“Do worms have feet?” asks Max in his submission. He does not include any photos, or any more context behind his question, but we will do our best to answer it nonetheless. The short answer is ‘no’. But if we take this a step further and ask why worms do not have feet, we get to the root of what worms really are to begin with. It would probably take studying the evolutionary history of worms to fully understand where this creature came from and to explain its footless state. Funnily enough, “a fossilized worm found” only a few years ago had scientists speculating that this creature may have been “key to the evolution of much of the animal kingdom”. So maybe we were all footless, legless worms at some point in time.

“I found this worm on the hardwood floor”, writes Kelly in her submission regarding the long, thin worm-like creature pictured below. “We have a small Maltese so we were freaking out as it might be a simple earthworm or a parasite that came out of my dog! I checked my dog’s stool but didn’t see any signs of worms. The length was about 4+ inches. Thank you so much for your help!” Firstly, we want to thank Kelly ourselves for the photo and ample context. These factors always help us identify the worms we are asked about. And with that said, we think Kelly found a centipede.

“Tonight I went to use the bathroom to urinate but when I looked down I noticed a living worm there”, writes Alberto in his submission regarding the dark, long, worm-like creature pictured below. “My first thought was that the worm came from me, and that it was a parasite (I did use the bathroom in the morning, but I didn’t use the bathroom until the night when I saw the worm), but when I started researching in Google it didn’t seem like the worm looked like the typical parasite that infects humans. Those seem to be white or cream, while this worm looks black with a bit of red and some transparent parts when it stretches. Also I didn’t have any symptoms the days before, like itching, however I did have some light digestive looseness the day before, but I think I’m pretty sure it was something I ate the same day, but I’m not sure though. I did take a dewormer just in case, but I would like to be sure if that worm could be a parasite that came from me. I’d leave a video and some other pics of the worm, thank you very much! I live in Monterrey, Mexico.”

“I was wondering if you could help to determine what this stuff in the photo is that I found while cleaning a small tray I had on my bureau”, writes Sandra in her submission regarding the gray matter pictured below. “I just turned it over and this stuff came out. The tray is basket weaved and I had no idea the stuff was even there! I don’t know if it is eggs (although I have not seen any bugs) or what it could be but I tried looking for it online without success. I was hoping you could help me out with this and maybe what I should do? Thank you.”

“I found these worms under my plant pots in the balcony garden”, writes this reader in his submission regarding the clear worm with red entrails pictured below. “They are hair-thin and they move in water at a good speed with snake-like movement. When I took a picture and zoomed in I found they have dots at one end of the body — the tail end I would assume. They look really frail, thread-like alarmist hair like. Three-to-five centimeters (1.2-2-inches) long and there’s quite a few of them in wet places under plant pots, fallen leaf debris, etc, after two days of rain. I wanna know if these are parasitic. And how to kill these without killing my plants. I’m from Maldives.”

“Is this an elephant hawk moth caterpillar?” asks Julia in her submission regarding the gray-green creature pictured below; it has a pattern of dots and circles on its back, as well as two big eye spots on its head. “I live in southwest Florida, right on the water. My daughter and I found this guy outside on the hot pavement, in quite a hurry. So we picked him up and placed him in the shade under a tree. I have looked and looked and can’t find any sightings of them anywhere near South FL. But he sure did have an elephant snout and the same markings. Is this guy really lost, or am I misidentifying? PS. Thanks for all you do! I’ve submitted questions several times. Even when you couldn’t directly help, your suggestions did.”

“What is this?” asks Jennifer in her submission regarding the semi-translucent worm with black markings pictured below. “I found this in my bathroom sink while brushing my teeth. It was wriggling near the sink drain. The picture is magnified several times.” We think Jennifer has found herself a drain fly larva, and it is quite incredible that she captured it in such detail, especially considering the photo is magnified. These guys are really tiny, and to the naked eye they just look like little black worms, so we commend Jennifer on the excellent photo! Neither drain fly larvae or the mature flies are harmful to humans, though they can prove to be quite the nuisance.

