A reader wrote to us recently about some worms she is finding in “dark places” around her house. More specifically, she is finding the worms “in lounge, under sofa, behind sofa,” so evidently the worms have taken to hiding around or under furniture. The worms, which are about an inch long, are a cream color with brown tips, although some appear to be mostly brown, which makes them difficult to see because they are the same color as her carpet, and they are always on her carpet. The reader wants two questions answered: what are the cream and brown one-inch worms she is finding, and how can she get rid of them?

“I’ve been de-mothing my bedroom recently, and found a few of these”, writes this reader in Colorado about the thin, brown-striped, worm-like creature pictured below. “While they bear a passing resemblance to carpet beetle larvae, they don’t appear to match up exactly (I am, however, not the expert here). I’ve included both pictures of a dead one and video of a live one moving. If helpful, I live in the Rocky Mountain area.” First off, we want to say that we agree that this does look like a carpet beetle larva, and we do think that is what it is. The reason why it might not match up exactly with our reader’s idea of a carpet beetle larva is because there are actually multiple species of carpet beetles, all of which look slightly different from one another.

One of our readers discovered two specimens on her bed: case bearing clothes moth larvae and carpet beetle larvae. Both of these larvae are considered to be household pests, so it is important that our reader begin cleaning to get rid of them ASAP to keep the damage to a minimum.

“I have found these black, shiny worms […] weaving in and out of my couch under the cushions in the creases” says this reader about an unphotographed critter that has been causing her trouble. She asks if we can help identify them for her.

“I keep finding these small caterpillar-like bugs in my bathroom”, states this reader in her submission regarding the bristly, brown worm-like creature pictured below. “Found two in the bathtub, one in the toilet and most just crawling on the tile floor.”

A reader in Cairo, Egypt asks for our help after discovering a worm-like creature crawling on his bed cover. The creature appears to be black and white, with a segmented, elongated body.

The small brown worm our reader found on her bed is a carpet beetle larva. Unfortunately, these organisms can be really annoying and destructive, but luckily our reader only found a single larva, so she should be able to start cleaning in time to prevent an infestation.

One of our readers sent us an email about some orange worms that she had found in her laundry basket. She was inquiring about what they were and if she needed to get rid of her clothing. She did not include a picture, but there is a strong possibility that these worm-like creatures could be carpet beetle larvae.

“What is this worm?” asks Billie in her submission regarding the brown-striped creature pictured below. “I found them on my children’s bedroom floor. We thought we had powderpost beetle infestation because we have small holes in some of our new hardwood floors. Maybe these bugs are unrelated? I found three at 6:30 in the morning after turning on the lights. The largest is probably less than 1/4 inch long.” We can tell Billie straight away that this is not a powderpost beetle or a powderpost beetle larva (which are white in color with a small black spot on its head), but is a carpet beetle larva. Billie may have heard of carpet beetles before: they are a notorious pest that do not feed on hardwood floors, but the rugs and carpets we put on top of them.

“In February we moved into a new house that we had just renovated, and in April we started seeing small larvae like pests showing up in our bedrooms, kitchen, bathrooms”, writes Jill in her submission regarding the small, segmented creature pictured below. “They are tiny and only noticed them because they were crawling up the wall/ceiling. Our pest company identified them as carpet beetles stemming from our attic. They have been coming down, inside the walls and I’ve treated those areas, as well as spraying inside and outside the home. We saw many die off over the next few weeks, and then they seemed to go away until July when they came back. I’ve never seen a beetle. We live in Colorado at 7,000 feet elevation. I’ve found them on all three levels of our house in every room. We do have large spruce trees near the home. A new pest company came and (with my help) identified them as duff millipedes. I would love this to be the case and would be interested in a second opinion. Photos and video attached.”

“What kind of bug is this?” is all Kimberly asks in her submission regarding the dark gray-brown-colored organism pictured below. She does not include any context with her submission, and we do have to note that the resolution on the photo is poor, meaning that when we zoom in on the creature, the details become incredibly blurry. With that in mind, it will not be possible to provide an identification which is 100% accurate; the identification we are about to make is based purely on an educated guess we made, which is, in turn, based on the little we can make out from the photo.

“I have found two of these very, very small larvae in my bathtub after returning home from being away for four days”, writes Nicole about the yellow, worm-like critter pictured below. “As a backstory, I have two dogs and we recently (within the past month) moved into a new home that is old and under renovation. About three weeks ago I found a few fleas which I had thought I had completely eradicated. I washed my dogs with Dawn dish soap a few times that week, vacuumed extensively, laundered all of the linen in the house multiple times, spread diatomaceous earth under baseboards, carpets (and then rolled them up) and around certain spots the dogs like to lay, and had a company come to spray the yard with an organic solution (safe for pets and children). I hadn’t seen a sign of a flea in two weeks. I do also see a lot of other bugs making their way into the house; mainly just some ants and small black beetles. I’m really hoping these worms I found aren’t flea larvae, but I can’t seem to be sure what they are. They look almost to be a light pinkish color and if you zoom in on one of the photos, it looks like the larvae may have legs. I’m very confused and hoping you can help!”

