Heavy rains across the Lone Star State have unleashed something straight out of a nightmare.
Homeowners are discovering foot-long toxic invaders erupting from their own backyards.
And Texas just got hit with one biblical plague that has residents fleeing in terror.
Demonic flesh-eaters surface after weeks of torrential rain
The Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston regions are under siege from an army of hammerhead flatworms that have crawled up from the depths after weeks of heavy rainfall.
These aren’t your garden-variety earthworms that help tend the soil.
These are toxic, foot-long monsters that secrete neurotoxins capable of poisoning pets and irritating human skin on contact.
“It was terrifying, like these are truly the end times, even the worms are demonic,” Keller resident Adam Ingle told NBC5 after encountering the subterranean scourge in his own yard.
The hammerhead flatworms get their name from their distinctive flat, hammer-shaped heads that make them look like something that crawled out of a horror movie.
https://twitter.com/animalfactfiles/status/1003058431446716416
While they typically prefer to stay underground away from sunlight, the recent torrential rains have forced these wriggling menaces to the surface in record numbers.
Multiple viral TikTok videos show the disturbing phenomenon of these creatures emerging from the soil like a miniature version of the monsters from the movie “Tremors.”
One particularly unsettling video shows the worms writhing on the surface of the soil while another captures a lengthy specimen inching its way across an envelope.
A third video depicts one of the hammer-headed critters crawling across a screen with the caption “Houstonnn we have a problem!! You don’t want this guy in your garden or near your pets!”
Foreign invaders threaten native wildlife and family pets
These toxic invaders didn’t originate in Texas or anywhere else in America.
The hammerhead flatworms were introduced to the United States from Southeast Asia in the late 1800s and have been spreading across the nation ever since.
They’ve cropped up everywhere from the Pacific Northwest to New York, though they’ve been present in Texas for decades before this recent population explosion.
The worms pose a serious threat to the local ecosystem because they prey on native species, particularly the earthworms that naturally aerate and fertilize the soil.
This can have devastating impacts on gardens, farms, and natural habitats throughout the affected regions.
But the environmental damage is just the beginning of the problems these foreign invaders cause.
The neurotoxins they secrete make them dangerous to handle without proper protection, and pets that accidentally ingest them can be poisoned.
Homeowners discovering these creatures in their yards are learning the hard way that they need to be extremely careful about how they dispose of them.
Cutting them up only makes the problem worse
Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller issued a stark warning to residents about the proper way to deal with these toxic invaders.
The traditional method of chopping up garden pests won’t work with hammerhead flatworms because they reproduce asexually.
“Don’t kill it, don’t squish it, don’t cut it up, because it makes three or four more worms,” Miller warned during his interview with NBC5. “Tear it in half, now you’ve got two worms.”
This regenerative capability makes the hammerhead flatworms particularly difficult to eliminate once they’ve established themselves in an area.
A single worm can quickly become a colony if residents don’t know the proper disposal methods.
Experts advise homeowners to bag the worms and freeze them for up to 48 hours or leave them in a salt and vinegar solution to kill them without triggering their reproductive response.
Due to their toxic nature, people should never touch these creatures without wearing gloves or other protective equipment, even if they appear to be dead.
The neurotoxins can remain active and cause skin irritation or worse health problems for anyone who handles them improperly.
Residents urged to report sightings and learn proper disposal
Texas officials are encouraging residents to report sightings of hammerhead flatworms to help track their spread and develop better response strategies.
The more information scientists and agricultural officials have about where these invasive species are showing up, the better they can coordinate efforts to control their populations.
Homeowners who discover hammerhead flatworms in their yards should take photos and contact their local agricultural extension office or state agriculture department.
This helps create a database of sightings that can be used to map the invasion and predict where the worms might show up next.
Education about proper disposal methods is also crucial for preventing the problem from getting worse.
Every time someone cuts up one of these worms instead of freezing or using salt and vinegar, they’re potentially creating several new worms that will continue the invasion.
Social media has played an important role in spreading awareness about the proper way to handle these toxic invaders.
The viral TikTok videos that first brought attention to the worm emergence have also helped educate people about the dangers and proper disposal methods.
Other states should prepare for similar invasions
The hammerhead flatworms plaguing Texas aren’t likely to stay contained within state borders.
These invasive species have already demonstrated their ability to spread across the continent over the past century and a half.
States that experience similar heavy rainfall events should be prepared for their own worm invasions.
Agricultural officials in neighboring states like Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana should be monitoring for signs of hammerhead flatworm activity.
Early detection and proper response can help prevent small populations from exploding into the kind of plague-like conditions that Texas is currently experiencing.
The key is education and preparation before the worms show up in large numbers.
Once an area is heavily infested, controlling the population becomes much more difficult and expensive.
States can learn from Texas’s experience and develop response plans that include public education campaigns about identification and proper disposal methods.
The hammerhead flatworm invasion serves as a reminder that invasive species threats can emerge quickly and spread rapidly when conditions are right.
Texas residents are learning that lesson the hard way as they deal with what one local called “truly the end times” worms emerging from their own backyards.
