Three possibilities come immediately to mind, and interestingly none of them are actually worms. We’ll begin with the most likely culprit, the larvae of the moth fly. We’ve written about the larvae of moth flies before (in fact, we’ve actually written about them in the context of finding them on the bathroom floor!), so we won’t go into too much detail. Moth fly larvae match the description that our reader sent us almost perfectly. They are a clear brownish color (if that sounds contradictory, think of muddy water), and they do have distinct dark lines that run horizontally across their bodies. These larvae often appear on bathroom floors and near sink drains, as they thrive in moist environments. (What about the one they found in the dirty laundry? It probably got there by latching onto a piece of clothing worn by someone using the bathroom.) Given all the details that align, it is very likely that our reader is dealing with moth fly larvae. So, how do you get rid of them?

The way to rid yourself of moth worm larvae is mostly preventative, although, of course, your first step should be to remove all the larvae you find. After this, it is best to focus on two things: moisture and organic debris. More to the point, you should focus on eliminating both from your house. Fix leaky faucets, open windows when you shower, and make sure to clean the muck that tends to accumulate around anything in your house that frequently comes in contact with water, like sink drains and the tops of drain pipes. Also, it is good to make sure that your windows and doors are properly sealed by using, say, screens. This will help keep moth flies out, and of course moth flies are the source of the moth fly larvae.

As we said, it is overwhelming likely that our reader is dealing with moth fly larvae, but for the sake of completeness, we’ll mention two additional possibilities, both of which are larvae. The first are carpet beetle larvae, which are also brownish color with stripes, although their stripes are pale. They are found not only in bathrooms, but also on walls, floors, and other areas of your house. They are best dealt with by thoroughly vacuuming the area in which you find them. It is also possible that our reader found maggots, the larvae of flies. Maggots thrive in unsanitary places around the house, like a bathroom floor that hasn’t been cleaned in awhile. To get rid of maggots, the best thing to do is remove the conditions that attracted the maggots to begin with – in other words, clean the maggot-ridden areas thoroughly.

So, the “worms” that our reader found are very likely one of the three larvae mentioned above. Follow the advice we presented above to help get rid of the problem.

The reader specifically mentioned that he didn’t think the “worms” were maggots – that is, the larvae of flies – but, frankly, we can’t imagine what else they would be. To be sure, we haven’t specifically heard of maggots living in bones in the way described by our reader, but it still seems overwhelmingly likely that he did in fact come across maggots.

First, the reader described the creatures in the bone as very small, perhaps around 10 mm in length (for perspective, that’s a mere tenth of a centimeter) and about .5 mm in diameter. Guess what? That’s about exactly the size of maggots, and in fact they can be even smaller than that. The reader also said the creatures in the bone were a white or clearish color, which is also the typical color of maggots. (They can appear “clear” because you can sometimes see traces of the interior of maggots.) Finally, the environment in which the maggots were found – namely, bone marrow; indeed, moist bone marrow, according to the reader – is precisely the type of place you would expect to find maggots. A primary place where adult flies like to lay their eggs is damp food matter – think of those disgusting pictures of animal corpses being decomposed by thousands of maggots (ahh, the circle of life). If you’re a fly, bone marrow is a prime place to start a family.

But how did these maggots get into the bone to begin with if it was perfectly sealed? The answer is that the bone was most likely not perfectly sealed, however we’re to understand this phrase, and that flies exploited some opening to lay their eggs. Fly eggs are extremely small – they are about one to three mm long – and it seems likely that at least a portion of the hundreds of eggs flies lay could get into the bone marrow. Once the cycle has started, fly populations grow exponentially, so if the first eggs grew into flies, and these flies laid more eggs in the bone marrow, it’s not surprising that our reader found a huge amount of maggots when he cracked open the bone.

As a concluding note, the reader asked about any danger associated with the creatures he discovered. The short answer is that maggots can cause problems for animals and humans; for example, maggots can cause myiasis, which involves fly larvae feeding on a host’s tissue and liquids, as well as its ingested food. This is a major problem in the livestock industry, which probably explains why our reader found the maggots in a beef bone acquired from the butcher.

