Posted by Celia Bannan on September 12, 2005

Q: One early summer night near Cincinnati we heard a crackling noise coming from the grass in our yard. It sounded like cracking ice. We discovered it was not ice (the air was warmish), but night crawlers, seemingly thousands of them. Accordinging to research I have done, they must have been mating. I was wondering if the moon phase had anything to do with the timing of their reproduction. I seem to remember there was no moon that night.

A: I'm not familiar with any noise that nightcrawlers might make when mating but I have heard them eating at the surface. Sounds crazy but I actually have heard them chewing on vegetation. If there were lots of nightcrawlers at the surface, I can easily believe you too heard them.

Nightcrawlers do shun light so are more likely to be out and about on dark nights - so the moon's phases would affect them. The moisture of the soil, air humidity, and temperature of the air and ground also affect their movements to the surface so there may be several factors that influenced that evening. The "right" combination of these factors is probably why so many were on the surface and the fact that so many were othere also meant that many had an opportunity to mate.

Thanks for your observations and question. Hope this helps.

John Wiessinger ( September 13, 2005)