“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.

“I am trying to figure out what these critters are in the carpet, so that I can eliminate them”, states this reader from Oklahoma in his submission. “I fear they are larvae of some type.”

“Can carpet beetle larvae live on a human host?” asks this reader in his submission. He has had problems with sores on his head, ears, face and neck, which last approximately three months.

A reader recently sent in this image of a creature, asking us to confirm whether or not it is a carpet beetle larva. The creature in question appears black and gray-striped, with a black head, and a double-pronged tail. In comparison to the fibers of the material this worm was found on, we can presume that this worm is tiny in size.

One of our readers found some dead creatures in a carpet she recently bought. We believe these are carpet beetle larvae, which are known as household pests. We recommend she clean the carpet before installing it just in case there are living carpet beetle larvae in it that could spread to other parts of her home!

We think this might be a carpet beetle larva. Since our reader found this worm in her carpet, this seems especially appropriate.

A reader wrote to us the other day about “carpet worms, carpet beetles, and possibly a moth worm” that she has seen moving in her carpet. The worms and beetles, which we’ll define more precisely below, are also eating holes in her shirt and “causing” lint to build up. The infestation has gotten so bad that the reader feel pricks when she walks around the carpet. For obvious reasons, she wants to get of the worms and beetles she is finding, and she wrote to us for help.

A reader wrote to us a week or so ago about some 1/4-inch (quarter-inch) black worms she is finding in the carpet of her house. In addition to being in her carpet, the small black worms are also on the baseboards around her house, which isn’t surprising, given that baseboards often line carpet. The reader says the black worms in her carpet shy away from vacuum cleaners, and also that they seem to prefer darkness over light. What are these small black worms in the carpet of our reader’s home, and how can she prevent these worms from infesting her carpet?