Could our reader have discovered something other than maggots, as he originally believed? We suppose so, but from all the information we were given, it seems very likely that he was dealing with plain old maggots.

Maggots are the larval, or immature, stage of the common housefly. They are very small, perhaps 1/8” long, have an elongated shape, and move in a wiggling, crawling motion, which causes them to be commonly mistaken for worms. Before maggots mature into their adult, airborne form, they survive by feeding on waste and decayed food and flesh. For this reason, maggots thrive in environments like bathrooms and kitchens where various unsanitary conditions, such as (pardon the example) urine on the bathroom floor or uneaten or rotten food left out on the kitchen, attract them like their mature fly brethren to honey.

How is one to get rid of these pests? Unfortunately, maggots seem to be resistant to many of the common pesticides used to kill other bothersome insects (although in general we caution against the use of pesticides unless it is absolutely necessary). In fact, simply pouring boiling water on the maggots seems to be the most reliable way to kill them. Make sure you sweep up the carcasses and put them in a sealed trash bag.

More important, however, is to break the maggots’ reproductive cycle by going after the flies. For some reason, flies are more susceptible to most common bug sprays and pesticides. Hunt down the maggots’ winged parents and they will no longer be able to lay eggs and produce the next generation. Above all else, remove the conditions that allowed the maggots to thrive in the first place by cleaning the bathroom and removing any rotten or uneaten food from the kitchen. Also clean up any moisture that may have accumulated around the house, as part of the maggot life cycle requires them to seek out a damp place where they can mature into flies. Take these steps, and the war against the pests will soon be won.

In summary, small white worms found in the bathroom or kitchen are most likely maggots. Get rid of them by pouring boiling water on the maggots, using pesticides or bug sprays on the flies, and removing any rotten or uneaten food, moisture, or unsanitary conditions from your home.

But what if that dog meat were actually a Trojan horse for something more sinister? Could a maggot unknowingly consume the flesh of a poisoned dog and ingest an unwanted chemical leading to its doom? The answer surely depends on the nature of the poison the maggot consumes. Like most living creatures, maggots are susceptible to poisoning by a number of different chemical agents. Some of the common household items used to control maggot infestations include hairspray, brake cleaner, Drano and hot water, motor oil, RAID Wasp and Hornet Killer, and—wait for it—doggie shampoo.

As you might have guessed, many of the preceding chemicals would also be quite deadly to poor Fido were he to unknowingly consume them (keep that Drano locked up under the sink where it belongs!). The mere thought of a dog being poisoned in such a way quite frankly sickens us, but in the very unfortunate event that a dog died of some form of poisoning and its flesh were eaten by maggots, the maggots would not be long for this world either. Of course, not all substances that poison dogs would also poison the maggots that consume the dog after it has died. For example, dogs can be poisoned by chocolate (at least if a sufficient quantity is consumed), but maggots would likely not be affected by eating a dog that has died by chocolate poisoning.

So, maggots could likely not sustain themselves by eating the flesh of a dead poisoned dog (depending on the poison that kills the dog). In short, the poison that harms the dog may also harm the maggot.

The first possible answer to our reader’s question is the larvae of a moth fly, which are frequently found on bathroom floors and around sink and shower drains. Moth flies have hundreds of small hairs covering their bodies and are dark in color (often they are a grayish color). Moth flies are also known as “filter flies,” “drain flies,” and “sewer flies.” As you might have guessed, moth flies are often found in the bathroom, resting on walls or near drains with their wings spread over their heads.

The larvae of moth flies are very small – they are less than a quarter of an inch long – and are worm-like in shape. They do not have any legs and their bodies are slightly flattened. If you have good eyes, you might be able to tell that the head is distinct from the rest of the worm-like body.

