I noticed a lot of cocoons in one* of the bins while harvesting castings today (* “one pair”, long story, visit my new dedicated website mimis.hu).
I found one worm looking irregular. I was wondering whether it was sick, but then I realised it’s pregnant.
Then I found another pregnant worm and this one gave birth in front of my eyes. Photos are: before (discovery), during, during, after, and after. The new-born cocoon is almost transparent white and gourd-shaped.
By the way, when they give birth, the other end of their body turns lemony yellow? To distract attention of their predators? To tell other worms they are temporarily infertile (pregnant)? I have never read about it.
1 November 2023: In another pair of bins, I found lots of cocoons too (on 31 October 2023), but not in other pairs, thus I think it’s not strictly seasonal. One thing is in common: I restarted these bins (because there was an infestation of gnats) with the same worms, i.e. there were more worms than the environment (soil), so why mate more, instead of less?