millipede with antennae
Continue Reading
Posted in Interesting Worms

Earthworm with Feelers? Probably Millipedes

A reader wrote to us through the All About Worms Facebook page about something that “looks like an earthworm but it has feelers.” By “feelers,” we presume the reader means antennae, and the picture the reader sent along with her question does in fact show a skinny, worm-like creature with what appear to be antennae. Earthworms do not have antennae, as the reader indirectly implies, so we think she might have actually found some type of millipede for reasons we will now outline.

carpet beetle larvae on wall
Continue Reading
Posted in Pest Worms

How to Get Rid of Worms or Pests in Your House Naturally and Without Using an Exterminator

A few days ago we received a strange question about getting rid of worms or some other pest without the use of an exterminator. Actually, the question isn’t so much strange as it is incomplete, as we are only asked about getting rid of something, but the something isn’t specified. To see what we mean, here is the whole message we received, with a few minor corrections: “how do I get rid of them, without the cost of an exterminator? Is there any home remedies or pesticides that work?” No picture was submitted along with these questions, so this is all we are working with, and all we can offer are a couple of pieces of advice to our reader, as well as a general remark or two about the project of getting rid of worms or other pests.

black flatworm
Continue Reading
Posted in Worms Generally

Black Flatworm with Brown Underside in Backyard

A reader in south Louisiana wrote us a question a few days ago about a black worm with a brown underside that he found in his backyard. The worm is about three or four inches (seven to ten centimeters) long, and its body is flat. The reader was wondering what type of worm he found, and if it is parasitic. The latter concern is connected to his dog, who has had issues before with worm infections. We’ll do our best to address both issues, which are of course related.

red pink worm in germany
Continue Reading
Posted in Interesting Worms

Red, Pink Worm in Garden in Germany

A red worm was found by a reader in Northern Germany – or perhaps we should say ein roter Wurm wurde von einem Leser in Norddeutschland gefunden – and he wrote to us to see if we might be able to identify it. The worm was found in a garden, where it was mostly underground, and it is not exactly red. Its overall body is more like a pinkish color, but the bottom of the worm’s body is almost white. More precisely, the color of the worm fades as you move down its body – the top is a red or dark pink color, the middle is a light pink, and then the bottom is almost entirely white. What might our reader have found?

bristle worm
Continue Reading
Posted in Bristle Worms Marine Worms

Bristle Worms Dying in Aquarium

We received a question via the All About Worms Facebook page from a reader whose bristle worms have died in his aquarium. Actually, the worms didn’t just die, but “simultaneously combusted,” although presumably this can’t be taken too literally, as we don’t see how worms in a fish tank could be consumed by fire. The reader isn’t worried about the worms themselves, but he is concerned if the death of the bristle worms is a bad portent, spelling trouble for the rest of the tank. So, essentially, the reader wants to know what it means when the bristle worms in your aquarium die.

gray worm thing
Continue Reading
Posted in Caterpillars

Gray “Worm Thing” with Horns

A reader wrote to us through the All About Worms Facebook page about a grayish “worm thing” that she came across. The creature is about 1.5 inches (4 centimeters) long, and it has horns on one end of its body. Interestingly, the creature is also reported to have “holes or suckers” on its bottom side. Overall, the reader describes the creature as “terrifying,” and says that she “would die if it touched me.” She is therefore keen to know what she found and where it came from. What could this gray, horned worm-like thing be?

tiny insect
Continue Reading
Posted in Interesting Bugs

Tiny Insects in the Bathroom

We recently received a question via the All About Worms Facebook page about some “tiny” insects in a reader’s upstairs bathroom. The size of the insects is emphasized, and the reader reports that they can hardly be seen by the naked eye. As a point of reference, she says that they are smaller than a sesame seed, which certainly makes them very small, even in the insect world. The reader also reports that the insects are striped, and that they have a couple of hairs that visibly extend from their back ends, which stand in contrast to the little hairs that cover their bodies. The reader wants to know what she is finding, and she also wants to know why they are in her bathroom.

red inch worm
Continue Reading
Posted in Pest Worms

Brown Inchworms in the Kitchen

We received a brief and somewhat perplexing question from a reader a few days ago about brown inchworms in the kitchen. In fact, her entire email consisted of the question “what are brown inchworms in the kitchen?” – and nothing else was written. We therefore aren’t sure what our reader’s situation is, and we also aren’t really sure what information she is looking for. Brown inchworms in the kitchen are, well, brown inchworms in the kitchen, and we don’t really know what else to say about the matter. What we can do, however, is provide a little information about inchworms, so we’ll focus on this general theme below.

tiny white worm in soil
Continue Reading
Posted in Interesting Worms

Tiny White Worms in Soil

We recently received a question from a reader who found a “very tiny and almost transparent white” worm in her soil. She sent a picture along with her question, and this does indeed show a very small worm or worm-like creature that is white and kind of transparent (or technically translucent, we suppose). The reader was only trying to identify the tiny white worm in her soil, so we’ll focus on identification and leave the matter there.

Very small white worm
Continue Reading
Posted in Interesting Worms

Larvae in Hot Springs: Are They Dangerous?

We received an interesting and highly specific question from a reader about ephydrid fly (shore fly) larvae, which are a type of maggot that live in natural hot springs. She wants to know if it is safe to sit in a hot springs that is “filled with ephyrdid fly maggots.” Psychologically, she doesn’t mind the presence of the larvae, and she is keen to enjoy the natural hot springs she comes across in nature, but she doesn’t want the larvae to “crawl up places they don’t belong.” She spells out this concern in more graphic detail, citing specific orifices, including a wound on her foot, and we’ll leave it to you to imagine some of the other openings she is concerned with. Are the maggots that live in hot springs dangerous, and will they crawl into places they don’t belong?

