- Make sure that all of your food stores are contained in air-tight jars or storage bins.
- Clean your house from top to bottom.
- Use a dehumidifier, change your HVAC settings and ventilate with open windows.
- Fill in any gaps or holes that might be allowing the worms to enter.
How do I get rid of bugs in the basement?
Spraying bug repellent or insecticide products around the edges of a basement where the floors meet the walls, as well as in the upper corners of the room, can also prevent pests. Doorways also present places where bugs or millipedes may enter the home.
How do you stop worms from coming into your house?
If there are cracks between the foundation and the doorway, fill the crack with steel wool and cover with aluminum weatherstripping or seal with caulk to prevent pests from entering the home. There are several ways to seal your house and prevent a worm infestation.
What are these worms in my basement?
House worms love basements because they love cold, dark, and damp places. A few of the most common types of worms that can be found in homes and basements include the case bearing clothes moth (larvae), moth flies (larvae), and the immature millipede. The case bearing clothes moth looks like a worm and it is white in color.
How do you seal a doorway to keep worms out?
Doorways near the floor should also be sealed with caulk. If there are cracks between the foundation and the doorway, fill the crack with steel wool and cover with aluminum weatherstripping or seal with caulk to prevent pests from entering the home. There are several ways to seal your house and prevent a worm infestation.
Why do I keep finding little worms in my house?
These worms are most likely the larval form of pests such as houseflies or Indian meal moths. These common indoor pests lay their eggs along baseboards and in protected areas. After hatching, the larvae are often seen crawling around indoors until they pupate into their adult form.
How do I get rid of small worms in my house?
If you find maggots in food or the trash, you can boil them and the eggs together to kill them. Another option is to thoroughly sprinkle them with salt or spray them with an insecticide. If you find them in carpeting or baseboards in your home, you will generally need to spray.
What are the tiny worms that curl up?
The most common millipedes are dark brown and reach 1 to 1 1/2 inches when fully grown. They are round and elongated, with many small legs. When dead or disturbed, they tend to curl into a tight coil. Millipedes do not bite or pose any danger to humans.Oct 10, 2017
How do you get rid of cement worms?
Having too many worms in one place can be a problem, though. To prevent this scenario, you can try using landscaping bricks, a shovel, garden fabric, a leaf sweeper and/or a rake. Landscaping bricks can be used to edge sidewalks and patios, blocking off the earthworms' access. They add a nice decorative touch as well.Aug 24, 2021
Why do I get little worms in my basement?
Moisture is a major factor in a worm infestation in a private home. Often, moist conditions will allow bacteria and mold to grow inside walls, as well as cause wood to decay. Millipedes and centipedes feed on decaying plant matter and sometimes even on other insects which are drawn to this moisture.
How do I get rid of millipedes in my basement?
Remove their hiding places. Don't pile mulch against the foundation, and remove leaves, grass clippings, woodpiles, and stones from around the outside of your home. Make sure your foundation, basement, and crawl spaces are dry by using dehumidifiers or sump pumps if needed.
What kills millipedes instantly?
The easiest and quickest way to get rid of millipedes in the house is to remove them with a vacuum cleaner or shop-vac or to spot treat them with an effective plant-based insecticide, like Maggie's Farm Home Bug Spray. Maggie's Farm Home Bug Spray will kill these bugs when you spray them directly with it.Feb 17, 2020
What kind of worms live in basements?
Just about any type of house worm can be found in basements. House worms love basements because they love cold, dark, and damp places. A few of the most common types of worms that can be found in homes and basements include the case bearing clothes moth (larvae), moth flies (larvae), and the immature millipede.
How to kill clothes moths?
Insecticides such as Insect Guard are effective as well as pesticide free clothes moth traps. There are also al number of sprays available that can be used in carpet and around furniture to kill and/or repel the clothes moth and its larvae. Visit any local hardware store to find the best spray or call an exterminator for professional treatment.
How to prevent moth flies?
You should screen windows and doors and reduce moisture and organic debris. To keep moth flies from multiplying, fix leaking plumbing immediately. You should also clean muck that collects in drains or under dripping taps, and brush or wash away slime under drain plugs, screens, and inside the top of drainpipes, above the water level in the J-trap. Biological control agents are also available for outdoor use as well as insecticides. Insecticides can be used outdoors, but they are not recommended for use in the home.
How to tell if a moth is in your house?
