“What is the specific type of this worm?” writes Imina in her submission regarding the segmented, cream-colored worm pictured below. “It is from my ceiling and drops onto my pillow every night.” To begin with, we have to commend Imina on the excellent photo she took, and thank her for taking a photo next to a rule, which is the best way for us to understand its size. This creature does not even reach one centimeter (approximately 0.4-inches) in length. It has a bulbous brown head and a similarly-colored prong on its rear. Based on its physical characteristics, we have concluded that this is a beetle larva.

“I found these tiny white (clear) and black worms in my mattress in Hot Springs, Arkansas”, writes this reader in his submission regarding the critter pictured below. “What are they and are they harmful? Will they spread? Also, how do I get rid of them? Thanks.” To begin with, we want to thank our reader for the plethora of fantastic photos, the best of which we included. On top of that, he asks good questions, and the context has already helped us to come to a conclusion about the worm’s identity. The worms our reader has been finding are not actually worms but flea larvae.

“I found this worm-like creature on my pillow today”, writes this reader in her submission regarding the light brown, striped critter pictured below. “I need help identifying what it is, and would like any other helpful info you may have. It has some strands coming out of one end of it. Thank you!” Firstly, we want to thank our reader right back, for sending in her submission to us. Secondly, we want to present our reader with an identification: the worm-like creature she found is a carpet beetle larvae. Unfortunately for her, carpet beetle larvae are notorious house pests which can spawn massive infestations that can damage a lot of the items in her home.

We recently received a message from a reader via the All About Worms Facebook page about some very small white worms he has been finding in his bed. (He actually sent us 12 messages about the extremely small white worms, leading us to think he is sending messages via the Facebook chat window, a default option that can be changed, for what it is worth.) The worms stand up vertically and look like the “those caterpillar[s] you see every year by the thousands that come out of the trees here in Tennessee,” by which he might mean they look like inchworms, the larval form of geometer moths. In all the messages he sent, which included a number of pictures, he never actually asked us to identify the small white worms in the bed. Rather, he was primarily concerned with his and his family’s safely. He feared that the worms might burrow into their skin. So, our principal task is to address whether these exceedingly small white worms are harmful or dangerous, but we will also add a couple of notes about identification as we go along.

A reader recently wrote to us about two small worms she found in her bed. (The reader called them “worms,” even though they might be some other creature, like larvae.) She was understandably a little concerned and disgusted, as people who find worms in their bed tend to be. The reader was most concerned about the possibility that these worms (or larvae or some other creature) came out of her body during the night, and she didn’t directly ask what kind of worms she found in her bed. However, the two matters are of course related, for if we identify the worm, we might be able to tell if it came out of her body. (We don’t think so.)