“I have found this segmented creepy crawly with “tail” on several occasions in our laundry hamper and linen closet”, writes this reader concerning the black-striped creature pictured below. “Should I be concerned? They’re about one cm in length. What are they? Thank you for your help.” To start with, we just want to thank our reader for the excellent photo she provided. It gives us a detailed view of the creature’s body, which always makes it easier to identify any given organism we are asked about. In this case, we think our reader has found a black carpet beetle larva.

There is good and bad news. The good news is that black carpet beetle larvae are not harmful to humans or pets. The most they can do is cause an allergic reaction (usually a rash) if they are touched: their bristles contain a toxin which does not react well with our skin. So, our reader does not need to be concerned in that sense. The bad news is that carpet beetles are some of the most notorious household pests you can come across. In fact, they are so infamous, and unfortunately common, that this is, without a doubt, the creature we have covered most often on our website in the past couple of years.

Another piece of bad news is that the black carpet beetle is the worst carpet beetle larva you could get. The reason for this is that, whereas the common carpet beetle larva feeds only on the organic fibers in textile materials (eg: cotton, wool, and silk), black carpet beetles also feed on synthetic fibers (eg: polyester, vinyl, and nylon). For that reason, black carpet beetle larvae are even more destructive. It makes sense that our reader found them in her hamper and closet, as they commonly munch on clothing.

Luckily, it sounds to us like the source of the infestation has already been identified, which in our opinion is the linen closet. This makes more sense than the laundry hamper, as clothes will be moved from the closet to the hamper, thus transferring the larvae to the hamper. The next steps to take to eliminate the infestation are to launder all of the clothing in the closet, and vacuum that closet as well. Our reader may want to vacuum her entire home just to be sure. On top of that, storing unused garments in airtight containers helps prevent future infestations.

In conclusion, the segmented worm-like critters our reader has been finding in her laundry hamper and linen closet are black carpet beetle larvae. So, she should be concerned for her clothing, but not necessarily for her health, though we advise avoiding making physical contact as much as possible. She could still experience an allergic reaction though, as the bristles from the larvae do fall off and get stuck on the textiles they feed on. We hope this helps, and we wish our reader the very best!