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Posted in Parasite Worms Pinworm Worms Found in the House

Worms Inside Toilet Parasites or Something Else?

A man recently sent in this photo of two worms he found after going to the toilet. After being very bloated for a couple of weeks and showing other symptoms, our reader went to his doctor who told him they could be pinworms. However, our reader does not think they look like pinworms, as he has had those in the past and they looked different.

tiny larvae on desk and chair
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Posted in Pest Worms

Tiny Larvae on Desk and Chair

We received a question via the All About Worms Facebook page about some extremely small larvae, or what seem to be larvae, that a reader found on her desk and chair. We use the descriptors “tiny” and “extremely small” for a reason – the larvae are nearly microscopic, and it would take an attentive eye to even notice them crawling around. They are probably only about a millimeter or so in length. The reader was quite alarmed by what she found, and emphasized her concern with the multiple question marks and exclamation points she used to conclude her question, which concerned identification. So, we are tasked with identifying the tiny larvae on the reader’s desk and chair.

larvae on thread
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Posted in Pest Worms

Tiny Larvae Hanging From Thread on Bedroom Ceiling

We received an interesting and highly detailed question from a reader recently who found a few tiny larvae in his room. The reader first noticed the larvae when they were lowering themselves onto his bed using a thread attached to the ceiling. The reader found several larvae, and traced their place of origin to a place in the ceiling, which is where the threads were attached. The reader thought he might have found moth fly larvae, but we actually think he found some sort of inchworm for reasons we will now outline.

brown ceiling worm
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Posted in Pest Worms

Tiny Brown Worms in the Ceiling

A reader wrote to us recently about some tiny brown worms that “came from behind the ceiling.” The brown worms, which are only about three millimeters long, fell onto her bed, which is why the reader speculates they came from the ceiling. It is unclear how many worms she has found, but “2 or 3 worms at a time” landed on her bed, so evidently this has happened multiple times. It is as if her ceiling has a worm leak, although this is perhaps an indelicate way to put the matter since the reader is quite concerned about the creatures. Indeed, she hasn’t slept in her bed in almost a week because of the ceiling worms. The reader asked us if we can help her with “this” (she didn’t specify any precise questions), so we’ll try our best to figure out what she found and identify ways to address the problem.

black larva with red head
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Posted in Pest Worms

Tiny Black Worms on the Carpet

A reader wrote to us recently about some tiny black worms he has found on the carpet in his house. So far, the reader has found about five of the tiny black worms, and they have been spread across two different rooms of the house, both of which are carpeted. The worms appear to be “solid black,” except for their heads, which are a “reddish, brownish” color. The worms also have “tiny hair-like legs.” The reader has several questions about these black-bodied, red-headed worms with legs: where are they coming from? Are they going to grow and multiply? Are they poisonous or harmful? What is the best way to get rid of them? Before concerning ourselves with these questions, though, we must first try to figure out what the tiny black worms are.

worm on toilet paper
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Posted in Caterpillars

Tiny Worm on Toilet Paper

We received a video through the All About Worms Facebook page the other day of what appears to be a tiny worm on a roll of toilet paper. (The tiny worm is likely a tiny larvae, but more on that below.) The reader was quite alarmed by what he found, and mentioned (presumably, and hopefully, in jest) that he is “tempted to burn his house down” immediately because of what he found. For practical, legal, and moral reasons, we don’t recommend this course of action, and in fact we don’t think he should be concerned at all. He appears to have found a very small inchworm, the larval form of a geometer moth, for reasons we outline below.