About Perionyx Excavtus

Perionyx excavatus is a beautiful worm with an iridescent blue or violet sheen to its skin clearly visible under bright light. It is a very small worm, poorly suited as fishing bait, but has an impressive growth and reproductive rate far in excess of the other species grown in bin culture.

This is another tropical worm species with a very poor tolerance for low temperatures, fluctuations in the bin environment, handling or disruption to the system. P. excavatus is often referred to as “the Traveler” for its tendency to leave the bin en masse for no apparent reason.

Due to it's temperamental nature this species is used in vermicomposting systems in North America, though it is naturally occurring at low population levels in systems in contact with the soil in the southeastern US and most tropical regions of the world.

• Temperature range: Minimum; 45° F, maximum; 90° F, ideal range; 70° F-80° F.

• Reproductive rate: Approximately 19 young per worm per week under ideal conditions.

• Average number of young per cocoon: Approximately 1.

• Time to emergence from the cocoon: Approximately 15-21 days under ideal conditions.

Time to sexual maturity: Approximately 30-55 days under ideal condition

The Perionyx excavatus (india blue, bark worms, spiketails) can be easily distinguished from the Eisenia fetida by several factors.

1. The Perionyx excavatus lacks the alternate light & dark banding of the E. fetida.

2. The Perionyx excavatus clitellum covers segments 13-17 whereas the clitellum of the Eisenia Fetida covers segments 25-30. In laymans' terms, that means that the "collar" of the mature P. excavatus is much closer to its head than the E. fetida's. This can be seen in the image above.

3. The Perionyx excavatus is considerably faster than the E. fetida.

4. The Perionyx excavatus leaves water incredibly faster than the E. fetida.

5. P. excavatus tends to have a pale colored clitellum that covers segments 13-17 and, for those inclined to look, has a single dorsal pore visible using a hand lens on segment 14, paired sperm pores at the juncture of segments 7/8 and 8/9, a pair of slit-like pores on segment 18, and paired rows of excretory pores on each segment along the side of the worm body. Per Kelly Slocum

6. The Perionyx excavatus is much thinner than the E. fetida, thus making the P. excavatus much more difficult to use as a bait worm but this very good in vermicompost.

7. The Perionyx excavatus has an irridescent blue sheen.

8. The experts tell us that the Perionyx excavatus is a tropical worm speices commonly found in India, the Phillipines, the Dominicans, Australia and parts of South America.

9. P. excavatus will die quickly when exposed to temperatures below 45 degrees F. The image below are of P. excavatus after being exposed to 34 degrees F for 16 hours. They were still alive after 9 hours, but by 16 hrs they had expired.

"Perionyx excavatus are desirable to home composters and poultry food. They will compost in warm outside conditions and easily suitable to enviroment event dried or wet place. They migrate for no reason even during daylight or with bright lights over them. They will be all over the floor in school or home bins. and especially they are a great nutrient food for shrimp, fish and turtle.