warm. It is by uniting their clitelles that they begin to exchange sperm; and they can only secrete new cocoons after mating. After this, fertilization begins to sweat.
Worms like these can be kept in worm bin composting systems. So whether you contain them in containers or not, a red worm’s life cycle can continue on its own, the way Mother Nature undertakes.