“Infested house and garden, two and a half years trying to get rid of them”, starts Paula in her submission regarding the blurry creature with multiple appendages pictured below. “I’m disabled and can’t get any help. I’ve spent thousands on deadbeat alleged insect killer firms. Please help me.” Unfortunately, since the photo is so blurry, we will only be able to provide an educated guess as to the identity of this organism, as opposed to a confident and accurate identification. With that said, we are somewhat confident in our guess, as the outline of this creature’s shapes and what we assume to be its many legs points us in one direction: centipedes.

“What kind of bug is this?” is all Kimberly asks in her submission regarding the dark gray-brown-colored organism pictured below. She does not include any context with her submission, and we do have to note that the resolution on the photo is poor, meaning that when we zoom in on the creature, the details become incredibly blurry. With that in mind, it will not be possible to provide an identification which is 100% accurate; the identification we are about to make is based purely on an educated guess we made, which is, in turn, based on the little we can make out from the photo.

“Translucent, striped, microscopic, hairlike worms in Miami Beach apartment water faucets”, writes this reader in her submission regarding the array of organisms pictured below. “I had previously found this after bathing my dog with Septol. This nightmare never ends. Now I noticed they come from our faucets. What is going on? I’m so scared. Thanks for your help.” The first thing we want to bring attention to is our use of the phrase “array of organisms”; we do think our reader is actually dealing with multiple different organisms that are not necessarily related. For example, the yellowing, segmented worm-like creature pictured below looks to us like a fly larva (maggot). People can commonly get these during the summer as flies enter the home and lay eggs in one’s organic compost. The best way to tackle these is to consistently throw out compost and larvae in trash cans outside, keep one’s kitchen clean, and maybe buy fly traps if the issue is bad enough.

“I hope you are able to help me”, writes Julia in her submission regarding a whole host of problems and organisms. “After nearly two years of doing my own research I am still unable to identify these organisms. I say that because I’m not sure if they are in fact worms or possibly the larvae of another insect?” Now, first off, we want to thank Julia for the array of photos, of which we chose the most distinct and clear ones. Photos are always invaluable when it comes to trying to identify organisms. Secondly, we have to say that this is, by far, the most amount of context we have ever received regarding a worm-related situation. For this we are also grateful, as it is equally important to provide context when trying to get an organism identified. That said, it can be a lot for our other readers to process, and we also want Julia to get the information and answers that we can provide as soon as possible.

This reader found “weird, clear-looking worms” in her home, and attached the photo below in her submission. They are “about a centimeter to two inches long. They look like a clear piece of string, all over my clothes and house. They wiggle around and almost have a dot for a face or head.” To start with, we have to say that we cannot see the worm in the photo. All we see is our reader’s thumb and knee. This is likely because the worms are so thin, and are translucent, but nonetheless, without being able to see the worm in the photo, we cannot provide a confident or accurate identification. Of course, we will still do our best to help our reader identify this creature.

“I have the same worm in my house as this woman does in this article”, writes this reader in her submission. We do not know which article she is referring to, but we will nonetheless relay the rest of her story: “It can eat through walls, porcelain, wood, linoleum, tile, glass, and humans. My house is infested. My family and pets are all sick. And my research says that, based on our symptoms, it is some sort of fluke worm. But I can’t get any tests to come back positive for any type of worm, which I guess is normal for this type. They basically have to be tested while they’re still alive, which is absolutely impossible. I was wondering what type of specialist you were referring to in the article to get them out of the house. Because I can’t find anyone that deals with parasites. Not to mention the fact that you only get treated like you’re crazy.”

“I keep finding what looks to be small worms,” writes this reader in her submission regarding an array of creatures. “But, while walking through my apartment after a VERY thorough cleaning, I felt like I had stepped on a piece of glass. I couldn’t find anything until I swept the area (after already mopping it three times), and what I saw in my dustpan threw me into a major panic attack. I used my Google Lens to see if I could figure out what I was looking at. Every article I could find said it was hammerhead flatworms that I was looking at. The apartments I live in have had a BAD infestation with bed bugs, and I have recently been cleaning up dead bugs and black spots that keep appearing everywhere around my apartment. I have not seen a live one, although I have woken up with bites.”

“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.”

