“I saw something tiny moving on a stuffed animal, and upon taking a closer look, it was a tiny brownish worm, with a pointy ‘tail’, that hastily started hiding when I tried to pick it up”, writes this reader in her submission regarding the creature pictured below. “I shook the stuffed animal out over the bathtub – and here is what I saw (luckily only this one ‘worm’). What is it? Thank you.” Unfortunately, the photo and video our reader sent us were taken in quite poor lighting, which makes it harder to see the finer details of the critter’s physical characteristics.

“Really appreciate your response to my last question where you surmised, based on poor photos, that I had carpet beetle larvae/maggots”, writes Billy in his submission regarding the spiky, black, worm-like critter pictured below. “However, I continue to have these random appearances from these creatures, and the behaviour didn’t seem to make sense. I’m attaching what I hope are better pictures, where you can see that these creatures have legs rather than bristles. As mentioned previously, they seem to appear in random places on the wall (high level) and ceiling but always gravitate towards bright areas of the room. I’d appreciate it if you can have a re-look at the attached. Thanks.”

“I found these larva-like creatures in the bottom of my linen closet, where I found beetles coming from an enclosed space where it is difficult to get to clean”, writes Jeanna in her submission regarding the black, speckled beetle pictured below. “These beetles have brown larva, so I know it’s not their larvae. Besides, one of these worms is much longer than the others, leading me to believe they are not larvae at all but perhaps worms or some other creature. They are tiny. I couldn’t see them with my naked eye; they just looked like dust balls. But when I took a picture with my phone camera and magnified it, these worm-like creatures appeared. They are cream-colored, with a black spot on one end that seems to be a head or eyes. There are different lengths of them here. I found more of them in other locations in my house, in varying humidity levels: at the base of the toilet, behind my sofa, on the baseboard of the hallway, on the rug in my bedroom, behind the washing machine, etc. What do you think they are?”

A woman in Texas has been finding all sorts of critters across her home, including the white, worm-like creature pictured below. Her story is as follows: “Since mid-July, I have dealt with the repercussions of forgetting to leave my A/C on during the day time, and coming home two or three times to see that my thermostat read 90°F or higher. Here is one of the many bugs I’ve come across after. I’m assuming some eggs hatched in the midst of the extreme heat. This particular one I found in my carpet, burrowed upside-down where I can see the butt sticking out from the carpet. Along with others that are along my baseboards, and black, cocoon-type things the size of rice. There have been moths and flies, as well as carpet beetles that are tiny. And long, oval-shaped, brown-with-light-brown patches all around my house (we live outside of town in west Texas, where the dirt blows and the heat/rain brings all the bugs inside). Can you tell me what kind of larvae these are? They’re literally everywhere.”

“We have a problem with dozens of worms under the bed”, writes this reader about the brown-striped bug with bristles on its rear pictured below. “The first issue happened about 1.5 years ago. We found lots of worms under the bed, then made sure to clean it all up, by moving the bed and every closet in the room, and made sure the floor was clean. Then, we kept looking under the bed for several weeks and made sure they didn’t get back. We thought the worms may be related to food, so we made sure no food would enter the bedroom. Yesterday we found out there is a new occasion of the worms, again under the bed. This time we know it’s not related to food, we wonder maybe they are related to the wood of the bed, but we’re still trying to figure out what it is. Location is Israel. Thanks.”

“I am finding a ton of these tiny worms in my bathroom”, writes this reader in her submission regarding the tiny, dark brown critter pictured below. “I vacuumed and sprayed some pest spray, but within two days they’re back in full force (close to 100 worms will cluster up within a week). I’ve done this at least four times. I RARELY see them move. It’s like they show up and 90% are immediately dead? At first I thought it was drain fly larvae, but we’ve never seen a single drain fly. After seeing your articles on CARPET beetles, I’m noticing it looks identical, but it’s weird that it’s only by our toilet! We struggled last fall with cigarette beetles, but now I’m wondering if they were carpet beetles. Again, the beetles were only in the bathroom (but in the shower, not by the toilet). Help! Here are photos of the worms!”

Segmented, brown larva-like creatures were found on the couch cushions of this reader’s couch, pictured below. Her story is as follows: “We went in to tidy up a guest room ahead of some relatives visiting. There is a couch in the guest room – it’s only a few years old (we had purchased it new) and is rarely used (maybe a handful of times a year), except as a napping spot for our cats. We noticed some small larvae on the couch cushions towards the end of our clean up. At first I just started picking these up with a tissue, but became concerned, so I emptied our handheld vacuum that we had just used to vacuum the couch onto a white trash bag to see if I could see any others. I’ve included photos below, but am having trouble identifying what they might be as they are varied in size and color. Any insight would be appreciated! There were quite a number of them. Thank you!”

“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.

“I found this tiny worm on my main floor hardwood last night”, writes Sally about the brown, striped critter pictured below. “My main floor is entirely hardwood, but it was at the base of my stairs and my second floor is all pretty old carpet. We have two dogs. Earlier this year, I found one of these in the dogs’ toy bin, and a couple underneath a plush dog bed, which I immediately disposed of. Can you please provide your best guess as to what it is? I’m located in Oakville, Ontario, Canada. Thank you in advance. From a worm newbie.”

