“I live in southern Ontario and I noticed these little guys roaming around my apartment (see picture)”, writes Rachel in her submission regarding the tiny, black, worm-like creature pictured below. “Just wondering if I should be concerned. They seem to just crawl on my floor, the side of my mattress, and on my clothes. I’ve washed everything and swept and mopped the floors, but it’s tough to get them all. I’m just hoping they don’t turn into moths in a couple of weeks if I missed one. I’m pretty clean to begin with (as I live in a small studio) so I’m really puzzled where they came from. Thanks!”

To start with, we want to commend Rachel on the excellent photo she sent us. It is often difficult to capture such minuscule creatures in great detail, but Rachel managed to do just that. Based on the physical characteristics of this organism, we think Rachel has been finding caterpillars of some sort. We do not know exactly what species of caterpillar this is. The issue is that there are many black caterpillars, and until this one grows up a bit more, it is difficult to see any unique identifying characteristics at this stage. With that said, we can see that the caterpillar only has legs at the front and back of its body, and not in the middle, which is characteristic of an inchworm. Of course, an inchworm is not just one species of caterpillar either, but still encompasses a wide range of species. But it does narrow it down a bit.

Inchworms are North American moth caterpillars which do not possess legs in the middle part of their bodies, forcing them to arch their back as they ‘inch’ across a surface. When want to ‘take a step’ (so to speak), they have to lift the front of their bodies to decide where to ‘land’, which is what this caterpillar is doing in Rachel’s photo. Inchworms typically do not infest homes on purpose, as their diet mostly consists of vegetation one would find outside, so our best guess is that this infestation is happening only because the mother moth laid her eggs inside Rachel’s home. It is not uncommon for this to happen; either pregnant moths are attracted to the light inside homes, get trapped there, and lay their eggs because they cannot escape, or they purposefully lay their eggs inside a home because they deem it a safe and environmentally stable environment for their eggs to develop and hatch.

In any case, Rachel has the right idea with cleaning her home. And even though she does keep it clean (which is great), bugs can still get into our homes a multitude of ways: on our shoes or clothes when we come back from being outdoors, through an open window (or a torn window screen), through cracks in the walls and floors, or even through the vents sometimes. Of course, mending or replacing torn window screens and sealing cracks can help mitigate intrusions, but there is no absolute foolproof solution to keeping bugs out of the home. Sometimes, it just happens.

To conclude, we think Rachel has been finding inchworms in her apartment, probably because they are hatching from a batch of eggs. They are swarming all over her apartment because they are trying to look for food, or maybe even a way out. We suggest scooping them onto a dustpan and moving them outside and then doing another clean. We hope this helps, and we wish Rachel the very best.

Summary

Article Name

Tiny, Black Worm-like Creatures Roaming Around Apartment are Inchworms

Description

"I live in southern Ontario and I noticed these little guys roaming around my apartment (see picture)", writes Rachel in her submission regarding the tiny, black, worm-like creature pictured below. "Just wondering if I should be concerned. They seem to just crawl on my floor, the side of my mattress, and on my clothes. I’ve washed everything and swept and mopped the floors, but it’s tough to get them all. I’m just hoping they don’t turn into moths in a couple of weeks if I missed one. I'm pretty clean to begin with (as I live in a small studio) so I’m really puzzled where they came from. Thanks!"

Author

Worm Researcher Anton