We recently received word from a reader who found some interesting creature on her ceiling. She first thought she was seeing mold, but then saw a worm of some sort. She is curious how to get rid of these creatures and if she should patch the hole that it made.

The photo she sent in is taken quite far away, so it is difficult to determine what exactly we are seeing. Compared to the beige ceiling, the creature appears to be a gold color, and its shape is not uniform like a worm normally is. The texture also appears to be quite grainy.

The quality of the picture makes it impossible to make a firm identification of what this might be, but we have a guess! Based on what we can see in the photo, we think our reader might have found household casebearers. Household casebearers are larvae that construct shells out of dust, particles, and fibers that they live in. They use these shells for protection and camouflage, and they will eventually shed these cases. Getting rid of household casebearers requires deep cleaning, especially getting rid of spider webs and cobwebs.

We aren’t positive that these are household casebearers due to the ambiguity of the photograph. If our reader thinks they might be dealing with a different species, we encourage her to take another photo to send in, or to consult with a professional!

To conclude, our reader discovered what might be household casebearers on her ceiling, but we are not positive about this identification.

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