“This came out of my nose”, writes this reader regarding the pink matter pictured below. “What is it? I am in Whittier, CA.” More context than this is not provided, but in any case, we will not be able to identify this worm, given the nature in which it was found. Since it came from our reader’s body, it is possible that this is a medical situation. Since we are not medical professionals, we are neither qualified nor legally able to identify organisms that potentially could be negatively affecting a human’s health. That said, what we can do is point our reader in the direction of some resources she can use to get a medical professional’s opinion.

“After two years of misery, I finally dug out from a burrow this parasite, three days ago”, writes this reader about the organisms pictured below “Please help me identify it. I have nowhere to turn. The one I dug out has the worm body. The other is the same I believe without the body. Please help me.” Unfortunately, we will not be able to help our reader in the way that he wants us to. The reason for this is because our reader believes he is dealing with parasites, which makes his situation medical in nature. We are not medical professionals, and so we are not qualified or legally able to identify any organisms that could negatively affect the health of a human or pet.

“Can you identify this as a worm and if so, what species?” asks Kim about the gooey, strand of matter pictured below. “I picked it up, put it in a container and soaked it in tea tree oil to hopefully kill it if it was a living thing. Have found these on the floor in my Central Florida mobile home that has a well and that has had some stopped-up septic problems and overflows. Could either be the cause? I will also add that we are in a rural area and we have, or have had in the past, cats, dogs, donkeys, cows, goats, pigs, chickens, and rabbits; we fed out a wild boar twice. I would like to know your opinion on the type of whatever this may be, and maybe even the potential host if it is a parasite so I can pinpoint the area and treat it and the tenant on its rented acre of land. We are in a wooded area of twelve acres. Don’t know if it was carried in the home or, like I mentioned, a result of the septic issue. The other “samples” looked like they could have been stepped on. Oh, and I should mention that my cat stares at the floor because she can see something we cannot. She refuses to walk in certain areas and bolts through, jumping as fast and far as her pudgy little self can go, to avoid these spaces. I have sent as many photos as I have and tried to take different vantage points for you. Thanks again for your considerable help.”

“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.

“I am finding these tiny dark brown worms all over my cubicle desk at my work”, writes Una in San Diego about the darkly-colored creature pictured below. “I’ve also found tiny worms in green also. I’m freaking out because I read on your post that they could be flea worms!? I do have dogs but I haven’t seen any worms like this at home. I live in San Diego, California.” The photo alone does not really help us much, unfortunately. Even when zooming in, the worm looks like nothing more than a black blob. Additionally, Una does not send any photos of the green worms she mentions.

“Is there something in the carpet or is it just old/cheap?” asks Laura in La Mesa City, San Diego county, California. “It was professionally cleaned about two weeks ago. Additionally, and not 100%, I positively believe there are some creatures with white heads and darker bodies in the soil of a Money Tree that is on our catio. I’m used to the drain fly larvae or whatever that stuff is but these just seem different. Also, I do NOT feel anything in or on my body. These look too small to be carpet beetle larvae but my entire carpet looks like that. My photography skills are horrible and I could not get a good shot of these lines that run through the substrate. In conclusion, I have touched them but cannot just pick them up; they seem too deep. Sorry for yet another paranoid sounding inquiry; I just don’t want to get in trouble with property management. Thank you.”

“Can you kindly identify this worm?” asks Lindsey in her submission regarding the white, worm-shaped organism pictured below. “The hair on top moves around like a feeler.” She does not add more context than this, and given how vague the photo is, we are not sure we can give her a concrete answer to her question. The worm almost looks like it is under a sheet, or some kind of fabric – as if it is struggling to break through it. As such, the hair on top looks like it is likely just a stray fiber from that material. For these reasons, we are not even sure what the true color of the organism is.

“So I got a rental home in Glendale, AZ, and the first month me and my family were fine”, starts this reader in his submission regarding the long, thin, black worm-like critter pictured below. “Well, the second month being in this home, the city of Glendale decided to clean out the sewers. Ever since then it has only been me and my dog and I feel like we are the ones being infected by these things. I honestly think I have a few that I have in mind. I think it’s microflair or lymphatic filariasis, and the other two I think are a Guinea worm, which I contracted from my dog, and horsehair worms, AKA Gordian worms. So I see black and white thin-like parasites, but the black ones are a lot bigger and huger, I guess you can say. And then, when they, like, go over each other, they produce a greyish little one – well, that’s what it looks like to me. My husband and the people I live with honestly think I’m going crazy.”

“Can you tell me what this is?” asks this reader in her submission regarding the long, white objects pictured below. “I found it on the steps to my deck in Mansfield, Ohio. They look like long blonde hair but some of it moves like a worm. Thank you for your time!” Now, if we were to assume that these are organisms, and look only at the photograph our reader sent in, we would suggest these could be horsehair worms, as they can look like this – like long strands of “blonde hair”.

