“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.

“We have a problem with dozens of worms under the bed”, writes this reader about the brown-striped bug with bristles on its rear pictured below. “The first issue happened about 1.5 years ago. We found lots of worms under the bed, then made sure to clean it all up, by moving the bed and every closet in the room, and made sure the floor was clean. Then, we kept looking under the bed for several weeks and made sure they didn’t get back. We thought the worms may be related to food, so we made sure no food would enter the bedroom. Yesterday we found out there is a new occasion of the worms, again under the bed. This time we know it’s not related to food, we wonder maybe they are related to the wood of the bed, but we’re still trying to figure out what it is. Location is Israel. Thanks.”

“I am finding a ton of these tiny worms in my bathroom”, writes this reader in her submission regarding the tiny, dark brown critter pictured below. “I vacuumed and sprayed some pest spray, but within two days they’re back in full force (close to 100 worms will cluster up within a week). I’ve done this at least four times. I RARELY see them move. It’s like they show up and 90% are immediately dead? At first I thought it was drain fly larvae, but we’ve never seen a single drain fly. After seeing your articles on CARPET beetles, I’m noticing it looks identical, but it’s weird that it’s only by our toilet! We struggled last fall with cigarette beetles, but now I’m wondering if they were carpet beetles. Again, the beetles were only in the bathroom (but in the shower, not by the toilet). Help! Here are photos of the worms!”

Segmented, brown larva-like creatures were found on the couch cushions of this reader’s couch, pictured below. Her story is as follows: “We went in to tidy up a guest room ahead of some relatives visiting. There is a couch in the guest room – it’s only a few years old (we had purchased it new) and is rarely used (maybe a handful of times a year), except as a napping spot for our cats. We noticed some small larvae on the couch cushions towards the end of our clean up. At first I just started picking these up with a tissue, but became concerned, so I emptied our handheld vacuum that we had just used to vacuum the couch onto a white trash bag to see if I could see any others. I’ve included photos below, but am having trouble identifying what they might be as they are varied in size and color. Any insight would be appreciated! There were quite a number of them. Thank you!”

“I found this tiny worm on my main floor hardwood last night”, writes Sally about the brown, striped critter pictured below. “My main floor is entirely hardwood, but it was at the base of my stairs and my second floor is all pretty old carpet. We have two dogs. Earlier this year, I found one of these in the dogs’ toy bin, and a couple underneath a plush dog bed, which I immediately disposed of. Can you please provide your best guess as to what it is? I’m located in Oakville, Ontario, Canada. Thank you in advance. From a worm newbie.”

“I found this bug in the crevices of a pair of hand-made gloves I have”, writes Lexi about the light brown-striped bug pictured below. “I found two within the gloves and both appeared dead (or at least not moving). I put those gloves in a plastic bag for now. I think they may be carpet beetle larvae but I’m not sure. The gloves have been in a wooden closet for a number of months along with some other winter things and jackets. I inspected everything that was on the same shelf as the gloves and found no other bugs in the other clothes (which were like scarfs and hats and hoodies). Regardless I threw what I could in the dryer and used a steamer on the rest. Do you think this is a carpet beetle larva? Or something else? What does it mean that I’ve only found dead ones on one piece of clothing and none (living or dead) on anything else. These gloves have been untouched in the closet for months, and even before that I did not wear them often. If they are carpet bugs, can the eggs live on surfaces like phones? How easy do eggs transfer from one surface to another, say by wearing a hat on your head? Thank you in advance!”

“I have these crawling types of worms/maggots appearing from nowhere on my ceiling/walls in my living room”, writes Billy about the bristly, striped creature pictured below. “They only appear at height and cannot see them emanating from anywhere. They just appear! They seem to be drawn to the brightest points in the room (directly above lamps etc). I’m attaching a few pics (one including my finger for size reference) and the others are zoomed in pics so quality isn’t great. It would be great if you could identify them so I can finally deal with them.” Billy is absolutely right in saying the quality of these photos is not great, and unfortunately that makes it much harder for us to identify the organisms. Given what we can see from the photo, we would like to conclude that this is a carpet beetle larva.

“I found these pinhead-sized, little bugs that move like a worm and look like a larva”, writes Maya about the bristly, brown creature pictured below. “I have kept my laundry room clean. Not sure what they are?” Fortunately for Maya, though the picture is not super clear, we have encountered these creatures so often that we know exactly what she has been finding in her laundry room: carpet beetle larvae. Unfortunately for Maya, carpet beetle infestations can begin no matter how clean a laundry room is kept, because they can start anywhere in the home. This is because carpet beetle larvae feed on organic-based, textile materials, which are often found in most rooms of a house.

“I live in Calgary, Alberta, Canada and today found these larvae or worms on a towel on the floor by my bed”, writes John from Calgary, Alberta, Canada about the striped, worm-like creature pictured below. “My two dogs also sleep in the bed. Please help!” Based on the photo alone, we can tell that this is a carpet beetle larva. This is because we have written about these critters more than any other worm-like organism on this site. If one were to judge what the most commonly-spotted critters in one’s home were, they would think that carpet beetle larvae are right up there with spiders and house flies. But that is not really true: despite being common, not everyone is as likely to find these in one’s home.

“Could you please help me ID these two creatures?” asks “Becky Bee the Buggaphobic” from Eugene Oregon. “One was hanging from an electronic near my bed, and that is swinging back-and-forth in the short video that I’ve attached to this message. The other picture is of a circular glob of spider egg-like material that was also near my bed. However, it was just sitting, dangling like the brown mass, and sort of avoiding light perhaps, under some papers near my bed. I am not sure if the two masses are related nor am I sure what the white worm-like casing is that is pictured — heck maybe different stages of life and same species? The brown circular-shaped mass on the blue paper below was what dangled from the electronic device in the video.”