Horsehair worm in pool
Continue Reading
Posted in Interesting Worms

Horsehair Worms in the Garden

A reader recently submitted a question via the All About Worms Facebook page about a worm “coming out of the ground” in his garden. The most distinguishing characteristic of the worm is that it is “very thin, almost like nylon fish line,” and it moves in a “swaying motion.” The reader only asked if what he found is a type of worm, but we’ll do him one better by identifying the exact worm we think he found: a horsehair worm (occasionally spelled “horse hair worm”). Since horsehair worms are nematodes (roundworms), they are actually worms, not just creatures that everyday language, with its understandable but often frustrating contempt for scientific precision, has wrangled into the “worm category.”

Bloodworm
Continue Reading
Posted in Fishing Worms

Rearing or Cultivating Glycera dibranchiata (Bloodworms)

We received a very specific question from a reader a few days ago about cultivating the “marine bloodworm Glycera dibranchiata.” Glycera dibranchiata are commonly used for fish bait, so the reader’s motivation for rearing or breeding bloodworms – essentially, setting up a bloodworm farm – is presumably tied to fishing. The reader was first of all wondering if bloodworms can be cultivated “successfully,” and if so, he was wondering how he might go about doing so. He also wanted to know if there are any publications that are available to assist with the rearing task.

Small worm by euro
Continue Reading
Posted in Pest Worms

How to Get Rid of Inchworms and Silkworms

The other day we received a message from a reader who wants to know how to get rid of inchworms and silkworms, or how to get rid of “inch worms” and “silk worms,” as she has it. To call what we received a “message” is a bit misleading, however, since all we were sent was a mere sentence fragment composed almost entirely of capital letters. (Inexplicably, one instance of the word “worm” was written normally, but the rest was all caps.) We’ll try our best to answer our reader’s question, such as it is.

millipede or centipede in shower
Continue Reading
Posted in Gross Worms

Worm Reader Found in Shower After Throwing Up is Likely Millipede or Centipede

We received a question from a reader recently via the All About Worms Facebook page about what we think is a millipede or centipede in her shower. The question has a bit of a backstory, so we’ll quote the relevant part of the reader’s message and then move on to address her concerns: “I had an episode of Vertigo yesterday and I thew up in the trash can. I cleaned the trash can out in the shower. So I am kinda freaking out thinking that it might have been inside me! Or hopefully it is just a coincidence that is was in there.” The reader is first of all wondering what she found, and she is also wondering if the creature has its origin in her body.

one-inch white worm in garden
Continue Reading
Posted in Garden Worms

One-Inch White Worm or Larvae in Garden

We recently received a question through the All About Worms Facebook page about a white worm in the top soil of a reader’s garden. The white worm (or potentially white larva) is about an inch long (2.5 centimeters) and is fairly skinny. The reader was only looking for an identification, so we’ve concentrated our efforts on this matter. What could a one-inch white worm or larva in the garden be?

carpet beetle larva in car
Continue Reading
Posted in Pest Worms

Carpet Beetle Larvae on Car Seats

We received a question today from a reader who found some sort of worm-like bug in his car. The car had recently been used by someone whose house is infested with bed bugs, so at first the reader thought his car had bed bugs, but after doing some research, he concluded this likely isn’t the case. We think he is correct because there is a good chance he is actually finding carpet beetle larvae. We’ve written about carpet beetle larvae more times than we care to remember, but we’ve never heard of them showing up in a car before. So, we have new twist on an old theme – carpet beetle larvae were found, but in a car. What’s the deal with that?

Continue Reading
Posted in Interesting Worms

Black Worm or Caterpillar with Red Dots

We received an interesting and faintly poetic question the other day about a black “worm” that has a red dot on each body segment. Here is her entire question: “Middle of May, Northern California, Black worm about two inches long, seems hairless has what appears to be thin covering of bristles, red dots on each segment, racing across my deck floor. Please identify.” Unfortunately, no picture was submitted along with the question, so this description is all we have to work with. Obviously, this limits our ability to offer a confident suggestion, but we’ll do what we can.

tiny larvae on desk and chair
Continue Reading
Posted in Pest Worms

Tiny Larvae on Desk and Chair

We received a question via the All About Worms Facebook page about some extremely small larvae, or what seem to be larvae, that a reader found on her desk and chair. We use the descriptors “tiny” and “extremely small” for a reason – the larvae are nearly microscopic, and it would take an attentive eye to even notice them crawling around. They are probably only about a millimeter or so in length. The reader was quite alarmed by what she found, and emphasized her concern with the multiple question marks and exclamation points she used to conclude her question, which concerned identification. So, we are tasked with identifying the tiny larvae on the reader’s desk and chair.

millipede
Continue Reading
Posted in Interesting Bugs

Millipede or Centipede?

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.

earthworm on carpet
Continue Reading
Posted in Pest Worms

Worms Under the Bathtub

We received a long and somewhat complex email from a reader detailing a worm problem that appears to be stemming from her bathroom – from a crack at the base of her bathtub, more specifically. On multiple occasions, the reader has found worms in her bathroom and in the hallway outside the bathroom, and one has even managed to make it into the reader’s bed (her bedroom is next to the bathroom). The reader asked a few different questions, but at bottom she was wondering what kind of worms she is finding, and what she can do to get rid of the worms in her bathroom, bedroom, and hallway.