A reader recently sent us a photo of three worms she found. Two of the worms are large, at least relative to the third worm, which is fairly small. The reader notes that one of the worms is “mature with clittelum,” and also notes that it is dark red. This appears to be so, and it seems that at least one of the other worms has a clittum too. (Thus, we are dealing with clitella, the latinate plural form of clitellum, even though people often write “clitellums,” and hence the addition of this word in the title of this article.) The reader asked us to identify the three worms, which she submitted a picture of, and we have a ready and simple answer: all three seem to be earthworms. We think they are earthworms because they look like earthworms, and the fact that at least two have a visible clitellum lends further credence to this suggestion.

At any given time, the human body may be infected with dozens of different types of parasites, such as worms. Some parasites are microscopic while other worms in humans are quite visible to the naked eye. Certain types of parasites are found more often in animals; for example, the bloodworm typically infects horses. Other types of parasites may affect humans more often. In all, there are more than 3,200 types of parasites in existence today and they are divided into the following categories: Cestoda, Nematoda, Protozoa, and Trematoda.

A reader wrote to us about some bumps on the leaves of his trees. Although the leaf bumps are only, well, bumps, the reader suspects that “it’s worms.” What precisely he means is unclear, but we suspect he means that either worms are causing the bumps on the leaves, or perhaps that the worms are somehow disguised as, or covered by, the bumps on the leaves. The reader also asked “how to get rid of them,” and again it isn’t exactly clear what this means because “them” is undefined. In any case, we’ll have to focus on the prior question – are the bumps on the leaves worms (or something else, like larvae or leaf galls?) – as this matter must be settled before there is any talk of remedies or elimination. A diagnosis always precedes a cure.

We recently received a question from a reader about whether or not it is possible to fish with hammerhead worms. The reader didn’t actually ask about hammerhead worms specifically, but she sent us a picture of what we are basically certain is a hammerhead worm, and then asked if she can fish with it. We’ll first provide some basic information about these creatures, and then we’ll move on to the more specific topic of fishing with hammerhead worms.

A reader from Texas wrote to us recently about some “hairlike worms” he is finding on the sidewalk after it rains. The hairlike worms (or hair-like worms – both are correct) are six inches to nine inches in length, which is long given their incredibly thin bodies. The reader wants to know what the hairlike worms are, and we are virtually certain we know the answer: horsehair worms. We suppose we could stop here, having unraveled the hairlike worm mystery, but below we’ll provide some information about and pictures of horsehair worms to round out the article.

The Wooly Worm Festival and Beattyville Car Show take place in the small town of Beattyville Kentucky. The Beattyville Kentucky Car Show features classic autos of all kinds displayed by owners from all over the country.

We received a very short question a while back about worms that smell bad and shed their skin. More precisely, we were asked “what kind of earthworm sheds its tail and sprays a strong smell in defense?” So, the reader is wondering about earthworms specifically (or technically the tail of earthworms) that produce some sort of odor in self-defense. Regardless of our reader’s interests, though, we suspect he is misusing the word “earthworm.” For reasons we will spell out below, he seems to be describing a millipede, or potentially some type of caterpillar, both of which molt (shed) and can smell bad.

Centipedes have flattened bodies and a pair of long, slender antennae. They also have a pair of claws just behind the head. Millipedes and centipedes have segmented bodies, but millipedes have short antennae.

A while back, we were sent one of the grimmer questions we’ve ever encountered here at All About Worms. The reader reported that after smoking crack, she saw and felt small white worms all over her body. The worms crawled out from between her toes and protruded from every part of her skin. The reader is a seasoned crack smoker, having used the drug for years, and nothing like this has ever happened before. The reader is scared to go to a doctor because she doesn’t want to reveal her drug use and she also doesn’t want to get sent to a psychiatric institution. She therefore wrote to us, asking us this question: “What do you think is going on and how do you think I can get help?”

