“What is this worm that I keep finding on my dining room floor?” asks Stacey in her submission regarding the white worm pictured below. “We have looked and can’t find them anywhere, but all of a sudden we find them in the morning and we clean them up. And when we get home in the afternoon we find a couple more.” Based on the excellent photo Stacey sent in, we think she found an acorn weevil larva. Acorn weevils are brown beetles that bore holes through acorns to lay their eggs inside. Once they hatch, the larvae will eat the insides of the acorns until they fall from the tree, after which the larvae will bore a new hole through the acorns to exit from, and consequently tunnel into the soil to pupate (the process of metamorphosing into the adult insect).

“I woke up this morning, granted the second day of a new home and all over the living room floor there were little whitish, worm-looking things”, writes this reader in her submission regarding the organisms pictured below. “What are they? Where did they come from? And how do I get rid of them?” Our reader asks all the right questions, and to answer her first one, we think these are blow fly larvae. ‘Blow fly’ as a term refers generally to a large group of flies (known as an order) called Diptera. The adult flies are characterized by their glossy, metallic bodies, which are typically green, blue, or black in color.

“I just saw this worm crawling on my shoulder”, writes Mackie about the white organism pictured below. “Do you know what kind of worm this is and where it possibly came from?” She does not provide more context than this, and we have to say that this worm really could be anything. Its shape, coloration, and overall appearance is so generic that it could be any number of different creatures. Our best bet is that it is a caterpillar or a maggot, but it could very well be a beetle larva too, or something else entirely. Whatever it is, we think it probably ended up on Mackie’s shoulder when she was outside: it likely fell out of a tree and landed on her.

“I live in Northwest Indiana and found this when going through old Christmas tree boxes in a closet”, writes Georgette about the white creatures pictured below. “They were not moving and were very brittle and fragmented easily: plaster-like texture. I have cats but they are indoor only, tested negative for worms multiple times, and on revolution plus. They had not been in this closet. Any idea what this may be? I have seen something similar before, same brittle quality, but more spiral shaped, near some old blankets. Thanks.” Right off the bat, we have to disclose our first instinct, which is that we do not think these are worms at all. And, even if they were, there is no way we would be able to identify them: they clearly died so long ago, and have so much time to dry out, that they are unrecognizable as whatever living creature they once were.

“This worm was found crawling on my bed”, writes this reader in his submission regarding the whitish, worm-like organism with a dark head pictured below. “I just wanna know if it’s harmful.” Our reader does not provide more context, which in this case would have been helpful. First off, we will say that we think this is an insect larva: the segmentation and body shape indicate this. That said, this critter fits the generic descriptions of hundreds of insect larvae, and narrowing it down to one without more context would be extremely difficult. For example, it’s always helpful to know if our readers have also spotted insects around their home, and what kinds, as well as if the creatures seem to be eating something: has our reader found any holes in his bed sheets? Likewise, how big is the larva?

“Please see the larva, it’s near the sink and carpet”, writes Ravi about the cream white, worm-like creature pictured below. “We used to put our carpet outside in the sun for a couple of days. I have a couple of pictures. If you can identify this and let me know what precautions I should take.” Now, a cream white exterior and darkly-colored head is about the most generic physical appearance of a larva: so many species of moths, beetles, flies, and other insects have larvae that look like this. However, given the squared-off rear and tiny, black streak near its head, we think this most resembles a housefly larva, otherwise known as a maggot.

“I’ve recycled coffee grounds for years,” writes Mikey about the white worm-like creature pictured below. “I’ve just started seeing the worms or larvae in the past couple of weeks, we live in northern CA, near Auburn. The coffee is Folgers and Don Francesco (I think). Anyway, the pictures I’m sending are from this morning. The grounds were dumped in the bucket last night and, well, you can see. Any thoughts? Are we consuming bugs in our coffee?” Firstly, we just want to sympathize with Mikey: we can’t imagine how unnerving it must be to find a worm in your coffee one day. Secondly, we do have thoughts on this. We think Mikey found a pantry moth caterpillar in his coffee grounds.

“Please help me identify these”, writes Erin about the white, worm-like critters pictured below. “I was doing my weekly sweep and hand mop and found a bunch of these in the dining room by the window. I don’t see any place of entry and I do not know what they are. They have fat little bodies and a reddish brown face. They were all around my table on the floor, over a dozen.” Firstly, we just want to express our empathy with Erin: it really is an unpleasant surprise when you find creatures in your home that were not invited. Secondly, we want to thank her for the great photo she sent in. It really helps us narrow down the possible identifications.

“What type of larva is this?” is all this reader writes in her submission regarding the creature pictured below. Unfortunately, the picture is very blurry, and from what we can tell, the organism has a very irregular shape. The bulbous, dark-colored sphere in the center of its body looks like it could be a head, though, of course, the placement is entirely wrong. We suppose that the larva might be curled in on itself, but even in that case, it is difficult to pinpoint its identity with no context. This is because a larva with a white body and a reddish-brown head is as common of a description of a larva one could provide: it could belong to any number of insect species.

“What are the cream-colored worms I found in an old chunk of ‘natural soap’?” asks this reader about the organisms pictured below. “I live in the Niagara Region of southern Ontario, Canada.”

“At my work the ice cream machine has had these pop up a time or two”, says this reader about the worm-like organisms pictured below. “Can you tell me what they are and how we can get rid of them safely?” she asks.

“This morning I went outside to find one of her dog toys absolutely covered in these tiny worms/maggots,” states this reader in her submission. The worms she is referring to appear to be an off-white color, with semi-transparent skin and segmented bodies.

“Are these maggots?” asks this reader about the worm-like organisms he found on his toothbrush. The creatures appear to be very small, with thin, white, nondescript bodies that appear to be legless.

“Can you please identify whatever it is that these things are?” asks this reader about whatever unphotographed “things” he is referring to in his query. He was told by an exterminator that the “things” are Indian meal moth larvae, but nothing he does seems to help in getting rid of them.

“What kind of worm is this? Please let me know,” asks this reader in his submission. The worm our reader is referring to is an off-white, semi-transparent color, with a dark brown, bulbous head and a tubular body.

“Can you help me identify this worm found on my puppy’s paw after going outside?” this reader asks of this white, larva-looking critter crawling around on the floor in a video she sent in with her query. Her puppy recently had a tapeworm and so our reader is understandably “freaking out”.

“Every once in a while I’ll find a maggot or 3 on the floor in the bathroom” says this reader. She asks us if we can tell her what to do, how to get rid of said maggots, and what might be causing them to appear.

“There appears to be a worm on the floor along with white dots that are eggs I guess,” states this reader, who thinks she may have found pinworms in her home. The worms in question appear to be white in color, with a flat body.

A plump, white worm-like creature with a black/brown head was found on this reader’s front porch and he wonders what it could be. The tiny specks around it are sand, as our reader recently moved their sandbox away from the area the creature was discovered in.

Minuscule white worms were found by this reader on her coffee maker when she was preparing her coffee for the next day. She found another of the worms in a glass of tap water she had left out overnight, this one being dead, and wonders if we can tell her what these worms are.