“My daughter and I both have had a bunch of itchy bumps on our legs and I’ve had a couple on my arms that made me afraid they were bed bugs”, writes this reader in her submission regarding the black bug with a long tail pictured below. “I’ve been digging around nightly but haven’t found any signs of them. Then tonight I saw this tiny thing – maybe the size of two poppy seeds. I have a video too if it’s helpful. We are in New York City. Thanks so much!” To begin with, we want to thank our reader for the photo, which shows us a lot of identifying information about the creature, particularly this tail-like appendage on its rear. The coloration, shape, and this tail tells us that this is likely a carpet beetle larva.

“Can the carpet worm bite a human?” asks Martha in her submission. “I was bitten in several parts of my legs two days ago, so I looked and found the larva. The bites look like so.” First off, we want to note that, going forward, we are going to assume that Martha is referring to the carpet beetle larva, which is commonly referred to as a carpet worm. Carpet beetle larvae do resemble worms, but are technically insects. Secondly, we will not be able to confirm what these are, as Martha did not send in any photos of the larva. Lastly, to answer her question, carpet beetle larvae cannot bite. With that said, they can cause rashes.

“My sister found this in our front bathroom today and we were trying to figure out what it is,” writest this reader about the segmented, black, worm-like creature pictured below. “We live in Western North Carolina U.S. I fished it out of the toilet to get a better look and see if I could figure out what it was. We weren’t sure if it maybe came from her and, if not, where it came from at all. Based on what I have noticed just by watching it, it looks like it may possibly have legs but I’m not positive. Based on the direction it seems to move it appears to breathe through its butt. It is very small and thin, zoomed in it looks like it has stripes along its body but two very distinctive stripes towards the end. Because I had taken it from the toilet I put a dime under the dip cup I had placed it in for size comparison and labeled the mentioned characteristics in the picture.”

“Is the grub in the attached video a carpet beetle larva?” is all this reader asks in his submission regarding the orange and brown-striped critter pictured below. Luckily for him, no context is needed in this case. We have identified so many carpet beetle larvae at this point that one look is all it takes. This is indeed a carpet beetle larva. And it is a grub too (a common umbrella term for beetle larvae, or just plump-looking worm-like creatures). Before we get into a brief overview on these creatures, we want to thank our reader for the excellent video he sent in. We do not have many videos showing how carpet beetle larvae move about on a piece of fabric, so to have that, and be able to share it with our readers, is invaluable.

“Just found this on my kitchen counter that had a few closed bottles of vitamins and nothing else,” writes this reader in her submission regarding the striped, light brown creature pictured below. “What is it? Please.” Based on the photo alone, we know that this is a carpet beetle larva. We have covered this critter countless times at this point, so we could spot them from a mile away. There is good and bad news. The good news is that carpet beetle larvae are not harmful to humans and pets (though we should note that one can experience allergic reactions to them that can cause rashes to form). The bad news is that these are destructive pests that chew holes through the textile items in one’s home.

“I’ve had six inspections for bedbugs”, starts this reader in her submission, who goes on to say that all six inspections have come out negative for bed bugs. “For five years, every spring from April to August, I get these horrific bites/rashes, and I can’t figure it out. I do see carpet beetles during this time in the doorways and windows, but I don’t sit on the floor or carpets. They itch terribly! They are also raised as welts. I thought carpet beetles don’t bite, so what the hell could this be? For five years I can’t figure it out, and then it disappears at the end of summer. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.”

“Really appreciate your response to my last question where you surmised, based on poor photos, that I had carpet beetle larvae/maggots”, writes Billy in his submission regarding the spiky, black, worm-like critter pictured below. “However, I continue to have these random appearances from these creatures, and the behaviour didn’t seem to make sense. I’m attaching what I hope are better pictures, where you can see that these creatures have legs rather than bristles. As mentioned previously, they seem to appear in random places on the wall (high level) and ceiling but always gravitate towards bright areas of the room. I’d appreciate it if you can have a re-look at the attached. Thanks.”

“Can you identify this tiny creature?” writes Timothy from the South West of England regarding the gray and black, segmented critter pictured below. “They appear on the walls and ceiling of the bedroom, possibly originating from the window but cannot locate a source. I saw a similar post that was unresolved but think I have a better picture, see below. They’re around the size of the body of an ant or smaller. Hope you can help.” We have to commend Timothy on his photography here: to capture a tiny creature in such detail can be pretty tricky, but he did just that! And it greatly helps us identify the organism.