These earthworms eat the soil and obtain nutrients from it. Soil contains bacteria, fungi, and sometimes small pieces of organic matter, which these worms use for nutrients.

You might find one eating a nonnative earthworm. Whit Gibbons is professor of zoology and senior biologist at the University of Georgia’s Savannah River Ecology Laboratory.

These worms can stretch out a foot in length, and they leave a shiny, silvery trail reminiscent of a snail. They require moist conditions to survive; they are slimy to the touch but do not bite or ...