Yesterday the pipe that runs water out of the house got clogged and a bit of water came up from the basement drain. This happens every couple years because tree roots are growing into the pipe about halfway between the house and street, anyway... For the first time, in the water that came up in the drain, there were these extremely tiny black wormy things in mass numbers. I'd say the biggest ones were 1mm wide and 1/4 inch long and they looked a lot like leeches. The roto-rooter guy said he had never seen them, and he's been in the business for a long time. Anybody know what they are? I scoured the net and couldn't find anything. Gross to say the least, I dumped some bleach in there for em.

I would most definitely be getting that checked out!

From the size you provided, that would be leeches. That is their normal size, they get big when they find a host.

They have these new things out there called "Plumbers". They can go out into your yard and replace the "main sewer line", and cut the "tree roots" away from the new drainline.

my ma's house has the same problem (roots in plumbing, not leaches). im sure my giant once-a-week deuces probably were a factor too, or atleast i like to think that.

im a little shocked that zip's suggestion was "go to the man", or involved spending $$ (in this case quite abit??)

Yeah I'd rather spend $50 a year than drop at least a couple grand to have the pipe redone.

Leeches huh... I thought they looked most like leeches just didn't know they could grow there.

thats what i'd do. you can even rent the snake thing yourself, but the thing is heavy as shit, digging through the roots is a bitch, and dont even think about what is kicking up out of the drain. imo, if your man is charging you 50, thats the best spent 50 dollars of your year.

as for the leaches, leaches dont bother me that much. kinda nasty, but ive had em on me before, and not that big of a deal imo. i guess just wash them back down the drain? if you somehow get them on you, dont rip them off, use salt or a flame.

I drop a couple hundy every three years for the same reason (roots, not leeches).

The cost of owning an old house.

Three to four hundred every year, and then the added excitement of not knowing when your basement will be full of shit, mud, and leeches is one of those things that makes life unpredictably wonderful, I'll admit.
However, depending on the severity of the problem (as in if you have to have the whole line replaced and it runs under your driveway), a couple grand to install a cleanout, and get a few feet of pipe replaced, and cutting away the roots (and thus having the problem solved for the next twenty years) might be something to take a look at.

Quick way to solve the problem is to have your neighbor run over your sewer main with a bulldozer and file a claim on his homeowners. You're gonna have shit in your tub for a couple days, but you'll get over it.

It's really not a big problem, I was just wondering what the wormy things were. They didn't make it more than a foot out of the drain before they died anyway. About every two years I have to get the guy out here and he charges $100, thats where I get $50 a year. Zip, you're getting ripped off if you're paying hundreds for a roto-rooter guy to come out, unless he does the whole house or something. Hell I think I get ripped off because he isn't here for more than 15 minutes.