“Is this worm a carpet beetle larva worm?” asks Dawn in her submission regarding the darkly-colored worm-like creatures pictured below. “And if I only found one so far, would there be a nest or others somewhere else? Where would I look? Thank you.” To start with, we have to unfortunately point out the low resolution and bad lighting in the photographs, and why that will make it difficult for us to confirm with certainty whether or not the organisms our reader found are carpet beetle larvae. We will say that, if she finds more of these larvae in places where there are a lot of textile items, such as on her bed, a couch, in a wardrobe or closet, or on rugs or carpet, then these could be carpet beetle larvae. However, we cannot confirm this identity based solely on the photo or on the context.

“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.

“I have found these super small, almost invisible worms”, states this reader in Poland about the horde of tiny white organisms pictured below. “I am really worried. Please look at the picture. Is it dangerous? I could not find them in any of the food in my kitchen. They seem to be attached to this coffee machine.” She also includes a video (linked below) that shows the creatures swarming the coffee machine. Based on the location they were found, as well as their ovate shapes and white coloration, we have concluded that these are likely grain mites.

“I found this on my floor”, states this reader about the slimy, translucent, white worm-like organism pictured below. “Are they worms?” she asks, concluding her short submission. Now, as is the case with most submissions with little to no context, it is difficult to identify the organisms in the picture unless it is a common and easily recognizable creature. Unfortunately, we do not recognize this creature just by looking at it: its shape is almost tadpole-like, and its almost complete transparency makes it look like a wad of mucus. We would have needed more context to figure out what this might be.

“I started to see these worms around my house”, states this reader in his submission about the cream-colored worm-like creature pictured below. “I cannot seem to figure out the source”, he finishes, providing no further context. Now, the photo he sent us is quite blurry, so it is difficult to distinguish any of the physical characteristics of the organism other than its color and shape. From what we can see, this is probably some type of larva, though what species in particular is hard to say. There are countless species of insect larvae that have long, ovate, cream-colored bodies. Of the ones most commonly found in people’s homes, this would most likely be a moth larva or a fly larva (maggot), though that does not exactly narrow it down, given that there are thousands of species of moth larvae and fly larvae.

“What kind of worms are these and how do I get rid of them?” asks this reader in her submission regarding the translucent, dark-headed creatures pictured below. “They are coming into my house through my microwave (which is my vent hood over my stove) and the bathroom exhaust fan. That’s the only place I’ve seen them but there are always a lot of them. I live in Southwest Louisiana in a double-wide trailer.” To start with, we think these are larvae of some sort of insect: likely a moth or fly. We think this due to their translucent white bodies, which is a common characteristic of moth and fly larvae. However, we do not know specifically what species they would belong to. Since the larvae are coming in through the vents, it is likely that the mother insect laid her eggs in the vent, coming in through the outside. As such, the context does not give any clues as to the species they belong to.

“I found an earthworm in my washing machine”, states this reader in her submission, which does not include a picture of the worm. “It was not in the clothes before I put them in the machine. How could it get in there? And what should I do to get rid of more? Thank you!” To answer our reader’s question in short, earthworms can come up through drains, and that is likely how it ended up in the washing machine. The reason earthworms come up through people’s drains is usually because there is a leak in the pipes somewhere underground. To see if she might be experiencing a leak, our reader can be on the lookout for the following signs: smelly water, foul-tasting water, changes in water pressure, and inconsistencies in water temperature.

“What the hell is this?” asks this reader about the two objects pictured below: one a white, sharp-looking thing, and the other a lump of brown material. “They’re all over my house. They’re eating the wood deck. They’re on clothes, on furniture and they seem to bore through anything. They’re on the walls and the ceiling. They leave fuzzy, white, linty substances like fabric, hair and wood.” Based on the photo our sent us, the white object looks like a claw, specifically a cat claw. We do not know if our reader actually owns a cat, but given the fact that she has found holes in her clothing, furniture, and elsewhere, it would make sense that a cat is tearing holes in these objects and leaving the lint and fluff all over the home.

“What is this bug?” is all this reader asks in her submission. She refers to the creature pictured below, which is brown in color, and appears to have bristles and three pairs of prolegs.

“I found millipedes in the shower”, states this reader in his submission. “How do I get rid of them? Are they harmful?” he asks.

“I cannot help but see all these things that I have never seen before in the twenty years we have been here”, states this reader about the plethora of organisms and strange things she has been finding throughout her home. “Please help me to know what we have in our house as well as on my body.”

“I have found what looks like a skinny, small worm”, states this reader in Queens, New York. She has not attached any photos, but asks that we provide her any information we can give, “which hopefully would include why this happens.”