It’s also possible that our reader came across carpet beetle larvae, which are normally brown with pale strips and have small hairs on their bodies, with longer hairs near the tail end of the creature. They are not only found in bathrooms, but also floors and walls around the house, especially in closets, where they can infest clothing, and kitchens, where they get into food packages.

Assuming our reader is afflicted with one of these pests, what should he or any other person with this problem do? With regard to the moth fly larvae, you should make sure to reduce moisture in the house when possible and keep organic debris to a minimum. Make sure to also fix leaking water fixtures, and while you’re at it clean the muck that accumulates around drains. (For that matter, you should clean away any stuff that may have accumulated around household items that involve water, like the top of drain pipes.) If you don’t have them already, you should also consider putting screens on your windows and doors to help keep moth flies out to begin with.

As far as the carpet beetle larvae go, the best solution is to simply vacuum really thoroughly, and make sure to continue to vacuum regularly, as this keeps the problem under control to begin with. Any clothing that may have been infested should be dry-cleaned or thrown away, and any infested food should be gotten rid of.

Fleas are of course those small, annoying insects that bite and suck blood from their host. Commonly, the host is a cat or dog, although humans can be affected by fleas too. Fleas cause itching, which is bothersome enough, but they can also carry dangerous parasites, so it’s important to terminate any fleas that you find on yourself and your pets, or in an area near yourself or your pets.

The flea life cycle is broken into four stages: the egg stage, larva stage, pupa stage, and, finally, adulthood. In any given flea population, the majority will be in the egg state (about 50%), but another 35% will be in the larva stage. 10% of the population is in the pupa stage, and the remaining 5% are adults.

It is in the larva stage that one is most likely to mistake a developing flea for a type of worm. Flea larvae certainly look like tiny worms, and they can come in a few different colors (not just black, as the reader’s question specified). Most tend to pale, although many have a dark, blackish interior that can be seen, meaning that they can, indeed, look like small, black worms.

How might flea larvae make it onto your sheets? Overwhelmingly, the answer is your pets, as dogs and cats get fleas more frequently than humans. If you allow your pets to sleep on your bed or even just occasionally invite them up, they might spread flea larvae to your bedding. Very often, flea larvae is observed on pet bedding – in fact, that is one of the ways owners can check to see if their pets have fleas – so it stands to reason that flea larvae can be found anywhere that your pet lies down.

So, if you find “black worms” in your bed, you might be dealing with flea larvae, and you should take the necessary steps to eradicate fleas from your pet and your home.

Maggots are often white or yellow in appearance and do indeed look like small worms because they are cylindrically shaped. They also have black dots – often oval-shaped – on one end of their body.

Normally, a cold environment like an ice machine would not make a very inviting home for a maggot, as they tend to thrive in warm, moist places, like rotting food or decaying animals. However, maggots also grow in stagnant water, and it’s certainly possible that small pools will accumulate in ice machines if the internal temperature is not sufficiently cold. If a small pool of water is sitting stagnant for long enough, in an ice machine or elsewhere, flies might use this area to lay their larvae.

Needless to say, the ice machine wherein the maggot was found needs to appropriately cleaned and the temperature settings should also be adjusted. Although a cold environment is not ideal for the breeding of maggots, the appearance of one maggot in almost any place (beyond perhaps a rotting animal corpse somewhere in the savanna) should give one pause.

Why? Well, because maggots are gross and can possibly cause health problems for both humans and animals. For example, contact with maggots can cause myiasis, which involves fly larvae feeding on a host’s tissue, liquids, and/or ingested food. Myiasis is a major problem in the livestock industry, but, again, fly larvae can afflict pets and humans too.

The other major problem with maggots is the rapidity with which they reproduce. Maggots quickly grow into flies, and once they turn into flies, they may lay larvae themselves, creating even more maggots. In this way, populations of maggots grow exponentially, meaning a few maggots can quickly become a serious infestation if the initial few aren’t taken care of.