“Can you help me identify these insects?” asks Jen in East Yorkshire, UK about the little, black and white-striped bug pictured below. “We have been finding these larvae in our bed for several weeks. Are they carpet beetles? Is it possible these might be falling from the ceiling / wood beams, as the way they have turned up makes us think this is a possibility? Thanks.” To start with, we think Jen is right in identifying these as carpet beetles, though we want to point out that, in this case, they are the larvae of the carpet beetle. We can tell based on the shape of the body, as well as the black and white stripes.

“What is this?” asks Ayoade in his submission regarding the bristly, striped, bug-like creature pictured below. He does not provide any further context – something that we always advise our readers do. Fortunately, in this case, we have seen this creature so many times that we do not need more context to identify it. This is a carpet beetle larva. We can tell that it is a carpet beetle larva based on its brown coloration, stripes, long bristles, six prolegs, and the ovate shape of its body. Now, although we were able to identify the organism without it, context would have still come in handy when it comes to knowing how many of these Ayoade found, and where he found them. Regardless, we will simply give a basic overview of carpet beetle larvae.

“Is this worm a carpet beetle larva worm?” asks Dawn in her submission regarding the darkly-colored worm-like creatures pictured below. “And if I only found one so far, would there be a nest or others somewhere else? Where would I look? Thank you.” To start with, we have to unfortunately point out the low resolution and bad lighting in the photographs, and why that will make it difficult for us to confirm with certainty whether or not the organisms our reader found are carpet beetle larvae. We will say that, if she finds more of these larvae in places where there are a lot of textile items, such as on her bed, a couch, in a wardrobe or closet, or on rugs or carpet, then these could be carpet beetle larvae. However, we cannot confirm this identity based solely on the photo or on the context.

“What is this?” is all this reader asks about the little brown bug pictured below. Although she provides no context, which is usually imperative to us being able to identify any given organism, we have seen this critter about a thousand times: this is a carpet beetle larva. Carpet beetles are notorious insects that feed on textile items such as clothing, bed sheets and, yes, carpets. As such, they have earned the status of ‘pest’, as infestations of them can cause significant damage to such items in one’s home, and they can often go unnoticed for long periods of time.

“Please tell me what these nasty terrible awful things are?” asks this reader in her submission regarding the light brown bug pictured below. “They look like tiny worms, but zooming in on the camera you can see they have lots of little legs. They obviously hatch into something because they leave the worm-like shell behind but I noticed them in my car a few weeks ago. I’ve vacuumed like a madman and it doesn’t seem to be getting rid of them: they just keep multiplying and I’m so freaked out by this that I’m almost ready to take a huge loss on my vehicle! Help! I have no idea how to get rid of these things!”

“What is this?” is all this reader asks about the brown-striped organism with a tail pictured below. Usually, when readers provide no context, it is difficult to identify the organisms in the picture, as we have only their appearance to go on. However, in the case of this little critter, we have seen their like so many times that we know exactly what this is. This is a carpet beetle larva. If any of our other readers have been following our articles for some time, they are probably familiar with this little bugger by now. Carpet beetle larvae are infamous for infesting people’s homes and chewing up all their clothing and furniture, and that is because they will munch on anything that is made from materials that are organic. This includes cotton, wool, silk, feathers and leather, and people can commonly find them in their wardrobe, on their carpets and rugs, on and under their beds, and in their attic. They will even eat loose strands of hair and fur.

“What larva is this?” asks this reader in her submission regarding the brown-striped organism pictured below, which seems to be digging into a piece of food. “It looks similar to a carpet beetle larva, but that doesn’t make sense. I’m in the Southwest United States, and carpet beetles are in Europe, right?” Now, there are a few things to unpack here from our reader’s submission, and we will start with her first question: what larva is this indeed? Well, we think she is right in comparing it to a carpet beetle larva, as it really does resemble one, and that is exactly what we think it is.

“I found this worm-like creature on my pillow today”, writes this reader in her submission regarding the light brown, striped critter pictured below. “I need help identifying what it is, and would like any other helpful info you may have. It has some strands coming out of one end of it. Thank you!” Firstly, we want to thank our reader right back, for sending in her submission to us. Secondly, we want to present our reader with an identification: the worm-like creature she found is a carpet beetle larvae. Unfortunately for her, carpet beetle larvae are notorious house pests which can spawn massive infestations that can damage a lot of the items in her home.

“What the hell is this?” asks this reader about the two objects pictured below: one a white, sharp-looking thing, and the other a lump of brown material. “They’re all over my house. They’re eating the wood deck. They’re on clothes, on furniture and they seem to bore through anything. They’re on the walls and the ceiling. They leave fuzzy, white, linty substances like fabric, hair and wood.” Based on the photo our sent us, the white object looks like a claw, specifically a cat claw. We do not know if our reader actually owns a cat, but given the fact that she has found holes in her clothing, furniture, and elsewhere, it would make sense that a cat is tearing holes in these objects and leaving the lint and fluff all over the home.

“The below was found on a carpet near a clothing closet in Manhattan, NYC”, writes this reader in her submission regarding the creature pictured below. “Please advise. Thank you!” The creature in question appears to be striped, with alternating colors of beige and brown, and has an ovate, bristly body. Based on its appearance alone, we would say that this is a carpet beetle larva, though the location it was found in also supports this conclusion.