“My home is infested inside and out with thin white worms that appear to be accompanied by or some stage of a thin black worm”, writes Shari in her submission regarding the worm pictured below. “They scatter through the air with the slightest disturbance. I tried spraying them down with bleach attached to water hoses, but they just end up floating in the air and landing on me. Pest control has been no help in identifying. I live in Sarasota, Florida. My house is old, built in 1959 and had a major plumbing issue. Cast iron pipes broke underground and the entire plumbing clogged up. It was so bad water was coming out of the vent pipe on the roof. I’m wondering if this worm issue is related to the plumbing. Especially since the pipes broke underground.”

“Found these little guys on the floor of my home office”, writes Elle in her submission regarding the minuscule, black, worm-like organisms pictured below. “Seemed to be all clustered together in one spot. Not able to find/see any anywhere else within the home. I suspect moth larvae after spending hours on google, but really not sure. Any ideas please? Many thanks.” To start with, we want to commend Elle on the excellent photos she sent in. The first one below captures (in incredible detail) one of the tiny critters. It is hard to photograph creatures this small in this much detail! The second photo shows just how many of the things she found in her office. Elle is completely right in suspecting these as moth larvae, cause that is exactly what they are. To be precise, she found inchworms.

“I’ve found small, black, almost fuzzy-looking worms on and around the entrance door, the concrete patio at the doorway, and in every room, mostly on the floor!” exclaims this reader in his submission regarding the creature pictured below. “Seems I’ve crushed about a million, flushed a bunch, washed them down the shower drain, sprayed home defense and even peppermint mixed with water, but can’t get rid of these pests! What are they and what can I do to keep them gone? I live in a basement apartment in North-East TN, near the VA., Tennessee state lines! Thank you for taking my question!”

“I have read articles on your website regarding this but I don’t think they had exactly what I’m looking for”, writes Julia in her submission, in which she sends the photo of the pink, worm-like creature pictured below. “And if I see one more worm in my bathtub, I might actually move apartments. Well, that’s an exaggeration, but please help. First time this happened was right after a shower. Of course, it’s humid and the bathtub is the perfect breeding ground for many bugs, but this one showed up out of nowhere and it completely startled me. They’re very small, even smaller than my pinky finger, and look black in the photo but actually seem to have a translucent pink exterior and black interior? If that makes sense.”

“What are these worms?” asks Ruby about the group of yellow creatures with brown heads pictured below. “They are mainly in the bedroom but there are also some in the living room. I live in Katy, Texas. Thank you.” Well, we thank Ruby for the excellent photo she sent in. We can clearly see their dark yellow coloration, as well as the segmentation of their bodies, which has us concluding that these are mealworms. Mealworms are not actually worms at all, but larvae. Larvae are young insects that look a bit like worms. Their goal at this stage of life is to eat as much as possible so that they can store up energy for pupation: the stage that comes before adulthood. During pupation, they metamorphose into their adult form, like a caterpillar (which is a larva!) metamorphoses into a butterfly or moth.

“I found your website on Google and hope you could help me with the worm in the attached photo”, writes Diane in Japan about the little greenish grey creature pictured below. “It is grey with a black head, no legs. I am located in Aichi, Japan, and this is the second time I found it in my house (last night, first time): one time on the wall, the other on the object near the same wall. Both times were around 8 or 9 pm, when the temperature went down to about 26 degrees Celsius. One of my friends said it looked like those you find in vegetables. But it doesn’t explain why I find it two nights in a row when there’s no uncooked vegetables kept in the open air? they are all in the fridge which is three meters away, by the opposite wall. I am honestly worried about the possibility that there may be more of them in the house, whether it is harmful, and how to get rid of it. I’d really appreciate it if you could help me.”

“What is this worm?” asks this reader in her submission regarding the small, black organism pictured below. “How do I get rid of it? They’re everywhere. I’m in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.” Based on the excellent photo she sent, we think that this is a millipede. Its segmentation, size, and antennae point to this conclusion, as well as the apparent lack of legs. What we must note is that millipedes actually possess many legs, and that is what they are known for, but since they grow from the underside of their bodies, they are often not visible. As such, people often mistake millipedes for worms and marvel at how they seemingly glide across a surface.

“What kind of worm is this, and how do I prevent another one in my home?” asks this reader in her submission about the greenish worm pictured below. “I awoke to a bite or sting from this fellow on my back shoulder. We are in North Florida, 6/25/22. I felt it crawling on my arm, knocked it off, went back to sleep to awake to a burning feeling on my back. Do you know what it is?” Based on the creature’s possession of six legs and its antennae, we are inclined to identify this as a beetle larva of some kind, though we do not know exactly what species it belongs to.

