Glow Worm Report

Glow Worms

Glow Worms shine in bright colors including blue, green and yellow.

Glow worms look like small lights and shine in different colors and they are blue, green, yellow and red. The eggs look sticky and creamy. The eggs are brown. Female glow worms can grow up to 13 mm long and the males 11 mm long.

The glow worm eats by making sticky threads and glowing. Other insects will be attracted to the light and get stuck in the threads. The glow worm will pull the thread and either suck it's blood out or eat it’s whole body. Their prey are midges, mayflies and caddisflies. Their predators are cave harvest man and fungi.

The glow worm lives in the earth where it's dark.

The glow worms stay as eggs for 3 weeks. The eggs are sticky enough

to stick to the caves. When they hatch they are larvae. Larvae is like a baby. They stay as larvae for 6-9 months. They start as a few millimeters long then they grow up to the size of a match stick. Then they turn into pupae for 2 weeks. The females make a sticky barrier then when she comes out there are lots of males ready to mate. Finally they are adults. They have no mouths so they only live 2-3 days. The female lays 40-50 eggs and the she dies.

I got these images from abbotlab.wordpress.com, www.bbc.co.uk, www.johntyler.co.uk and riveredge.us.

When you go caving make sure you look at glow worms. Their hard to miss!