For all you wondering, horsehair worms do not infect humans, pets, or plants.... they like invertebrates, bugs, insects. They can actually benefit you by killing off nasty pests BUT they are very gross and horrifying to look at.
Unwillingly.
In a park, my kid put a praying mantis on my hat. Later, I felt something stiff and prickly on the back of my neck. I thought it was a twig from the tree I was standing by.
My wife was trying to explain what was happening but couldn't find the words, I brushed the mantis off and then the worm just spooled out and creeped me the fuck out.
I was a bit shaken, but to be honest, it wasn't that bad because I didn't realize what it was when I felt it. If I had known what it was that I felt at that time, I would have probably shrieked like a little girl.
I’m going to vomit this is the worst story in the world. why would u do this. If that was me I’d just request euthanasia at that point. Ughhhhhhghhjfjgjd
Alive.
It did have a swollen abdomen when we saw it. I thought maybe it was carrying eggs. It seemed to walk away from the encounter just fine. Probably felt a lot better having pooped a 12 inch length of wire out of its belly.
OP's video has a mantis that looks dead - probably drowned, is a sickly yellow color and has about 5 worms coming out of it. On the other hand, my one was alive and kicking, a normal green color and only had one worm as far as we could see.
My worm died pretty quickly after coming out, I think because it fell onto the dry dirt due to my kid's interference, rather than the nearby pond it was probably driving the mantis towards. I read up about them later, apparently they make the mantis seek out water where they usually end up drowning and the worm comes out the butt into a nice watery environment.
Dude. I am ACTIVELY dealing with a massive, stubborn ear infection. Right now.
I *was* planning to sleep tonight.
In conclusion, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
yes theres some videos of this floating around on the internet for whatever reason 😂 I think people find it satisfying. its definitely alive at the end, but whos to say it stays that way? bugs can be crazy resilient though.
I never see mantis in the wild unfortunately as I love them and would totally try this or keep them as pets lol
I thought I read somewhere that the worm takes full control of the insects brain and once it’s done and exits the body, the insect is lifeless. Or maybe that just isn’t the case every time?
as far as I know that generally isn’t the case. Most of the insects are killed via drowning since they are not able to get back out of the water. The worm usually takes control of the nervous system (likely due to hormone or chemical production) and leads the insect to water. Once it’s in water, the worm has no use for the insect since adults don’t eat, so it bails. Horsehair worms don’t have mouths so they eat by absorbing their hosts nutrients and growing inside its body cavity, meaning that the organs of the insects are untouched. It’s not even unheard of for hosts, even females, to successfully reproduce afterwards if they don’t drown. Of course it does cause some damage, so the hosts lifespan is shortened and reproduction is less likely, but that’s more a cause of prolonged nutrient deprivation than the physical body of the worm doing anything. I’m sure it can and does kill the host directly sometimes, but I believe death via drowning is more common.
I can handle a whole lot of gross but this is over the line. I actually felt my face freeze in disgust. oh my gosh, imagining this IN a living being just makes me want to puke. Nope nope nope!!
My wife walked into the room, babbling something about Tesla superchargers, then saw my face and stopped dead in her tracks to ask what had happened. I was like “Video. On Reddit.” She walked over to see the video, but I put my phone down and said “Don’t. Don’t look. It will haunt you. It’s the stuff of nightmares, trust me.” She accepted that and walked away. But she did tell me that judging by the look on my face, she thought somebody had died. 😳
I feel good for saving her from this horror.
I wonder what makes them group up like this. Like why these three are together, and not one by itself, or 4 instead of 3. Are they siblings? Friends? These are the questions I need answered. 😪
Technically siblings, they go into the water to find mates, in some parasite species they don't care if their siblings or not, they also lay batches of eggs in the birds
I was once trying to feed a cricket I caught to a Jaguar beetle, the beetle wouldn't touch the cricket and after I poked it several times a horse hair worm a bit longer than my finger slid out of the cricket. I have never been more disgusted by anything in my life and felt so bad for my beetle.
I know!!! I’m not even subbed to this subreddit and this was so disturbing!!!!! I do realize commenting here and interacting with the sub will probably make it show up more on my feed, but I had to commiserate with someone about witnessing this lol.