“What I have found, I have discovered in every grocery store, in every food product”, writes Matthew in his submission, which does not include any photographs. In such instances we do want to make clear to our readers that any identifications we make will inherently be less accurate, as it is only based on what our reader has told us. “I asked a local butcher, and his response was: ‘What can we do?’. What I am talking about are tiny C-shaped nematodes about 1 mm wide and 2-3 mm long. They are clearish white, and move slowly. But what is interesting is that inside each little “C” is a lint-like worm that is a zig-zag shape, and capable of floating. The lint worms are incredibly thin, and seem to burrow into pieces of hair, clothing fibers, etc. And they gather and wind around each other as well as burrowing into our skin. But they grow. Often leaving worm-trails in the beard skin of men. So, my question is: How is no one noticing these things? Because they are everywhere. I’ve found them in tree leaves, and grass, but mostly just floating through the air. I am positive that they are what’s behind Morgellons. Except it is not rare. They are everywhere and in everything!”

“What is this worm that I keep finding on my dining room floor?” asks Stacey in her submission regarding the white worm pictured below. “We have looked and can’t find them anywhere, but all of a sudden we find them in the morning and we clean them up. And when we get home in the afternoon we find a couple more.” Based on the excellent photo Stacey sent in, we think she found an acorn weevil larva. Acorn weevils are brown beetles that bore holes through acorns to lay their eggs inside. Once they hatch, the larvae will eat the insides of the acorns until they fall from the tree, after which the larvae will bore a new hole through the acorns to exit from, and consequently tunnel into the soil to pupate (the process of metamorphosing into the adult insect).

“What are these clear worm things with black insides?” asks Robyn in her submission regarding the organism pictured below. “They were in the bathtub after giving my dog a bath. HELP!” Although the photo is quite blurry, we think that — given what we can see, Robyn’s description of the creature, and the context in which it was found — Robyn found flea larvae. Now, we realize that saying this could be cause for panic, given that fleas do infest dogs, and it is not the nicest thing to hear that this could be a possibility. What we will say is that flea larvae do not have the same diet as their adult counterparts, meaning that while the adult flea attaches itself to the outside of animals like dogs to suck their blood, the larvae do not do this.

“I woke up this morning, granted the second day of a new home and all over the living room floor there were little whitish, worm-looking things”, writes this reader in her submission regarding the organisms pictured below. “What are they? Where did they come from? And how do I get rid of them?” Our reader asks all the right questions, and to answer her first one, we think these are blow fly larvae. ‘Blow fly’ as a term refers generally to a large group of flies (known as an order) called Diptera. The adult flies are characterized by their glossy, metallic bodies, which are typically green, blue, or black in color.

“Is this a case-bearing clothes moth?” asks this reader in her submission regarding the silver moth pictured below. “I’m in Georgia. Thank you for your time.” Now, while we are in the business of identifying the worm-like offspring of insects, we are not the best people to ask about adult insects, so we will have to warn our reader that the information and advice we provide may not be the most credible she could find. With that said, we will do our best to identify this organism and help her. With that said, our opinion is that she has already done the bulk of the work for us, because this does indeed look like a case-bearing clothes moth.

“What kind of bug is this that I found in the seam of my pants?” asks Shanan in her submission regarding the six-legged, winged bug pictured below. “Thank you for your time.” Right away, we will have to state that since we specialize in identifying worm-like organisms, this is a bit outside of our area of expertise, and for that reason we cannot promise an accurate or confident identification. The best we can do is provide an educated guess. On top of that, the photos she sent in (the best of which we included below) were pretty blurry, which makes it even harder to arrive at an identification.

