Yesterday we received one of the simplest questions we have ever been sent. The reader submitted a photo of a creature and asked only if it is a centipede or millipede. There were no complicating factors, so he was basically looking for a one-word answer. We think our reader found a millipede, and in what follows we explain why. In doing so, we will outline the difference between centipedes and millipedes, providing a concise guide that will help you determine whether you have found a millipede or centipede.

“I found this grub/worm on a packaged stuffed dog toy I ordered online”, writes Sarah in her submission regarding the segmented, brown, worm-like creature pictured below. “It was stuck to the fabric on a white patch that looked a bit like egg sac remnants? There was only one that I could find. What is it?” Now, what caught us off guard about this creature at first were the six appendages sticking out from one end of the creature’s body. It took us a moment to realize that the critter was upside down, and that these were its prolegs! Once we gathered that, we figured it must be some type of beetle larva, as the body shape, segmentation, and presence of prolegs point to this conclusion.

We received a very interesting question recently about, essentially, parasitic worms that infect other worms. Most of us have heard of parasitic worms that infect other hosts, including humans, but are there parasitic worms that take worms themselves as their host? More broadly, the reader was wondering if there is any “example of a parasitic animal whose host is a worm,” so in addition to looking for parasitic worms that infect worms, we are also looking for any sort of parasite that takes a worm as a host.

One of our readers wrote to us and asked us if worms can see and if so how do they do so. This is a question that has come up a lot with our readers. There are quite a few types of worms that are blind, but some worms have specific ways of seeing or sensing light in order to crawl their way around the soil or a specific place.

A reader recently sent us a picture of a blue caterpillar with small black spikes on its back and large red spikes on its head. The blue, spiky caterpillar also appears to have two black eyes (even though these are actually not functional eyes, but eyespots, a defense mechanism some caterpillars use to scare away predators). The reader only sent the picture of the spiky, blue caterpillar and this deceptively simple question: “what is this?” Good question.

one of our readers discovered hundreds (or maybe even thousands!) of long, red worms outside of her home after experiencing some rain. We think these are earthworms.

We just heard from a reader who found a worm swimming in her toilet bowl at work. She sent us some great photos and requests answers to the following two questions: What kind of worm is it and how did it end up in the toilet? Finally, she added that her work building is in an older part of town where there is some standing water around the building.

We don’t expect you to eat worms on Thanksgiving so we’ll give you the wormless version of this delicious dessert.

The small brown worm our reader found on her bed is a carpet beetle larva. Unfortunately, these organisms can be really annoying and destructive, but luckily our reader only found a single larva, so she should be able to start cleaning in time to prevent an infestation.

A reader discovered dozens of millipedes in her basement. These creatures are harmless.

Inchworms move in a very distinctive style and have voracious appetites. These caterpillars are fond of deciduous trees including apple, maple, and oak.

Natural cures for dog worms don’t actually exist, but preventative measures do. Before you can treat or prevent dog worms effectively, you should become familiar with the different types of dog worms and how dogs get them. The different types of dog worms include tapeworms, roundworm, whipworm, and heartworm.

A reader shared a video of fungus gnat larvae she found in her front yard. Although the sight of these creatures is alarming, there are natural ways to get rid of them!

We just received a message on our Facebook page from a concerned reader about some worms she spotted in her house. She wrote that there are a ton of very small black worms that she didn’t notice at first because her house is covered in mold. She said there are “millions” of these worms spread throughout her bedroom and that she no longer wants to sleep in that room because one of the walls is soaking wet with mold. The walls that aren’t covered in mold are infested with these worms. She is in distress and needs help with this infestation

One of our readers sent us an email about some orange worms that she had found in her laundry basket. She was inquiring about what they were and if she needed to get rid of her clothing. She did not include a picture, but there is a strong possibility that these worm-like creatures could be carpet beetle larvae.

“Can you identify this worm found in my toilet bowl after peeing?” asks this reader in her submission regarding the red, semi-transparent worm pictured below. “Doctor I visited was very uncertain but suspected it was a schistosoma.”

“This one centimeter-long worm-like creature was found in my mother’s tub today and on a few previous occasions”, says this reader about the segmented, green-gray creature in the photograph below. Our reader’s mother is concerned that these are pinworms, and our reader wonders if we can verify whether or not these are millipedes, centipedes or indeed pinworms.

Although our site is called “All About Worms” we deal with a variety of different creatures that aren’t technically worms. Often, when people reach out to us about a specimen they have discovered in their home, it is actually larvae of a moth or fly. However, on occasion, our readers do in fact discover worms. Most often, these are earthworms, and so this is what we will focus on. This post will inform readers of the simple way to remove earthworms from their homes using natural and non-toxic methods.

A reader wrote to us a while back about a long brown worm with black stripes that she found in a decaying stump. Fortunately, she sent us an excellent photo of the brown worm, which we were quickly able to identify as a hammerhead worm (sometimes understandably, but incorrectly, spelled “hammer head worm”). The reader was merely wondering what the long brown worm was, so we’ve technically already answered her question, but if we stopped writing now, we wouldn’t have a very satisfying article to read. So, below we supply some information about hammerhead worms, which includes the reader’s excellent picture.

Grub worms, with their white C-shaped bodies, are lawn pests that are difficult to eradicate. In the larvae, or grub stage, grub worms feast on the turf’s root system.