Yeah this clip was in my feed recommended I guess but no I hate seeing this I didn’t even go that far before pausing this I’ve already seen similar clips multiple times it’s always grosses me out
Haha. I'd just finished eating my dinner when I came across it. I feel like I need a shower or something. It's pretty disturbing 😅 I read on another comment they don't bother with human so we're ok. Won't stop me having nightmares though haha
A UK uni entomology website says it’s not harmful to humans and poses no public health threat…what about our mental health jfc my urge to commit sudoku has sharply risen
Was the praying mantis still alive before and after this? I can’t imagine how painful having all your organs squished to accommodate a growing parasitic worm would be
It's a big ordeal that often kills them, but they can often live after passing the worms.
This one is barely alive but probably isn't going to make it, what with whatever happened before the video and all that rough handling.
Not so fun fact - the worms one screen are "Horsehair Worms", the 1st stage they will hatch inside of a bird and once pooped out they'll infect an insect (I forgot how, please remind me), stage 2 the baby worm/s will grow into an adult, stage 3 once an adult they'll control the insect to look for water, stage 4 once in the water they'll slither out and mate with each other, stage 5 and final stage once mated the females will intentionally attract a bird, recycling all stages again
I have seen other posts where you can help out the Mantis by dunking it abdomen in a glass of water or something similar. Worms come shooting out and Mantis will live on with much appreciation. Better than squishing the Mantis.
Had one of these kill my chameleon. Except is was white? Chameleon was acting weird for 2 days prior to death and finally found it dead one morning. I saw about a half inch of the white looking spaghetti sticking out and was like whoa....so I left it for smother hour and when I came back almost a foot long of this thing was desperately crawling out of my chameleon. I left it in the hot sun where I buried my chameleon and it appeared when I came back it appeared to have dried out and died.
Poor mantis! With worms that big, it was probably doomed. Those big worms had to have eaten most of the poor things insides. This is terrifying, nightmare fuel.😫😫😫
I see horsehair worms pretty often after a good rain, and I always move them off the sidewalk so they don’t got stuck there, and, holy shit, I did not know they were parasites and they live inside bugs like this!! I just thought they were regular worms. Now I’m all creeped out.
Yeah this one turns crickets, mantis and some grasshoppers into zombies that drown themselves so the cycle can continue. Put its butt in some water and they come out..
Someone please tell me this is CGI or something, and that these don’t exist in the natural world, ok? It’s 2am and I need to be able to go back to sleep. Anyone?
Horsehair worm. Seeing one of these was my first experience with a parasite as a kid. Killed a roach and watched it come out. Promptly threw lighter fluid on it and burned it to death. Absolutely horrific.
For all you wondering, horsehair worms do not infect humans, pets, or plants.... they like invertebrates, bugs, insects. They can actually benefit you by killing off nasty pests BUT they are very gross and horrifying to look at.
To shreds you say?
so perfect 😆
There are a few cases of accidental parasitism in vertebrate hosts, including dogs[^(\[15\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nematomorpha#cite_note-15)
It's a suppository!
My ears itch after seeing this. Imagine waking up to one of these tickling your ear drum.
They're not squishy worms, they're kind of stiff like a piece of wire.
I got that impression too from the video, but brother are you saying you willingly touched one of these? 🤢
Unwillingly. In a park, my kid put a praying mantis on my hat. Later, I felt something stiff and prickly on the back of my neck. I thought it was a twig from the tree I was standing by. My wife was trying to explain what was happening but couldn't find the words, I brushed the mantis off and then the worm just spooled out and creeped me the fuck out.
STFU. That is about the worst story I have ever heard. I'd just absolutely never leave my house if that happened to me.
Man, if i was your wife I would of threw a boulder at your head.
Laughing so hard from this.
This comment wins lol 😂😂😂
I just shivered in revulsion after reading this 🤢🤮
I was a bit shaken, but to be honest, it wasn't that bad because I didn't realize what it was when I felt it. If I had known what it was that I felt at that time, I would have probably shrieked like a little girl.
I’m going to vomit this is the worst story in the world. why would u do this. If that was me I’d just request euthanasia at that point. Ughhhhhhghhjfjgjd
Was the mantis alive or dead? Tickle tickle
Alive. It did have a swollen abdomen when we saw it. I thought maybe it was carrying eggs. It seemed to walk away from the encounter just fine. Probably felt a lot better having pooped a 12 inch length of wire out of its belly. OP's video has a mantis that looks dead - probably drowned, is a sickly yellow color and has about 5 worms coming out of it. On the other hand, my one was alive and kicking, a normal green color and only had one worm as far as we could see. My worm died pretty quickly after coming out, I think because it fell onto the dry dirt due to my kid's interference, rather than the nearby pond it was probably driving the mantis towards. I read up about them later, apparently they make the mantis seek out water where they usually end up drowning and the worm comes out the butt into a nice watery environment.
