“I have had these skinny, slimy-looking worms that are sometimes a pink color and a translucent pink,” writes this reader in her submission. She continues to say that the worms “have basically taken over the outside walls and doors of [her] house.” She lives “in the Heartland, Florida area”, and explains that the worms were found after “all the rain the past couple months. What are they?” She does not attach any photos to her submission, so we must note that any identifications we make here are merely educated guesses, and are not made with 100% certainty or accuracy.

Given the pink coloration, translucency, and thin bodies of the worms, the first thing that came to mind were earthworms. These guys are the token worm; they are often the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word ‘worm’. And there’s good reason for this. They are incredibly common, if not famous. They are the vital heroes of our environment, eating organic waste and turning it into fertilizer via digestion. Believe it or not, earthworms are actually pretty good climbers, so it is not implausible to think they might be climbing over the walls and doors of our reader’s house. And it makes sense to have found a bunch of them after rain, since earthworms will come to the surface from underground during and after rains, as their burrows fill with water and they seek oxygen.

Alternatively, these could very well also be caterpillars of some kind. There are definitely species of pink caterpillars, like the palm flower moth caterpillar or the pandora sphinx moth caterpillar. The reason we think these could be caterpillars is because, from what we can glean from our reader’s story, the worms seem to be moving over the walls and doors together. Many species of caterpillars travel in large groups, called armies, and when they are leaving one plant in search of another to feed on, or when they are in search of a place to pupate (which means to form their chrysalis for metamorphosis), they have been known to scale the walls of people’s homes, and sometimes invade them.

In conclusion, it is impossible to say what it is that our reader found climbing her home without a photo. However, based on the description, we think it’s likely that these are either earthworms or caterpillars. We hope this helps, and we wish our reader the very best!

Summary

Article Name

Clear Pink Worms Scaling Home could be Earthworms or Caterpillars

Description

"I have had these skinny, slimy-looking worms that are sometimes a pink color and a translucent pink," writes this reader in her submission. She continues to say that the worms "have basically taken over the outside walls and doors of [her] house." She lives "in the Heartland, Florida area", and explains that the worms were found after "all the rain the past couple months. What are they?" She does not attach any photos to her submission, so we must note that any identifications we make here are merely educated guesses, and are not made with 100% certainty or accuracy.

Author

Worm Researcher Anton