"What is this bug?" is all this reader asks in her submission. She refers to the creature pictured below, which is brown in color, and appears to have bristles and three pairs of prolegs. Continue reading [...]…

Two live, small, brown worm-like creatures were found crawling on the blanket of this reader. She thinks they may be carpet beetle larvae and asks for our thoughts on the matter. Continue reading [...]…

A reader wrote to us a few days ago to ask about some larvae and beetles she found, sending us some excellent pictures of the creatures in question. She suspects she found carpet beetle larvae, an idea she wanted us to weigh in on, and she also found some sort of beetle that she wasn't able to identify, which she also wanted our help with. In addition to the matter of identification, the reader wanted to know how to get rid of the carpet beetle larvae - or whatever they may be - that she is finding. Continue reading [...]…

"I’ve been de-mothing my bedroom recently, and found a few of these", writes this reader in Colorado about the thin, brown-striped, worm-like creature pictured below. "While they bear a passing resemblance to carpet beetle larvae, they don’t appear to match up exactly (I am, however, not the expert here). I’ve included both pictures of a dead one and video of a live one moving. If helpful, I live in the Rocky Mountain area." First off, we want to say that we agree that this does look like a carpet beetle larva, and we do think that is what it is. The reason why it might not match up exactly with our reader's idea of a carpet beetle larva is because there are actually multiple species of carpet beetles, all of which look slightly different from one another. Continue reading [...]…

A reader found carpet beetle larvae in her home. As most of our site visitors know, we write about carpet beetle larvae every week, and we are confident that our reader can say goodbye to these unwanted visitors with some dedicated cleaning. Continue reading [...]…

One of our readers discovered some small brown creatures under a blanket in her home. We think they are probably carpet beetle larvae. Continue reading [...]…

A reader reached out to us after discovering what she thought might be carpet beetle larvae under her leather settee. We have confirmed her suspicions and provided some steps for getting rid of carpet beetle larvae. Continue reading [...]…

One of our readers discovered two specimens on her bed: case bearing clothes moth larvae and carpet beetle larvae. Both of these larvae are considered to be household pests, so it is important that our reader begin cleaning to get rid of them ASAP to keep the damage to a minimum. Continue reading [...]…

A reader found a few carpet beetle larvae near her dog's kennel and in her mud room. We have provided some steps to take in order to get rid of these larvae. Continue reading [...]…

"I have found these black, shiny worms [...] weaving in and out of my couch under the cushions in the creases" says this reader about an unphotographed critter that has been causing her trouble. She asks if we can help identify them for her. Continue reading [...]…

One of our readers found some brown worm-like organisms in his home. We believe these are carpet beetle larvae. Continue reading [...]…

"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." Continue reading [...]…

A reader in Cairo, Egypt asks for our help after discovering a worm-like creature crawling on his bed cover. The creature appears to be black and white, with a segmented, elongated body. Continue reading [...]…

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. Continue reading [...]…

"What is this worm?" asks Billie in her submission regarding the brown-striped creature pictured below. "I found them on my children’s bedroom floor. We thought we had powderpost beetle infestation because we have small holes in some of our new hardwood floors. Maybe these bugs are unrelated? I found three at 6:30 in the morning after turning on the lights. The largest is probably less than 1/4 inch long." We can tell Billie straight away that this is not a powderpost beetle or a powderpost beetle larva (which are white in color with a small black spot on its head), but is a carpet beetle larva. Billie may have heard of carpet beetles before: they are a notorious pest that do not feed on hardwood floors, but the rugs and carpets we put on top of them. Continue reading [...]…

"What kind of bug is this?" is all Kimberly asks in her submission regarding the dark gray-brown-colored organism pictured below. She does not include any context with her submission, and we do have to note that the resolution on the photo is poor, meaning that when we zoom in on the creature, the details become incredibly blurry. With that in mind, it will not be possible to provide an identification which is 100% accurate; the identification we are about to make is based purely on an educated guess we made, which is, in turn, based on the little we can make out from the photo. Continue reading [...]…

"I have found two of these very, very small larvae in my bathtub after returning home from being away for four days", writes Nicole about the yellow, worm-like critter pictured below. "As a backstory, I have two dogs and we recently (within the past month) moved into a new home that is old and under renovation. About three weeks ago I found a few fleas which I had thought I had completely eradicated. I washed my dogs with Dawn dish soap a few times that week, vacuumed extensively, laundered all of the linen in the house multiple times, spread diatomaceous earth under baseboards, carpets (and then rolled them up) and around certain spots the dogs like to lay, and had a company come to spray the yard with an organic solution (safe for pets and children). I hadn’t seen a sign of a flea in two weeks. I do also see a lot of other bugs making their way into the house; mainly just some ants and small black beetles. I’m really hoping these worms I found aren’t flea larvae,…

"My daughter and I both have had a bunch of itchy bumps on our legs and I've had a couple on my arms that made me afraid they were bed bugs", writes this reader in her submission regarding the black bug with a long tail pictured below. "I’ve been digging around nightly but haven’t found any signs of them. Then tonight I saw this tiny thing - maybe the size of two poppy seeds. I have a video too if it’s helpful. We are in New York City. Thanks so much!" To begin with, we want to thank our reader for the photo, which shows us a lot of identifying information about the creature, particularly this tail-like appendage on its rear. The coloration, shape, and this tail tells us that this is likely a carpet beetle larva. Continue reading [...]…

"Can the carpet worm bite a human?" asks Martha in her submission. "I was bitten in several parts of my legs two days ago, so I looked and found the larva. The bites look like so." First off, we want to note that, going forward, we are going to assume that Martha is referring to the carpet beetle larva, which is commonly referred to as a carpet worm. Carpet beetle larvae do resemble worms, but are technically insects. Secondly, we will not be able to confirm what these are, as Martha did not send in any photos of the larva. Lastly, to answer her question, carpet beetle larvae cannot bite. With that said, they can cause rashes. Continue reading [...]…

"My sister found this in our front bathroom today and we were trying to figure out what it is," writest this reader about the segmented, black, worm-like creature pictured below. "We live in Western North Carolina U.S. I fished it out of the toilet to get a better look and see if I could figure out what it was. We weren't sure if it maybe came from her and, if not, where it came from at all. Based on what I have noticed just by watching it, it looks like it may possibly have legs but I'm not positive. Based on the direction it seems to move it appears to breathe through its butt. It is very small and thin, zoomed in it looks like it has stripes along its body but two very distinctive stripes towards the end. Because I had taken it from the toilet I put a dime under the dip cup I had placed it in for size comparison and labeled the mentioned characteristics in the picture." Continue reading [...]…