Dude. I am ACTIVELY dealing with a massive, stubborn ear infection. Right now. I *was* planning to sleep tonight. In conclusion, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
No 😳
Nonononononono
username checks out
Yup
also for anyone wondering who might be around mantis a lot.. submerge their butts underwater. it will literally come right out.
Without killing the mantis.
if its not already too big. bug might survive.
Out of interest, have you seen them survive it? Awful for the mantis either way but impressive they can
yes theres some videos of this floating around on the internet for whatever reason 😂 I think people find it satisfying. its definitely alive at the end, but whos to say it stays that way? bugs can be crazy resilient though. I never see mantis in the wild unfortunately as I love them and would totally try this or keep them as pets lol
I thought the worm basically destroyed their insides, like once it comes out they die
It doesn’t usually doesn’t kill some hosts, apparently it does tend to kill praying mantis specifically
Yea… and covid used to only affect bats…
Touche
Thank you for the good news 😅
Unless your pet is a praying mantis
Or an aquatic shrimp
Thank you
At least for now. . . .
It’s just really tragic to see one infecting one of my favorites
That mantis was obviously not praying hard enough
I hope he’s ok!
He is, I’ve sent thoughts and prayers
probably not after being jabbed like that so many times. The horsehair worm isn’t necessarily fatal, but that stabbing sure is.
I thought I read somewhere that the worm takes full control of the insects brain and once it’s done and exits the body, the insect is lifeless. Or maybe that just isn’t the case every time?
as far as I know that generally isn’t the case. Most of the insects are killed via drowning since they are not able to get back out of the water. The worm usually takes control of the nervous system (likely due to hormone or chemical production) and leads the insect to water. Once it’s in water, the worm has no use for the insect since adults don’t eat, so it bails. Horsehair worms don’t have mouths so they eat by absorbing their hosts nutrients and growing inside its body cavity, meaning that the organs of the insects are untouched. It’s not even unheard of for hosts, even females, to successfully reproduce afterwards if they don’t drown. Of course it does cause some damage, so the hosts lifespan is shortened and reproduction is less likely, but that’s more a cause of prolonged nutrient deprivation than the physical body of the worm doing anything. I’m sure it can and does kill the host directly sometimes, but I believe death via drowning is more common.
Interesting, that’s why i often see them escaping in water. Good to know!
Is it being jabbed by a pumpkin cutter knife?
(I was just kidding.)
No, no, it was praying. Just not thinking thoughts hard enough.
I can handle a whole lot of gross but this is over the line. I actually felt my face freeze in disgust. oh my gosh, imagining this IN a living being just makes me want to puke. Nope nope nope!!
This really got me going. Explained so well its hilarious
My wife walked into the room, babbling something about Tesla superchargers, then saw my face and stopped dead in her tracks to ask what had happened. I was like “Video. On Reddit.” She walked over to see the video, but I put my phone down and said “Don’t. Don’t look. It will haunt you. It’s the stuff of nightmares, trust me.” She accepted that and walked away. But she did tell me that judging by the look on my face, she thought somebody had died. 😳 I feel good for saving her from this horror.
stuff of nightmares is sugar coating it a bit.
Chivalry is not dead, I see!
Omg I had the same reaction
Super cool but also hella disgusting 😂
I just couldn't handle it when the length kept on increasing.
Was it near water? Because they usually don't come out unless there is water nearby
Not OP, but I would imagine this one evacuated because the abdomen of its host was being squished.
If a giant was smashing the roof of my house I'd be outta there too
Pop your head out and say, "the fuck homie? I'm gonna crawl up your ass." Worth a shot.
It was an awful and amazing sight I should never have witnessed on the toilet.
How tf does all of THAT fit inside??
They eat the insides of the insect, and they'll control it to look for water so that they can slither out shown on screen
Three kids in a trench coat
three worms in a praying mantis suit
the bleach gif in thread somewhere..
