A reader recently asked us an interesting question about worms on the sidewalk. The subject matter isn’t strange – lots of people wonder why worms come out on the sidewalk – but his focus was unusual. He wasn’t curious about the presence of the worms, but rather about the “black balls of dirt” that came along with them onto the sidewalk. The reader asked “what” he was finding, which seems fairly simple – black balls of dirt (or possibly worm castings) – so we suppose we should expand the scope of the question, covering the matter of why he is finding dirt on the sidewalk along with worms.

A reader wrote to us recently about an amazing and beautiful worm, or what is believed to be a worm, that he had found on his patio. In fact, both those adjectives were combined, making the worm, in the reader’s words, an “amazing beauty.” The worm, which is about an inch long, had a red head, white “puffs” on its back, and two large antennae. Given this worm’s aesthetic appeal, it is not surprising that the reader wanted to know what kind of worm it was.

A reader just sent us a photo and asked us to identify the “worm that looks like a snake, yellow color with gray V-shape”. We agree that this specimen does resemble a snake more than a worm.

We received a question recently about a worm that a reader found in his bathroom. More precisely, the worm was found in the “gunk” between the tub and sliding door. The reader actually said he “found a ‘worm’ in the bathroom,” which we call attention to only because of the reader’s use of scare quotes. The reader acknowledges that he might not have found a worm at all, and in fact he probably didn’t. The “worm” in the bathroom could be a larva (or something else – it’s hard to say, as you’ll see). The reader was wondering what he had found, and also if a mere cleaning could address the problem.

A reader asked us how long earthworms can live underwater. There isn’t a clear-cut answer to this question because it depends on the oxygen level of the water and the worms, but in general earthworms can be expected to live for about 2 weeks submerged underwater before they drown.

“Found these in the Birdseye breaded green beans!” writes Susan about the tiny, maroon worms pictured below. “Yuck! Are they parasites? Concerned that my family and I have been eating these before seeing!” Yuck indeed: Susan seems to have lived many people’s worst nightmare, finding worms in their food. It reminds us of that scene from Mousehunt where someone finds a cockroach in their food. In any case, we have to tell Susan right off the bat that we will not be able to confirm or deny if these are parasites.

A reader discovered some reddish brown worms with ugly faces in her shower. We suggest she see a doctor about this situation, because she has expressed concern that these creatures might be coming from her.

One of our readers has asked about “hard shelled worms about 1/2 to 1 inches long that curl into a…

We believe the worm that our reader found in her toilet came from her pipes, not her body! We are confident it is an earthworm, not a parasite! Of course, if she is convinced that it came from her body, she should see a doctor ASAP since we are not licensed medical professionals. 

A reader of ours in Seward, Alaska sent us a photograph of a cluster of worms that he found in Exit Glacier. The group of worms look to be small and white and seem to move together like a snake. After viewing the photograph, it is very possible that these are fungus gnat larvae.

“Very thin, little red worms” have been coming from this woman’s tap in La Union, the Philippines. She asks that we help identify the critters and provide insight on how to get rid of them completely.

Believe it or not, in some parts of the world insects are considered a delicacy. In some countries, crickets are…

“I keep finding these small caterpillar-like bugs in my bathroom”, states this reader in her submission regarding the bristly, brown worm-like creature pictured below. “Found two in the bathtub, one in the toilet and most just crawling on the tile floor.”

A reader recently wrote to us about, as the title of this article suggests, a small, brown worm with stripes on the counter. (The worm was on the bathroom counter, more precisely.) The reader sent pictures of the brown striped worm and was merely wondering what it is. She was very matter of fact in her email, not seeming particularly alarmed by the small worm, nor did she ask how to get rid of it, so we presume she is dealing with an isolated incident and not a recurring problem. (She did add the word “blah” after her short email, so she wasn’t altogether happy with finding the worm either.) So, we have a simple question before us: what is the small, brown, striped worm on the bathroom counter that our reader is finding.

In the earliest stages or heart worm, there are no abnormal signs of infection. In mild cases, coughing is present. In the moderate stage, you may notice coughing, exercise intolerance, and abnormal lung sounds.

A reader wrote to us about some creatures she has been finding in her condo. She said they are very tiny, and that she usually finds them near the bathroom or in the closet. She is hopeful we can identify them and advise her on how to make her place less appealing to these worm-like organisms.

The Woolly Worm Festival takes place in small towns across the U.S. each year. Locals and visitors alike gather in…

We decided to title this article with more or less the exact wording of an email we recently received from a reader. She reported that her “catalpa worms have white spikey things all over them,” and she is wondering what is going on. Something is clearly amiss with her Catawba worms. (For the record, Catalpa worms are Catawba worms and vice versa, as the words “Catalpa” and “Catawba” are interchangeable). The reader asked no additional questions, so we will focus only on the white spiky things on the Catalpa worms. We won’t worry about general matters of identification, presuming our reader is definitely dealing with Catawba worms, and we also won’t worry about ways to rectify the problem, which may not be possible anyway.

“Can you please help identify this worm?” asks Ashley about the tiny, black worm-like creature pictured below (which is barely visible on the photo). “The pest control came and said that in 30 years he’s never seen this kind of worm. They are smaller than an eyelash. Thank you so much!” Firstly, we want to note to our other readers that, despite the photo being quite of poor resolution and not showing the worm clearly, Ashley did send in an excellent video (linked below) of the worm moving about. This brings us to our second point: based on the video, we would venture a guess and say that this might be a flea larva.

A while back, a reader asked us which types of millipedes emit a horrible odor when threatened or stepped on. (Technically, the reader asked about “minipedes,” but we’ll assume this was a typo, unless they really are interested in knowing the nonexistent smell of an online ship that sells baby shoes in the UK.) In other words, which millipedes smell bad when threatened or attacked in some way. This is a simple enough question, but we’ll have to answer it in somewhat general terms because there are around 10,000 species in the Diplopoda class, which millipedes make up, so we of course can’t list every single millipede that smells bad (nor in truth do we know of all the millipedes that smell bad). So, we will focus on the following, more general question: why do millipedes smell bad?