What happened to these worms? (european nightcrawlers looking all messed up)

[fish4all]

Check the pH of the soil if you can. Take some of the soil and soak it in a small amount of water and test it with a liquid regent kit. From what I have read acidic soil can cause ruptures and tumor looking injuries.
Too warm can harm them also and I have seen regular earthworms rupture when they get stuck out of the ground and the sun hits them.

38F seems really cold for Europeans also. Everything I have read has the proper temp between 50F and 80F with both ends being extreme and not to be held there for too long.
Raising European Nightcrawlers

[yoshimi]

Check the pH of the soil if you can. Take some of the soil and soak it in a small amount of water and test it with a liquid regent kit. From what I have read acidic soil can cause ruptures and tumor looking injuries.
Too warm can harm them also and I have seen regular earthworms rupture when they get stuck out of the ground and the sun hits them.

38F seems really cold for Europeans also. Everything I have read has the proper temp between 50F and 80F with both ends being extreme and not to be held there for too long.
Raising European Nightcrawlers

Already tossed them out, and I think it's rained since then. As for temp, since they're meant for fish bait, maybe that's an ok temp for a short while. They were in a fridge when I bought them, and I had them in the fridge for a while, in butter dish on door. The ones that never really looked bad spent the longest time in the fridge, because I had them for the most time. The 1st cup I bought had the best looking moss, and worm eggs, and for that reason I held onto them and was feeding her mostly out of other cups right up until they started looking like that. They all spent some time in their cups in a styrofoam cooler in the same room I breed roaches, but not near a heat source, so I doubt they ever hit 80.
Froze every worm that looked unhealthy, but mixing them in a bigger tub was an obvious mistake cuz I had to toss out the whole lot, when I saw the spots on them the next day. Spots on worms, no mold in dirt. The pH being too acidic sounds plausible.
Unfortunately, I don't know what harm the worms from that cup have done to my toad. She ate one just 5 days ago, before they showed symptoms, and now she's not the hungry little bugger she was.

[fish4all]

For your toad, maybe the worm left a bad taste with her and you might want to try something else. My Garter snake once stopped eating slugs for 2 month when it regurgitated a large slug. After a couple weeks of feedings on worms it went back to eating slugs again.

[yoshimi]

For your toad, maybe the worm left a bad taste with her and you might want to try something else. My Garter snake once stopped eating slugs for 2 month when it regurgitated a large slug. After a couple weeks of feedings on worms it went back to eating slugs again.

I hope so! She stuck her tongue out but missed when I was dumping the worms (took her with me for some sunshine, fresh air, and exercise), then ate one roach. That's been it. For about 5 days, one roach, and some skin (shed).
So today I set my adult crickets free. Even tho there were only 8, the boys in the group haven't shut up since they matured. Right around the time she stopped eating. Small apt so maybe it was bothering her. If I was always smelling cake but never got any, I'd get kinda mad after a while. Long shot, but they were annoying me, too. Saved the dirt cup I'd given them to lay eggs in, but let them go. Auditory relief.