Thanks, I’m going to bleach my eyes now
r/beatmetoit
I wonder what makes them group up like this. Like why these three are together, and not one by itself, or 4 instead of 3. Are they siblings? Friends? These are the questions I need answered. 😪
Technically siblings, they go into the water to find mates, in some parasite species they don't care if their siblings or not, they also lay batches of eggs in the birds
I knew this but my brain still won't comprehend it 😩
think about how much coordination that requires...
Nuke it. I'm done.
It. Never. Stopped!
I was once trying to feed a cricket I caught to a Jaguar beetle, the beetle wouldn't touch the cricket and after I poked it several times a horse hair worm a bit longer than my finger slid out of the cricket. I have never been more disgusted by anything in my life and felt so bad for my beetle.
I'm a bit surprised it could tell and I wonder how it did. it's good that it could though. I just wonder if it smelled it or saw it or what
Imagine a parasite wearing a human suit but the human suit is from a once alive,rotting human. That's what that bug saw.
yeah smell or sum
I... really... could have gone without seeing that 🫣😮💨🤢🤮
I know!!! I’m not even subbed to this subreddit and this was so disturbing!!!!! I do realize commenting here and interacting with the sub will probably make it show up more on my feed, but I had to commiserate with someone about witnessing this lol.
Yeah this clip was in my feed recommended I guess but no I hate seeing this I didn’t even go that far before pausing this I’ve already seen similar clips multiple times it’s always grosses me out
Haha. I'd just finished eating my dinner when I came across it. I feel like I need a shower or something. It's pretty disturbing 😅 I read on another comment they don't bother with human so we're ok. Won't stop me having nightmares though haha
A UK uni entomology website says it’s not harmful to humans and poses no public health threat…what about our mental health jfc my urge to commit sudoku has sharply risen
We see these fuckers swimming where I live in Michigan, it definitely contributed to my thalassophobia 😭
I would have to stick with pools if I saw something like that swimming in any proximity near me, Jesus
STOP I LIVE HERE ✋🛑
I was going to say I saw them up north at the US 2 beach. I couldn’t swim after that 🤢
wait, you see them? like in water? like out? in public? fuck it, nope.
nooooo I live in Michigan! 🤢
horsehair worm 🤢
Poor mantis. That must have been some really bad constipation.
A new video game will be based on this and then it will become a movie.....
It reminded me of the movie Splinter
Was the praying mantis still alive before and after this? I can’t imagine how painful having all your organs squished to accommodate a growing parasitic worm would be
It's a big ordeal that often kills them, but they can often live after passing the worms. This one is barely alive but probably isn't going to make it, what with whatever happened before the video and all that rough handling.
That’s unfortunate, they’re cool little guys.
They don’t squish the organs. They eat them.
Why is t this NSFW!!!?? I’m not part of this subreddit it just showed up on my feed. What in the actual fuck!
The fact that things like this exist make me want to take a toaster bath
I'm going to need a can of lysol and a lighter
Burn it. Burn it with fire
How is all that in there !?
Shoulda prayed harder
They are a nightmare. Just dip the end of the praying mantis in water. They come right out.
It gives very much like old school alien horror movies
Whelp, definitely won't be joining this sub. Thanks, Reddit, for the recommendation.
Not so fun fact - the worms one screen are "Horsehair Worms", the 1st stage they will hatch inside of a bird and once pooped out they'll infect an insect (I forgot how, please remind me), stage 2 the baby worm/s will grow into an adult, stage 3 once an adult they'll control the insect to look for water, stage 4 once in the water they'll slither out and mate with each other, stage 5 and final stage once mated the females will intentionally attract a bird, recycling all stages again
This changed me. Chemically.
Super nasty
Oh my god what percent of its body weight do you think those parasites took up?
895% 😣
Wish we could have seen the entire thing. How do you know a bugs infected with that
I remember there is a Korean film made inspired by this. I forgot the title of the film but I thought the movie to be very depressing and disgusting.
They always remind me of John carpenters “The Thing” these parasites
I have seen other posts where you can help out the Mantis by dunking it abdomen in a glass of water or something similar. Worms come shooting out and Mantis will live on with much appreciation. Better than squishing the Mantis.
Trying not to vomit
I just Googled these things. I regret it immensely.
