“What are these clear worm things with black insides?” asks Robyn in her submission regarding the organism pictured below. “They were in the bathtub after giving my dog a bath. HELP!” Although the photo is quite blurry, we think that — given what we can see, Robyn’s description of the creature, and the context in which it was found — Robyn found flea larvae. Now, we realize that saying this could be cause for panic, given that fleas do infest dogs, and it is not the nicest thing to hear that this could be a possibility. What we will say is that flea larvae do not have the same diet as their adult counterparts, meaning that while the adult flea attaches itself to the outside of animals like dogs to suck their blood, the larvae do not do this.

“I found this little worm on the corner of my bathroom floor towel (only used for standing/drying feet)”, writes Nic in his submission regarding the translucent worm with a black head and dark entrails pictured below. “Have never noticed any other critters before nor have any health complaints, but it doesn’t look like a carpet beetle nor a clothes moth worm. I recently adopted an older cat from a shelter, but that was only two days ago and I don’t think he’s been in this room yet. So hmmmm, not sure what this little guy is? Obviously it is time to toss the towel in the washer!”

“I found this in my eye, like just near the lid,” writes Aryaman in his submission regarding the translucent, worm-like creature pictured below. “I think it fell in it or something. Not sure if it’s a bug even. Please check and help with some answers. Hope it’s nothing of concern.” In our opinion, this likely is some kind of larva that fell into his eye. It looks like it could be a fungus gnat larva or a flea larva (the two look very similar). We cannot promise that it is nothing of concern, as there is the possibility that this poses medical concerns. Since we are not medical professionals, we are not qualified or legally able to identify creatures which could be negatively affecting someone’s health, nor can we, in good faith, tell someone not to be worried about a creature in their eye. Even if the creature itself was relatively harmless, it might not bode well to it in one’s eye.

“I found these tiny white (clear) and black worms in my mattress in Hot Springs, Arkansas”, writes this reader in his submission regarding the critter pictured below. “What are they and are they harmful? Will they spread? Also, how do I get rid of them? Thanks.” To begin with, we want to thank our reader for the plethora of fantastic photos, the best of which we included. On top of that, he asks good questions, and the context has already helped us to come to a conclusion about the worm’s identity. The worms our reader has been finding are not actually worms but flea larvae.

“My sister found a small white worm on her bed”, writes this reader in his submission regarding the segmented, clear, worm-like critter pictured below. “What is it?” Based on the photo alone, it is hard to pinpoint one single species of worm-like creature. There are actually quite a worm-like critters that look like this that people have found in their homes in the past, including fungus gnat larvae (which eats decomposing organic materials in mulch) and lilac ash borer larvae (a pest which eats and through the wood in one’s home). However, the location in which this one was found tells us that this is probably a flea larva.

“Is this a flea larva?” asks this reader about the array of worm-like critters pictured below. She does not include any more context, and the photo is quite blurry, so it will not be possible for us to give her a straight answer that is 100% certain or accurate. Of course, we will still do the best we can. Now, we assume that although she refers to a larva in the singular, she is actually referring to all of the organisms pictured below. If not, then we do not know which one she is referring to and wondering if it is a flea larva. But, since the organisms all look similar, we feel safe in assuming she is referring to them all. If that is not the case, she is welcome to let us know and resubmit a new photo with the one particular critter she is wondering about.

“Do you have any idea what this could possibly be?” asks this reader in her submission regarding the minuscule, translucent, brown creature pictured below. “Watching it, it moves like a caterpillar or worm and will either stand up or put one side up and wiggle into the air. Thanks so much!” First of all, we have to point out the size of the creature. As we can see from the photo, it is very tiny. That tells us that this organism is probably at an early stage of maturation, which means a lot of its defining physical characteristics will not have developed yet. For that reason, whatever identification we end up making is not 100% certain. Secondly, the lack of context also makes it harder for us to say it is any one species for certain.

“I found these worms in our towel closet in the restroom”, writes this reader about the near-transparent, worm-like creature pictured below. “I then washed all of the linens and towels that were in the closet and sprayed down the whole closet. Looking for the source of the worms. So far I have not found that source but I have identified a couple of things that I believe to be eggs. I also then found the same worms coming from the seam of my dresser, and I have not looked anywhere else yet, but I would like some help please thank you.”