“I found this bug in the crevices of a pair of hand-made gloves I have”, writes Lexi about the light brown-striped bug pictured below. “I found two within the gloves and both appeared dead (or at least not moving). I put those gloves in a plastic bag for now. I think they may be carpet beetle larvae but I’m not sure. The gloves have been in a wooden closet for a number of months along with some other winter things and jackets. I inspected everything that was on the same shelf as the gloves and found no other bugs in the other clothes (which were like scarfs and hats and hoodies). Regardless I threw what I could in the dryer and used a steamer on the rest. Do you think this is a carpet beetle larva? Or something else? What does it mean that I’ve only found dead ones on one piece of clothing and none (living or dead) on anything else. These gloves have been untouched in the closet for months, and even before that I did not wear them often. If they are carpet bugs, can the eggs live on surfaces like phones? How easy do eggs transfer from one surface to another, say by wearing a hat on your head? Thank you in advance!”

“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.

“I have these crawling types of worms/maggots appearing from nowhere on my ceiling/walls in my living room”, writes Billy about the bristly, striped creature pictured below. “They only appear at height and cannot see them emanating from anywhere. They just appear! They seem to be drawn to the brightest points in the room (directly above lamps etc). I’m attaching a few pics (one including my finger for size reference) and the others are zoomed in pics so quality isn’t great. It would be great if you could identify them so I can finally deal with them.” Billy is absolutely right in saying the quality of these photos is not great, and unfortunately that makes it much harder for us to identify the organisms. Given what we can see from the photo, we would like to conclude that this is a carpet beetle larva.

“I found these pinhead-sized, little bugs that move like a worm and look like a larva”, writes Maya about the bristly, brown creature pictured below. “I have kept my laundry room clean. Not sure what they are?” Fortunately for Maya, though the picture is not super clear, we have encountered these creatures so often that we know exactly what she has been finding in her laundry room: carpet beetle larvae. Unfortunately for Maya, carpet beetle infestations can begin no matter how clean a laundry room is kept, because they can start anywhere in the home. This is because carpet beetle larvae feed on organic-based, textile materials, which are often found in most rooms of a house.

“I live in Calgary, Alberta, Canada and today found these larvae or worms on a towel on the floor by my bed”, writes John from Calgary, Alberta, Canada about the striped, worm-like creature pictured below. “My two dogs also sleep in the bed. Please help!” Based on the photo alone, we can tell that this is a carpet beetle larva. This is because we have written about these critters more than any other worm-like organism on this site. If one were to judge what the most commonly-spotted critters in one’s home were, they would think that carpet beetle larvae are right up there with spiders and house flies. But that is not really true: despite being common, not everyone is as likely to find these in one’s home.

“Could you please help me ID these two creatures?” asks “Becky Bee the Buggaphobic” from Eugene Oregon. “One was hanging from an electronic near my bed, and that is swinging back-and-forth in the short video that I’ve attached to this message. The other picture is of a circular glob of spider egg-like material that was also near my bed. However, it was just sitting, dangling like the brown mass, and sort of avoiding light perhaps, under some papers near my bed. I am not sure if the two masses are related nor am I sure what the white worm-like casing is that is pictured — heck maybe different stages of life and same species? The brown circular-shaped mass on the blue paper below was what dangled from the electronic device in the video.”

“Can you help me identify these insects?” asks Jen in East Yorkshire, UK about the little, black and white-striped bug pictured below. “We have been finding these larvae in our bed for several weeks. Are they carpet beetles? Is it possible these might be falling from the ceiling / wood beams, as the way they have turned up makes us think this is a possibility? Thanks.” To start with, we think Jen is right in identifying these as carpet beetles, though we want to point out that, in this case, they are the larvae of the carpet beetle. We can tell based on the shape of the body, as well as the black and white stripes.

“What is this?” asks Ayoade in his submission regarding the bristly, striped, bug-like creature pictured below. He does not provide any further context – something that we always advise our readers do. Fortunately, in this case, we have seen this creature so many times that we do not need more context to identify it. This is a carpet beetle larva. We can tell that it is a carpet beetle larva based on its brown coloration, stripes, long bristles, six prolegs, and the ovate shape of its body. Now, although we were able to identify the organism without it, context would have still come in handy when it comes to knowing how many of these Ayoade found, and where he found them. Regardless, we will simply give a basic overview of carpet beetle larvae.

“Is this worm a carpet beetle larva worm?” asks Dawn in her submission regarding the darkly-colored worm-like creatures pictured below. “And if I only found one so far, would there be a nest or others somewhere else? Where would I look? Thank you.” To start with, we have to unfortunately point out the low resolution and bad lighting in the photographs, and why that will make it difficult for us to confirm with certainty whether or not the organisms our reader found are carpet beetle larvae. We will say that, if she finds more of these larvae in places where there are a lot of textile items, such as on her bed, a couch, in a wardrobe or closet, or on rugs or carpet, then these could be carpet beetle larvae. However, we cannot confirm this identity based solely on the photo or on the context.

“Is this a carpet beetle larva?” asks this reader in her submission regarding the tiny, brown creature pictured below. “I found it in my bed and I am not sure since it seems smaller than the others. If not a carpet beetle larva, then what is it?” Based on the photo alone, we would say that this is indeed a carpet beetle larva. The stripes, bristles, and shape all point to this conclusion. Carpet beetle larvae are infamous household pests, as they like to munch on textiles much like the sheets on our reader’s bed on which the bug was found. In addition to bed sheets, they like to feed on carpets, rugs, clothing, loose hair and fur, and any other items made from organic materials like cotton, wool, feathers, leather and more.

“What is this?” is all this reader asks about the little brown bug pictured below. Although she provides no context, which is usually imperative to us being able to identify any given organism, we have seen this critter about a thousand times: this is a carpet beetle larva. Carpet beetles are notorious insects that feed on textile items such as clothing, bed sheets and, yes, carpets. As such, they have earned the status of ‘pest’, as infestations of them can cause significant damage to such items in one’s home, and they can often go unnoticed for long periods of time.