New Zealand flat worm!!!

yesterday at my niece’s her neighbour approached me to ID a creature he had found in a newly purchased hydrangea. It was a New Zealand flat worm and he later was asked to send it off for investigation.
So, too close for comfort!
I check every plant I buy in....the roots, pots and top growth and I advise everyone does the same

 

dont hear much about them now , the winter of 2011/12 and the beast from the east last year have taken the toll .... I have seen one orrid thing looks like a big leach

Spruce

 

Yes, I had almost forgotten them spruce.....it was in a plant from Holland.
Indeed, leech like and horrible....supposed to be toxic too I think

 

Toxic or just aggressive towards native species? I understood that they prey on earthworms which is why they're so undesirable. They're one of the many pests I discovered here, but only in one small, particularly wet and claggy bit of the garden. Horrible things!

 

Toxic if I remember noisette.....we need to wash our hands if we handle them

 

I had a good google , and they love Scotland and the islands (wet) they must of hated the summer we had last year ...

Spruce

 

Never seen one.

 

ohhh pleeeaaase! Vat eez zees 'vashing of ze 'ands'? Unknown concept here, old bean Can't say I suffered any ill effects from my brief encounter with the little darlings.....not 'alf as much as tidying up the hellebores!

 

.. I wear surgical gloves when handling dirt or anything that might be inhabited. just thinking about it gives me goose bumps !

I hope I never see one of those. I have had to take care of slugs but I have a long handled poker for that duty.

 

Horses for courses, Lori. I can't garden in gloves. On the other hand () I used to remove the packet of giblets from an 'oven ready' chicken with my Grandad's washing tongs Do you poke the slugs until they go away?

 

I hate gardening with gloves, even though I've always had cats
I do try but usually fling them
Today whilst removing dead perennial growth, I touched a slug............ I jumped about a foot in the air and squealed like a stuck pig!
I do love my garden but some of critters that share it with me freak me out!
I'm hoping I never come across anything toxic

 

well, actually I use the poker to beat in the end where I think the brains are. Then I have one of those snowball catapults for scooping and flinging... I originally bought the catapult in order to return dog turds that their owners had accidently left on my lawn

 

@CanadianLori sureley that has to be a utube clip

 

If anyone spots a flat worm it is a notifiable pest. It devours our own earthworms in a particularly horrible way.....just one of an increasing number of new to us pests and diseases
Never seen any here...it may be too mild apparently