“I found these worms in my isopod terrarium”, writes Cynthia about the translucent worm-like creature pictured below. “I have been searching but am unable to find out what worm it is. Would be grateful for some help! The worms are less than 5mm long and this is the clearest photo I could get. The white part is the head and all of them are coloured this way. They are too small for my eyes to see if they are segmented or not. They seem to gravitate towards damp areas in the terrarium. I live in Singapore, which is a warm and humid place. Any ideas?” To begin with, we want to point out how cool it is that Cynthia has an isopod terrarium: it’s not everyday you hear that, and we appreciate her appreciation of such critters.

“Can you please help identify this worm?” asks Ashley about the tiny, black worm-like creature pictured below (which is barely visible on the photo). “The pest control came and said that in 30 years he’s never seen this kind of worm. They are smaller than an eyelash. Thank you so much!” Firstly, we want to note to our other readers that, despite the photo being quite of poor resolution and not showing the worm clearly, Ashley did send in an excellent video (linked below) of the worm moving about. This brings us to our second point: based on the video, we would venture a guess and say that this might be a flea larva.

“I found this thing in the bathroom!” writes Sade about the little black bug in the picture below. “Horrifying! It seemed to have fallen off somewhere – either from the toilet or the toilet paper hanging beside the toilet as I didn’t see it when I first opened the toilet, then noticed something plopped into the water a second after. I hope it didn’t come from me!” Upon zooming in on the photo, the organism looks to have legs, and a translucent body. That said, the photo is taken in quite poor lighting, and the resolution is not the best, so we will say that any identifications we make are educated guesses, and are not 100% certain.

“What is this?” asks this reader in her submission regarding the translucent organisms pictured below. “It is about 1/4 inch long and is under my sticky tile on my floor next to the plywood. There are millions of babies and white looking eggs.” We think that the organisms our reader found are flea larvae: their translucent bodies and dark entrails point to this fact. The location in which they were found is quite strange: usually they are found near a source of food, like on a bed or in a wardrobe.

“I read an article about a little white worm, but the person who posed the question didn’t include a picture”, writes this reader in her submission, attaching a picture of a little white worm herself. “The description matched a worm I recently found. Location: St. Louis, Missouri. My dog is on normal flea, tick, and heartworm prevention, but I discovered a very tiny and thin, white worm on the surface of her fur. We had just been outside in the grass. I assume she picked it up from there. Here are a few photos of what the worm looks like. It’s not very long, but if it crawls, it can stretch itself out to a little over half an inch. If it stays still and doesn’t move, it is half a centimeter. I hope the pictures are good enough. It was hard to focus the camera. Appreciate any insight! Thank You!”

A translucent, “really small” worm-like creature was found by this reader in her home. She states they were “mostly seen in the bathroom sink”, and thus asks if they are ” possibly sink worms?” The worm in question is pictured below. One can see its near transparency, and the dark entrails visible through its skin. Our reader does not clarify how many of these she has found in her home, and what other places she has discovered them in. Nonetheless, we have come across this critter so many times that we can identify it merely by the picture provided: this is a flea larva.

“I live in South Louisiana and have recently been having worms in my bed sheets”, states this reader in her submission regarding the minuscule organism pictured below. “They are black to white in color. I think they might be moths as I have let some clothes stay outside in the laundry room, but would like a more clear identification.” Upon zooming in on the photo, we would say that these are probably not moth larvae, but rather flea larvae. Not to worry though, flea larvae are not harmful to humans or animals, unlike their adult counterparts. While the adult flea is an external parasite (ectoparasite) that attaches itself to the skin of mammals and sucks their blood, their larvae solely feed on dead insects, faeces, hair, fur and other dead or decomposing organic matter.

“I found a tiny worm swarm around our bed”, states this reader about the translucent worm-like creature below. “I hadn’t noticed this until I saw my floor covered with a bunch of worms/larvae.”

“This worm/larva was found crawling up a shower curtain”, states this reader living North of the 45th parallel. “Any ideas what it might be?” he asks. No further context is provided, but the photo below depicts the white, semi-transparent organism our reader is asking about.

“Found this on my bedding”, states this reader in the Philippines regarding the clear-white organisms with dark insides pictured below. “Help please! I don’t know if I will be needing an extermination team for this.”

“I keep finding these small worms in the toilet”, states this reader concerning the minuscule, clear-white organism pictured below. “Can you confirm what they may be?”

“What are these?” asks this reader in the submission she sent us. “They are in my bed as well”, she continues, referring to the tiny, brownish creatures photographed below.