A reader wrote to us recently about some blackish, brownish worms with round heads that he found at the base of his toilet a couple of weeks after the toilet flooded. The reader indicated that the worms’ bodies were segmented, and also that they have antennae. Perhaps because he found them around his toilet, the reader was wondering if he had found moth fly larvae. So, did our reader find moth fly larvae, or might the blackish, brownish worms at the base of the toilet be something else?

A reader recently moved to southern Florida and has since been “invaded with a reddish brown worm.” The worms are about an inch (2.5 centimeters) long and coil up when touched. The reader is finding the worm not only on his lanai, but occasionally in his house as well. (A lanai is a furnished veranda that often serves as the living room of a house, so we’re not sure what is considered the lanai and what is considered the house.) The reader is clearly frustrated with the worms because they won’t go away, even after he uses insecticides. So, he is wondering what the reddish brown worms are and how he can get rid of them.