Gardening and Horticulture - Worms in Compost

I keep compost in a tumbler that I turn regularly. Something I added over the past month or so, introduced some ugly brown, segmented worms that are now thriving. They're not earthworms because they are rather flat, not round, and only about an inch long. The tumbler gets quite warm, but the heat does not harm them. They just wiggle to the bottom whenever I turn the tumbler. What are they? Would they be harmful to the garden? Should I try to get rid of them? How?

Sunny5401,

Welcome to the forums.

Capture one or two of them and take them to your county extension agent to get them identified. Once you know what they are, you can act accordingly.

Now, an earthworm is nothing but a plus in a compost pile. I "babysit" earthworms for the local school districts all summer. Heck of a program -- they give me 1,000 earthworms in June and I have to return 1,000 in Sept. (Earthworms are kinda like guppies in that I get to keep the other 2,000 or 3,000 that occur over the summer!!)

But "an inch long and flat, rather than round" -- I have no clue what you are dealing with.