To the question asker in particular and our readers in general, make sure to frequently dispose of trash and seal up waste receptacles inside and outside (if flies can’t get into a waste receptacle, they won’t lay their larvae inside it). Also, dispose of the appropriate types of leftovers using the garbage disposal, as this will eliminate the type of rotting food that maggots thrive in. Finally, consider sealing and freezing non-disposal leftovers until waste collection day.

The color of a bloodworm varies. It can be white, green, yellow or red so there is no real connection between their common name and their color. There are a few bloodworms that are transparent (you can almost see through them) but they are more commonly known as Glassworms because of their appearance.

Bloodworms are a great food item for the fish populations of the waters they inhabit. They are very nutritious and have a great deal of iron and protein that benefits fish. They are also a common source of food for fish kept in aquariums. The bloodworms remain in their larvae stage for two to seven weeks depending on the temperature of the waters they live in.

Bloodworms are commonly found in aquatic environments that have muddy bottoms such as ponds, swamps, and streams. They generally live in large numbers and as adults, they breed rapidly and with ease. They also live in wastewaters such as sewer treatments and in man-made waters such as retention ponds. They can cause health issues in man-made waters depending on the size of their population. Many local government agencies use pesticides to control bloodworm populations when they are discovered.

Cultivating bloodworm populations in captivity has not been very successful. Yet, collecting bloodworms is not very difficult if it is done at the proper time. The best time to catch bloodworms is at night using small mesh netting. This is when they are most active out of their self-made tubes. They can also be collected by getting mud from the bottom of a water source and shifting through it or by waiting until they swim to the water’s surface. When they swim to the surface, they can easily be caught with a net.

Various health problems in humans have been associated with coming in contact with bloodworms. These include respiratory problems, allergies, and skin problems such as dermatitis.

The larvae of moth flies like to hang in and around drains, underneath drain plugs and screens, and inside of pipes. They feed on the gelatinous film found in these areas of bathroom sinks, tubs, toilets and kitchen sinks. Moth flies develop through four stages: egg, larvae, pupa, and adult. Moth flies have many generations each year and they occur anytime of the year in moist coastal regions – indoors and outdoors. Moth flies are common outdoors during the winter and spring months in California – mainly the interior areas.

If you want to avoid a moth fly infestation, there are several management methods you can use. You should screen windows and doors and reduce moisture and organic debris. To keep moth flies from multiplying, fix leaking plumbing immediately. You should also clean muck that collects in drains or under dripping taps, and brush or wash away slime under drain plugs, screens, and inside the top of drainpipes, above the water level in the J-trap. Biological control, such as Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), can be effective as well as insecticides. Bt is a naturally occurring bacterial disease of insects that are also the active ingredient in some insecticides. Bt is considered safe to people and nontarget species. Insecticides can be used outdoors, but they are not recommended for use in the home. Visit your local hardware store, home and garden store or retail superstore for insecticide options.

What About Millipedes?

If you’ve spotted a furry but wormy creature racing across your kitchen or bathroom floor on what appears to more than 100 legs, chances are it wasn’t really a worm. While it’s easy to mistake these leggy creatures for worms due to their elongated segmented-like bodies, the more accurate you are at identifying them, the better you will be at controlling a possible infestation. This worm-like creature can pass for a worm if you’re not paying attention, but the truth is, it’s actually an immature millipede.

When millipedes first hatch, they only have around three pairs of legs, giving the appearance of a worm. Keep in mind that the millipede’s legs multiply rather rapidly. Additional millipede legs grow after each molt. Millipede eggs are either white, creamy yellow, or brown. They are smooth and spherical, and toughly 0.4 mm in diameter. Because of a sticky secretion, millipede eggs adhere in clusters. Millipede larvae are smaller than adults, of course.