A reader wrote to us recently about some worms she is finding in “dark places” around her house. More specifically, she is finding the worms “in lounge, under sofa, behind sofa,” so evidently the worms have taken to hiding around or under furniture. The worms, which are about an inch long, are a cream color with brown tips, although some appear to be mostly brown, which makes them difficult to see because they are the same color as her carpet, and they are always on her carpet. The reader wants two questions answered: what are the cream and brown one-inch worms she is finding, and how can she get rid of them?

A reader asks, “How do you get heart worms in the human heart?” Naturally, we at All About Worms are not medical professionals of any kind and our statements should in no circumstances be taken to constitute medical advice, but we do believe we possess a set of knowledge items germane to this reader’s concern. The reader asks specifically about those types of worms, if any, which may invade the human heart, a concern which is understandable both because of its obvious consequences for human health and due to the fact that popular accounts of heartworm tend to center on its occurrence in dogs and other animal hosts.

The pin worm belongs to the family Oxyuridae, order Oxyuroidea, and the phylum Nematoda. Pin worms are classified as Enterobius vermicularis. Threadworms are also classified as Enterobius vermicularis. Pin worms are also called “seatworms” and they have several spellings, including “pinworm” and “pinworms.”

According to the Cornell Waste Management Institute of the famed Cornell University, worms do not bite. In fact, in nature wax worms do not feed on anything but pollen, honey, cocoons, and beeswax. Wax worm breeders have no problems feeding their inventory of wax worms without the help of pollen and cocoons. These squirmy little creatures can also survive off of an artificial diet of a mixture of dog food, water, and honey or a mixture of Gerber’s mixed cereal, glycerin, honey, and water.

Grub worms feed on plants and the roots of turf grasses and the adult beetles feed on trees, shrubs, and other foliage. While grub worms are harmless to humans, they can be devastating to crops mainly because they feed on crop roots.

A reader asked us through the All About Worms Facebook page about “white worms with yellow bottoms [that are] eating my Dogwood trees.” These white worms with yellow bottoms are very likely white larvae with yellow bottoms, so we’ll adjust our usage accordingly. The reader asked us for an identification, and we’ll largely limit ourselves to this specific matter to keep things short and simple.

Worms prefer complete darkness because the light affects them in the worst way. Light does not kill worms, but if worms spend too much time in the light (typically one hour), they become paralyzed.

A little while ago a reader wrote to us about some white worms with a green spot that “appeared out of nowhere” in his basement. The reader got rid of many of the worms in the basement by taking them outside, but when he got back there were even more worms than there were before. The reader said the creatures in the basement looked like inchworms, but he didn’t seem very confident in this suggestion. He also mentioned that it was raining out when he made his discovery, and thought this might have something to do with the worms’ sudden appearance in the basement. What might the white worms with green spots in our reader’s basement be?

What is a night crawler? This is the basic question we are concerned with, and the answer is straightforward: a night crawler (also written as “nightcrawler”) is simply an earthworm, an extremely common worm we have written about dozens of times. After a brief refresher on exactly what earthworms are, we’ll explain why they are called “night crawlers” (or, again, “nightcrawlers”), and also list some of the other names that earthworms go by. Thus, our treatment of night crawlers and earthworms will be more linguistic than biological.

We received a long, detailed, and disconcerting email from a reader about a week ago. We aren’t sure how to address it, and internal deliberations took place about possible approaches we could take to this reader’s email and question. Actually, the reader didn’t ask a question, but instead listed several extreme medical problems she has experienced over the last six years following an intestinal worm diagnosis. The worm that infected her intestines has been one of only many concerns, as she has experienced several disturbing problems. It’s not clear if all of these problems are truly physical, or if some of them may be emotional, or whether they are related to the intestinal worm infection, and in any case we can’t comment on any of this because we aren’t medical professionals. Nothing we say should be construed as medical advice, and in fact we won’t say much at all. Rather, we will let our reader’s email speak for itself. Perhaps readers have had worm problems, or at least what are experienced as worm problems, that compare to our reader’s issues over the last six years.

Many species of tongue worms have superficial ringlike markings. This gives them the appearance of being segmented.