One of our readers recently reached out to us because she discovered a long worm-like organism in her bathroom. She said she came across the creature after work, when no one had been in the bathroom for at least 9 hours. She doesn’t have any idea how the worm might have gotten into the bathroom, and its presence is making her a bit uneasy. She wants to know what kind of worm this is:

In the photograph our reader is holding up the worm with a bobby pin, which provides a nice size comparison for the worm. The organism is very thin, brown, and likely 5-8 inches long. It appears to be flat, and it might have a small round head on the right side (we cannot say for certain if this is a head or just looks that way in the picture). So, what is this creature and what is it doing in our reader’s bathroom?

We aren’t totally sure what this specimen is. It doesn’t look like any of the usual suspects our readers discover in their bathrooms: earthworms, drain fly larvae, and bloodworms. Based on the flat appearance of the creature, we think it might be a terrestrial flatworm, also known as a land planarian. If the small appendage we noticed is indeed a head, we think it might be a hammerhead flatworm. Unfortunately, we cannot make a definite identification of this specimen.

We also do not know how it ended up in our reader’s bathroom. Worms and worm-like organisms sneak into peoples’ houses everyday. They crawl through open windows, doors, or small cracks and crevices. Sometimes they get dragged in accidentally by a pet or attached to a shoe or bag. Since our reader only discovered one of these organisms and isn’t dealing with an infestation, we recommend she simply place the worm outside and move on.

To end, a reader found a long, brown worm in her bathroom. Unfortunately, we weren’t much help, as we were unable to provide an identification or a reason for its presence.

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