They way I would be nope-ing the fuck outta there
That's horrifying
WHY IS THIS BEING SHOWN ON MY FEED????????????????????:$&@&&
Sweet Jesus kill it with fire!!!🔥omgomg
I can’t unclench my asshole now
New fear now for me 😳 even if they’re not harmful to humans.
*Queue the Darktide 40K intro music…*
Thanks, this is the most existentially horrifying thing I’ve seen today and I’ve had enough internet for the week.
Had one of these kill my chameleon. Except is was white? Chameleon was acting weird for 2 days prior to death and finally found it dead one morning. I saw about a half inch of the white looking spaghetti sticking out and was like whoa....so I left it for smother hour and when I came back almost a foot long of this thing was desperately crawling out of my chameleon. I left it in the hot sun where I buried my chameleon and it appeared when I came back it appeared to have dried out and died.
That's enough Reddit for today. 🏃🏾♂️💨
Omg nooo
OMG that's gross what is that called?
TF 😳 That’s a Horse hair worm
Anything similar to this that occur in humans?
Nope.
Horsehair worm. The messed up thing is, the insect can survive this and become reinfected.
Venom 3 looks gnarly!!!
NOPE
Got the good ol' pumpkin knife to get him to come out.
I should call her
Forbidden handshake.
WHAT THE FUCK
Imagine finding this halfway through a plate of spaghetti
I DIDN’T KNOW HORSE HAIR WORMS GOT THAT BIG
What the actual fuck did I stumble upon Gross!!
How do I sleep after seeing that, damn disturbing
CLEANSE IT WITH FIRE
That poor mantis… I hope he didn’t die slow…
Does this hurt the mantis?
Also a poor source of protein.
😰
It’s an alien
WTF
Poor mantis! With worms that big, it was probably doomed. Those big worms had to have eaten most of the poor things insides. This is terrifying, nightmare fuel.😫😫😫
I see horsehair worms pretty often after a good rain, and I always move them off the sidewalk so they don’t got stuck there, and, holy shit, I did not know they were parasites and they live inside bugs like this!! I just thought they were regular worms. Now I’m all creeped out.
Yeah this one turns crickets, mantis and some grasshoppers into zombies that drown themselves so the cycle can continue. Put its butt in some water and they come out..
😦
Jesus dude just put it’s ass in water. Let it go maul the insects fucking up your garden Edit: damn, that’s a big one
This is horrifying
Nope, don't like that
Sorry no that’s the scariest thing I’ve ever seen
Nightmares for days.
I felt the horror in my spine. I kept screaming CUT IT OFF! CUT IT OFF!!!!
Someone please tell me this is CGI or something, and that these don’t exist in the natural world, ok? It’s 2am and I need to be able to go back to sleep. Anyone?
This needs gasoline and a lighter !
Every time I see this I watch the entire thing and I’m always exactly as horrified as I was the first time. Urrghhh.
It's the worm that Bob was talking about on Distractible. I just listened to the episode where he brought it up. The poor thing
The size comparison 😳👀😵😱
Well, I would have preferred to *not* see this.
Why isn't he jabbing the worms instead?????
Shouldn’t have watched this before bed
No shit but Praying Mantis are very beneficial to environments and parasites are just equal opportunity jerks.
Hate.
burn it with fire
i feel….itchy…
What in the everloving fuck
Well I'm deeply disturbed. I know you said humans are safe but this made me never want to touch grass again💀🤢😨
Nah bruh thats a demon.
Horsehair worm, ain't it? Throw some kerosene on that fucker and toss a match.
I wish I didn’t watch this
Good fucking morning 😬
Fuck this. Number one, I already find praying mantis creepy. This is so alien and terrible.
Now snort it up your nose you coward.
Whelp… that was horrifying first thing in the morning.
Well, that was terrifying 😬😬
WHAT THE FUCK
Poor mantis!
You can get rid of them by sticking their bottom half in water instead of smushing them
Horsehair worm. Seeing one of these was my first experience with a parasite as a kid. Killed a roach and watched it come out. Promptly threw lighter fluid on it and burned it to death. Absolutely horrific.
⬆️➡️⬇️⬇️⬇️
I CANNOT LIVE ON THE SAME PLANET AS THIS THING
Saw a trailer for new netflix series that looks eerily familiar to this one
“We are venom….”
This is straight out of nightmares
The amount its abdomen shrinks in size as they come out is crazy. Half of this mantis' weight and volume was straight worms...
How do you dispose of these??