I had planned to take a pleasant shower this morning. I turned the boiler on, waited ten minutes for the shower water to heat up…and then I saw it - a squiggly little worm with a flat hammer-like head, inching its way along our bathroom wall underneath the window. Not knowing if it was poisonous or not, I debated squishing it with little bits of toilet paper, so I took some baking soda cleaning spray, and doused it with about 20 sprays of the stuff. It slowly curled, and moved as if it was in excruciating pain, and all I could do was debate as to whether I should touch it or not.
My problem was solved with about 3 tissues I folded over (just so I wouldn’t come into contact with it at all), and I slowly squished it into the tissue and disposed of it in the bathroom garbage. Done and done.
Later on in the day, while at school, I curiously searched the internet for the worm that had ruined my morning shower. I found it almost immediately. The worm that was in our bathroom…that little worm…was a hammerhead flatworm – one of the most indestructible worms in the world. You cut it half, and it regenerates…you cut it into ten pieces, and it regenerates into ten worms… Even if you squish it, it’ll regenerate into the number of pieces into which you happened to break it…Ken mentioned to me that a scientist in Europe had managed to divide one worm into 271 pieces…gross. The only way to destroy one of these pests is to dissolve it in some kind of acid.
I’ve decided to burn it. Burn the entire lot of worms…or whatever comes creeping out of our garbage can. That’ll work, right?
Ken’s so fascinated that he wants to keep one as a pet…
- Jess
Well today Krystal found a snake outside. She decided to play with it and she got bit. Good thing the snake was a little garden snake which are a little bigger than a worm but still very harmless. :)
ReplyDeleteWhere did it come from? The open window? Ken can keep it as a pet just for the duartion of your stay in South Korea. What are you going to name it Jess?? Or do you name each piece a different name?
ReplyDeleteHahaha! I never can imagine my daughter could do that... You always ask me or somebody to get rid of any insect that is seen by you in your room...
ReplyDeleteand that hammerhead flatworms are miracle creatures...
I heard there is a great studyhing about regrowing damaged human's organ tissue from it's own instead of having a transplant someonelse's(revolution!) like those worms' broken pieces of body... what a braveness, Jessica! :)