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 found this segmented creepy crawly with “tail” on several occasions in our laundry hamper and linen closet”, writes this reader concerning the black-striped creature pictured below. “Should I be concerned? They’re about one cm in length. What are they? Thank you for your help.” To start with, we just want to thank our reader for the excellent photo she provided. It gives us a detailed view of the creature’s body, which always makes it easier to identify any given organism we are asked about. In this case, we think our reader has found a black carpet beetle larva.

“The below was found on a carpet near a clothing closet in Manhattan, NYC”, writes this reader in her submission regarding the creature pictured below. “Please advise. Thank you!” The creature in question appears to be striped, with alternating colors of beige and brown, and has an ovate, bristly body. Based on its appearance alone, we would say that this is a carpet beetle larva, though the location it was found in also supports this conclusion.

“I found these clear strands (worms?) on every item of fabric in my home”, states this reader in Hawaii. “They are on my clothes, rugs, couches, and towels. EVERYTHING! They attach on one end and stick out of the fabric. They are very thin, like hair, but kind of kinky.”

“I have thin clear/white microscopic strands on fabrics in my house and can’t figure out what they are”, states this reader in her submission. “Could they be larvae of something?”

“I found this at the bottom of my clothes hamper,” says this reader about the brown and white-striped organism pictured below. Although our reader does not pose any questions in her submission, we assume that she wants to know what this is and how to handle it.

A man contacted us with reports of drain fly larvae latching on to his clothing and skin and causing all sorts of symptoms. He does not pose any questions directly, nor does he attach any photos, but we will relay his story nonetheless.

“I really hope you can help us” pleads this reader in Oklahoma, who is concerned about the “long, very thin, clear worm things” she has been finding in her clothes. “I don’t think that they are parasitic, but they are seriously horrible.” Upon moving in to a new place, our reader discovered these organisms on her clothing. After drying her clothes, the spots in which the worms were found were still damp. “I have tried everything I could think of to get them out of our clothes, but nothing has helped,” she reports. At this point, all of her clothes are infested, and she is looking for help from us.

What seems like two different worms have been turning up consistently for over a month in the bedroom of this reader in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and she wonders if we can help identify them for her. From the pictures provided and the descriptions given by our reader, we know that one worm is an off-white color and around 1/5-inches in length, and the other is completely translucent in color and 3/4-inches.

A worm was found on the shirt sleeve of this reader who wonders if we could help determine what it might be. Although the photograph is quite blurry, we can still discern the worm’s ovate shape and light brown color.