“What is this?” is all this reader asks about the minuscule, gray, worm-like creatures pictured below. They seem to be swarming a laundry basket. Despite the lack of context, and the low resolution photo, we do have a couple of suggestions for that these critters could be. Given their gray coloration and bulbous black heads, these look like newly-hatched armyworms or American ermine moth caterpillars. It is odd that our reader found them on her laundry hamper, only because neither of these species feed on textiles, like the clothes moth caterpillar or the carpet beetle larva.

“What is this?” asks this reader about the light brown, ovate organism pictured below. “I live in Idaho and these weren’t there yesterday when I set my laundry hamper there on the dryer. But when I moved it, I then later noticed them. They are hard and crunchy. My assumption is that they are possibly eggs? I just want to know if it’s something I need to get taken care of. Thank you.” Based on the photo alone, we would say that these are probably not eggs: this object looks far too big to be an egg, and its brown coloration makes us think it is more likely that this is a pupa.