“Can you please identify the worm in this picture that is found in human urine?” is all this reader asks in his submission regarding the gray and pink worm pictured below. The worm is rather long, segmented, and has semi-transparent skin: at least, so we think. Our theory is that the pink part near the end of its body is a view into the inside of the worm. Based on the photo, we would think this is some type of annelid, though our identification should not be taken at face value. The reason for this is the lack of context of our reader’s situation: he does not specify if the worm came from someone’s body, and was then found in their urine, or if somebody peed, then looked in the toilet, and saw the worm there.

“What kind of worm is this, and how do I prevent another one in my home?” asks this reader in her submission about the greenish worm pictured below. “I awoke to a bite or sting from this fellow on my back shoulder. We are in North Florida, 6/25/22. I felt it crawling on my arm, knocked it off, went back to sleep to awake to a burning feeling on my back. Do you know what it is?” Based on the creature’s possession of six legs and its antennae, we are inclined to identify this as a beetle larva of some kind, though we do not know exactly what species it belongs to.

“Three and a half years ago I had occasion to visit with my father, and during the long term visit encountered some type of parasitic bug/worm”, writes this reader in her submission. “It seems that the “bug/worm” things are various colors but usually range anywhere from clear, white, tan, orange, yellow, chlorophyll green, red, pink (I believe it’s due to where and on what they lay their eggs), and come in 2-3 different shapes and sizes (I think it’s just different levels of their life cycles) – from microscopic to the size of a large flake of dandruff. They are so small that it’s very difficult to see any details with the naked eye, so I bought several different brands of Android cell phones which had better and better zoom quality on the cameras and then I purchased a microscope that clips onto the cell phones.”

“I have black, thin worms and clear ones all over and in my body”, writes this reader in their submission regarding the white organism pictured below. “Can you help me identify these? The doctors say they are not there. There are also long thin clear white ones. Thank you so much.” Right off the bat, we will need to inform our reader that we will unfortunately not be able to identify these worms. The reason for this is because they have explicitly stated that they have been found inside her body and that they have consulted a doctor about them. As such, we have to assume that this situation is potentially medical in nature, and because we are not medical professionals, we are thus neither qualified nor legally able to identify such worms.

“What type of worm or larva is this?” asks this reader about the dark gray worm-like creature pictured below. “Found in the shower. Location in northern Alabama. Thanks!” To start with, we want to thank our reader for taking such a clear picture: it really helps us get a quick grasp on what the organism might be. In this case, we think this is probably a drain fly larva. Not only does its physical characteristics match that of a drain fly larva, but the location in which it was found also makes sense. As their name suggests, drain fly larvae are usually found in drains. This is because the mother fly will lay her eggs there, specifically on the thin film that forms in drains that are not regularly cleaned.

“Where do the moth larvae come from?” asks this reader in his submission. “Why are they in my house?” He does not attach any photos to his submission, nor does he provide further context, so we do not know exactly which moth larvae he is dealing with. That said, we will nonetheless provide a brief overview of some of the moth larvae people typically find in their home and why and how they end up there. Moths are insects, and like any insect passes through three distinct stages of life: ‘larvahood’, pupation, and finally adulthood (when they have metamorphosed into a moth).

“I found this worm in my toilet bowl”, states this reader in Turkey about the red-striped worm pictured below. “I had not used this toilet for almost 24 hours. It looks like an earthworm. But I also wonder if it could be some sort of parasite. Thanks for any comment.” Based on the excellent image our reader sent in, we would say this is an earthworm, specifically a tiger worm. These creatures, otherwise known as red wigglers or red Californians, are completely harmless creatures, just like the common earthworm. They are not parasitic, and they do not bite or sting, so our reader needs not worry for her health and safety.

“Identity please?” is all this reader writes in her submission regarding the long, off-white worm-like creature pictured below. In any case where the worm photographed is not unique in its appearance and thus instantly recognizable, identifying a worm based only on a photo is nearly impossible without context. For that reason, we will not be able to provide our reader with a concrete identity of this organism: its white color and nondescript body renders this worm generic in appearance, which is makes it all that much harder to pinpoint its exact identity. With that said, what we will do is provide an educated guess and give our reader some pointers as to what she might want to do, depending on what her concerns are.

“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 are these worms invading my porch, garage and house?” asks this reader in her submission regarding the horde of darkly-colored worm-like creatures pictured below. “And how do I stop them? I have pets and need something that won’t harm them. Thank you.” Firstly, we cannot make out any of the details of the creatures’ physical characteristics, which makes it nearly impossible to identify them without sufficient context, and, other than knowing that these have invaded our reader’s home in great numbers, we do not know anything else about them.

“Can you tell me if Green Tomato worms can be found around Oklahoma?” asks this reader in her submission. She does not attach any photos, though she notes that she lives in Washington County. “I would like to know if they do, so when I start my garden I can be prepared for them.” First off, we assume that by ‘green tomato worm’, our reader is referring to the tomato hornworm. If that is the case, it might be ample to provide some context. The tomato hornworm is a moth caterpillar which is indeed green in color, and which does feed on tomatoes, among other plants.