“What is this guy?” is all Brooke asks in her submission regarding the black, worm-like creature pictured below. It has an arched back and bulbous head, which tells us that this is an inchworm. Usually it is much harder to identify organisms without more context, or without a clearer photo, but the shape of this creature is so specific to inchworms that we knew it had to be one. Inchworms have legs at the front and back of their body, which forces them to curve their back in this way as they ‘inch’ their way forward.

“I’m hoping someone can help me ID this very weird worm I found in a drop of water in our shower stall (hours after its last use)”, writes Leah in her submission regarding the creature pictured below. “I’m in Eastern Ontario. I thought maybe it was a drain fly or centipede but have been told it appears to be a worm. Any thoughts? Sorry for the poor quality photo. I’d really appreciate any assistance!” We do agree that this is a very strange-looking worm. It has qualities that remind us of creatures we are familiar with: the triangular-shaped head reminds us of a hammerhead worm or even a snake, but the two thin string-like appendages at the rear look like antennae (which would normally be on the head of an organism) which remind us of centipedes, which Leah already picked up on. That said, we do not think it is a drain fly (or drain fly larva). We also agree that the photo is unfortunately quite poor quality, which makes it hard for us to discern any other identifying features and give a confident identification.

“Yesterday my kids caught a Hentz Orb-weaver in a small mason jar. I was going to set it free but I completely forgot about the spider and it was left in the sealed jar on my back porch and when I woke up I noticed the spider was dead but there was also a long skinny light brown worm like creature inside the jar next to the dead spider”, writes Kelsey in his submission regarding the worm pictured below. “I’m completely baffled because this worm was not in the jar last night and the Mason jar has a sealed aluminum lid so I can’t imagine anything getting through that. How did the worm get in the jar? Is it some kind of parasitic worm? Can orb weaver spiders carry parasitic worms? I am a little freaked out and I really want to know how and why this is possible. Please help! Oh and the worm is very much alive by the way.”

“I found the worms in the attached photo in the toilet in my basement which is not frequently used”, writes Emma in her submission regarding the mass of worms pictured below. “This is the second time we have found worms in this toilet in the past six months. Would you be able to identify them for me? Thank you!” Unfortunately, Emma’s photo is taken so far away from the worms that when we zoom in, the details become too blurry for us to give a confident and accurate identification. That said, we will still give an educated guess based on the general shape and coloration of the worms.

“Infested house and garden, two and a half years trying to get rid of them”, starts Paula in her submission regarding the blurry creature with multiple appendages pictured below. “I’m disabled and can’t get any help. I’ve spent thousands on deadbeat alleged insect killer firms. Please help me.” Unfortunately, since the photo is so blurry, we will only be able to provide an educated guess as to the identity of this organism, as opposed to a confident and accurate identification. With that said, we are somewhat confident in our guess, as the outline of this creature’s shapes and what we assume to be its many legs points us in one direction: centipedes.

“I found this worm in a puddle of water on top of a tarp”, writes Donna in her submission regarding the long, thick, purple worm pictured below. “It appears to not like to dry out. It seems happiest just laying in the water. The mouth has this white tongue it sticks out. When disturbed it does jump a little like the Asian jumping worms, but not as extreme. It also can crawl backwards as well as forwards. Pics attached. I am a returning reader.” Firstly, welcome back to Donna. Secondly, we think the connection she made to the Asian jumping worm is very appropriate, because just like the Asian jumping worm, we think the critter Donna found is an earthworm.

“I keep finding this worm around my apartment”, writes Alyssa in her submission regarding the segmented, velvety black, worm-like critter pictured below. “It first started by finding them by the front door then I found one in the kitchen one day, one in the living room and now two by/in my bedroom. The living room and bedroom are carpeted, the kitchen is not and neither is by the front door. They are about an inch in length and I usually find them curled up in a circle. I am a pretty clean person and clean once a week so I’m unsure why I’ve been finding these for the past week or so. I’d like to get rid of them for good but am not sure what they are! Help!”