We just heard from a reader who discovered some tiny “worms” in her kitchen. She wrote that they were hanging from an almost invisible string of thread. She first noticed them hanging on a cabinet, but then began to notice them everywhere – crawling and hanging. She said they moved by “lifting their head, stretching and putting their head down, and then repeating with their bottom half.” Finally, she said that she read another article about a reader who found worms in her kitchen, but that the worms didn’t match what she was seeing.

The photo she included shows a very small dark brown worm. It appears to have both a textured or segmented body, and a clear anterior end.

After careful examination of the picture, we believe that our reader isn’t dealing with worms but with larvae, moth fly larvae to be specific. Moth flies are also commonly referred to as drain flies, as they tend to be found in bathrooms around sink and tub drains. However, they can be found anywhere there is a drain in the house, like a kitchen. The larvae gravitate towards moist places, so perhaps our reader has some excess moisture in her kitchen sink that is the source of these creatures.

The larvae are usually very small and dark brown. They do not harm humans, but they can carry some bacteria on them because of where they dwell, so it is important to make serious efforts to get rid of them.

Getting rid of moth flies and their larvae involves intensely scrubbing drains and other moist areas in the kitchen to destroy breeding grounds. She should also fix any leaky pipes or faucets, and make sure the doors and windows are properly sealed.

In summary, our reader discovered what we believe to be moth fly larvae in her kitchen.

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