This reader has been finding “brown larvae coming out of a nail hole on the interior wall of his house in the mountains of Colorado.” The picture below depicts the creatures, which, according to our reader, are “about 1/4-inch long, reddish brown, and spiny.” So far, he has found a “total” of “about six in the area.” He does not pose a question, per say, but we assume he wants to know what these are. Unfortunately, the picture he sent is of really low resolution, so when we zoom in on the photo to get a closer look at the larvae, the photo becomes blurry and so we are unable to see the details of the creatures’ physical characteristics. This makes it much harder to provide an identification.

“I’m attaching a photo of an orange type of worm”, begins this reader in her submission about the six-legged creature pictured below. “I found one at the end of my bed sheets, one in between the slats of my window blind in the bathroom and three of them at different times in the kitchen. Two of the ones in the kitchen (only one found at a time) had crawled into my Brita water filter at the top near where the charcoal filter is. I had it sitting on the counter when I left the lid off. The other one was just crawling on a tea canister. These were all seen in a span of two-three weeks. They seem to be less than a half inch long. What are they? Thanks in advance for your help.”

“Is this a hammerhead worm!?” asks this reader in her submission about the gray, slimy-looking worm-like creature pictured below. We actually cannot tell if it is one or two organisms, though we suppose it does not matter much. “I was horrified to find it in my toilet! Thanks.” We understand how our reader feels, as it is never a pleasant experience to find uninvited guests in one’s home, let alone in one’s toilet. And to confirm: yes, this is a hammerhead worm. Our reader may already be familiar with hammerhead worms, as she correctly identified this one, but in case she is not, the basic facts include: Hammerhead worms are predatory worms, though they are not significantly harmful to humans or pets (unless one keeps insects or snails for pests). They feed on insect larvae, snails, slugs, and other hammerhead worms. They are excellent trackers and possess amazing capabilities, such as the ability to regenerate severed body parts and to liquefy their prey.

“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 found this worm on my sofa”, states this reader in her submission regarding the segmented, pink worm-like organism pictured below. “It’s the third one I’ve found over the last month – all on the sofa. I am unsure if it’s from my dog (who lounges with us), or an infestation from another source. I’m including a picture for help! Thanks!” Based on the photo, we would say this is a caterpillar of some kind, meaning the larva of a butterfly or moth, though what species in particular we are not sure. We thought it could be a palm flower caterpillar, though the color of its head is darker than most palm flower caterpillars. Alternatively, we thought it might be a leafroller caterpillar, based on its shape and feature, though most leafroller caterpillars are not this pink, but more green.

“I am getting earthworms in my home”, states this reader in her submission. She attaches a picture of a long, pink organism, though the details of the photo are a bit muddled, so we will just have to take our reader’s word for it that this is an earthworm. “I have not determined the point of entry. I expect it is my back door, although the seal and sweep appear to be okay. I get several in the house after a rain. Help, it is gross to step out of bed next to a worm! Thanks.” First of all, it makes sense that earthworms are coming out in the rain, as that is typical of earthworms, as well as all underground-dwelling organisms. The reason they do this is because, when it rains, their burrows get filled with water, so they must rise to the surface to breathe.

“I’m wondering what kind of bug this is”, states this reader about the little, brownish insect pictured below. “It looks more like a soft-winged flower beetle. I think it has six legs total, although it is hard to see from the pictures.

“Over the last couple of days, I have been finding two-to-four of these bugs walking around on my ceiling”, states this reader in her submission regarding the light brown, striped organism pictured below. “Do you know what they are and how I can get rid of them?” she asks.

“Last night we found a small (maybe two inches long) worm-like thing squiggling in our living room”, states this reader in his submission. “Is this a worm? Parasite? Small snake?” he asks about the creature, which he describes as “charcoal-to-blackish grey.”

“What type of worm does this look like?” asks this woman in Texas, whose daughter found a three-inch long, red-brown worm crawling up her bedroom wall. Our reader claims she could not find anything on our website or “elsewhere on the internet that really looks like this.”

“I have been struggling with these white, lightweight, hair-like worms in my hair and all over my body,” says this reader located in Northwest Washington, “out in the rural farm lands near the Canadian border.” Although our reader does not ask any specific questions in her submission, we will provide some resources she can consult if she worries for her health as a result of these worms.

“I am finding these tiny worm-like things in my bed and upholstery”, states this reader about the black organism pictured below. “They are semicircular and only about a quarter of an inch.”