Adult millipedes range in color from gray to brown. These anthropods are worm-like with cylindrical bodies. They are typically 13 to 38 mm long with a pair of short antennae. The adult millipede has at least 30 pairs of legs, although it can look like they have much more. So much more that the millipede earned the nicknames “thousand-legged worm,” “thousand-legged spider,” and “hundred-legged worm.” Millipedes have a large number of segments with at least two legs attached to most body segments. While it may look like millipedes mover at warp speed, they actually move very slowly as their legs move in a wave-like motion.

Although millipedes and centipedes may look alike at first glance, a second look will reveal many differences. Centipedes have flattened bodies and a pair of long, slender antennae. They also have a pair of claws just behind the head. Centipedes have roughly 15 pairs of long legs and only one pair on most of its body segments. Centipedes are the faster of the two, so they are tougher to catch.

Millipedes (and centipedes) live in just about every part of the world. Millipedes prefer to live in dark, damp places, while centipedes prefer places where they can hunt for insects and spiders. The millipede prefers to eat moist, decaying organic matter. Chances are, most people will come across a millipede and not a centipede, specifically the greenhouse millipede.

The types of millipedes and centipedes that enter homes usually do not bite. This doesn’t mean that these anthropods are welcome visitors. If you see many of them in a short period of time, they can become a nuisance.
Outdoor millipedes feed on vegetation and they can do plenty of damage to turf. Fortunately, there are many ways to control them.

One of the easiest ways to control millipede populations is to take away their food and shelter source. If you destroy their feeding and breeding grounds they will hunt for another place to dine and reproduce. Other ways to control millipede populations in the home is to repair (seal) splits and cracks in foundation walls, and around doors, basement windows, and similar openings. Properly ventilated basements and crawl spaces are a turn off for millipedes (and centipedes) as well. And finally, some basic cleaning should help as well. If you remove food sources, clean, repair cracks, and destroy all food and shelter sources and you still see a millipede or two here and there, you can try chemical control. Visit any hardware or home and garden retailer to browse through a number of effective options.

There are 13 known terrestrial ribbon worm species recorded worldwide. Four exist in Australia (Argonemertes: australiensis; dendyi; hillii; stocki) and they are from the Argonemertes genus. Land-dwelling nemerteans need dark, damp, and cool habitats to live. They can be found under rotting logs, in leaf litter or under large rocks or stones. They are typically found in lands where the climate is calm and damp

Ribbon worms have muscular eversible (able to be turned inside out) proboscis (tubular feeding and sucking organ), housed in a fluid-filled enclosure above the belly or gut. This area is used to trap prey and it is used for burrowing. Land-dwelling ribbon worms may use it for fast movement. At a minimum of 8 inches long, the ribbon worms body is long and lean with finlike appendages. Some giant ribbon worm species or ‘Lineus longissimus’ may reach up to 100 feet long.

Ribbon worms reproduce annually. Fertilization occurs externally, and the eggs and sperm are released separately. Ribbon worms develop by either the direct method or ciliated larval stage. The direct method does not include a larval stage and the ciliated larval stage is either a free-swimming larva called the pilidum or the Desor’s larva, which is similar to an adult. The larvae transform into ribbon worms in several days to several weeks after swimming among plankton.

Ribbon worms have several unique abilities and traits. Some may have separate male and female organs (dioecious) while others may have both male and female organs (hermaphroditic). Ribbon worms can regenerate chopped or damaged parts of their body. In fact, ribbon worms may break up into pieces on their own and the pieces will grow into new worms.

According to Encyclopedia Britannica, www.britannica.com, “in general, the ribbon worms are regarded as a distinct phylum at the highest point of acoelomate (without a body cavity) development; however, some evidence suggests that one proboscis cavity, or rhynchocoel, may be a true coelom. The important features used to classify the ribbon worms include the position of the brain relative to the mouth, the presence or absence of a stylet (or stylets) on the proboscis, and the position of the lateral nerves relative to the muscle layers.

For pictures or video of the giant ribbon worm or an average size ribbon worm in action, visit: http://www.seawater.no/fauna/slimormer/kjempe.htm or http://www.flickr.com/photos/pokerchampdaniel/3136421527/.