If you notice a worm-like bug with a shell crawling along your walls or anywhere on the ground, chances it’s the larvae of the case-bearing clothes moth and there are plenty more where that one came from. To inspect for damage, which is a good indication of an infestation, begin by checking your cupboards, drawers, wardrobes, and storage areas. You should also inspect your carpeting (especially undisturbed areas), behind and under furniture, and in stored linen, such as in the linen closet.
Is All About Worms free?
All About Worms is and always has been a free resource. We don't hide our articles behind a paywall, or make you give us your email address, or restrict the number of articles you can read in a month if you don't give us money. That said, it does cost us money to pay our research authors, and to run and maintain the site, so if something you read here was helpful or useful, won't you consider donating something to help keep All About Worms free?
Can worms diagnose you?
FROM ALL ABOUT WORMS!! If you are dealing with skin parasites, blood parasites, or intestinal parasites in humans, while All About Worms can't diagnose you, we can point you to doctors and labs who understand and specialize in dealing with parasites in humans! Get started HERE
How to get rid of caterpillars in my house?
For control inside the house, spray plants with an insecticide or dust them with insecticidal powder.
Do earthworms live in soil?
Typical worms such as earthworms rarely infest houses because they live exclusively in soil. Millipedes, however, can be drawn to the moisture, dark spaces and organic matter that can hide under floors and in walls. Often, millipedes and other pests enter the home through doorways or cracks in walls and foundations.
Why are there millipedes in my basement?
(We say “unfortunately” because if the leak were the only thing to blame, the solution to the millipede problem would be simple: address the leak and the millipedes will be a threat to our reader’s basement no longer. ) Millipedes don’t like extremes, so they’ll migrate to dryer places when overwhelmed with moisture, like during heavy rainfall, and they’ll move to moister, cooler places during droughts. The climate in which our reader finds himself is of course something only he can evaluate, but if perchance he lives in a dry area, or if the area in which he lives has been dry as of late, he should address the leak, and this will probably go a long way toward addressing the millipede issue. And even if the reader doesn’t live in a particularly dry place, millipedes prefer some moisture, so a damp basement would be an inviting place for millipedes.
Is All About Worms free?
All About Worms is and always has been a free resource. We don't hide our articles behind a paywall, or make you give us your email address, or restrict the number of articles you can read in a month if you don't give us money.
Is a millipede a worm?
So starts a reader’s lament, in reference to a possible millipede problem in his basement. (Millipedes, by the way, are not actually worms, but they do look like them, so referring to millipedes as “small worms” is reasonable.)
Is there a paywall for all about worms?
No Paywall Here! All About Worms is and always has been a free resource. We don't hide our articles behind a paywall, or make you give us your email address, or restrict the number of articles you can read in a month if you don't give us money. That said, it does cost us money to pay our research authors, and to run and maintain the site, so if something you read here was helpful or useful, will you please donate something to help keep All About Worms free?
Can worms diagnose you?
FROM ALL ABOUT WORMS!! If you are dealing with skin parasites, blood parasites, or intestinal parasites in humans, while All About Worms can't diagnose you, we can point you to doctors and labs who understand and specialize in dealing with parasites in humans! Get started HERE
How to get rid of millipedes in my house?
To discourage millipedes near the house, remove mulch and dead vegetation adjacent to the house. Outdoors, you may wish to treat a 10-15 foot strip around the house perimeter with an insecticide. Do not forget to treat the exterior basement wall, window frames and door sills.
Can a worm be a milipede?
If the worm has many legs visible to the sides, then yes, they might be milipedes. If no legs are visible then I'd suspect wire worms instead. The wireworm and wire worm photos I'm finding on the net are of the corn wireworm or click beetle, not what we called wireworms in Kansas.
Why do worms grow in my house?
Moisture is a major factor in a worm infestation in a private home. Often, moist conditions will allow bacteria and mold to grow inside walls, as well as cause wood to decay. Millipedes and centipedes feed on decaying plant matter and sometimes even on other insects which are drawn to this moisture. One way to combat an infestation is to purchase or rent a dehumidifier to rid the area of moisture.
What are the most common worms in houses?
Most "worms" that infest houses are actually millipedes or centipedes.
How to prevent millipedes from entering my house?
Doorways near the floor should also be sealed with caulk. If there are cracks between the foundation and the doorway, fill the crack with steel wool and cover with aluminum weatherstripping or seal with caulk to prevent pests from entering the home.
Do millipedes live in basements?
Since many millipedes and worms live in the soil, they will often enter houses through the basement or foundation. Worm infestations in basements are very common, and homeowners should always finish basements to prevent pests from entering the home.
Preferred Food Sources
Millipedes are decomposers and are beneficial to have around your yard. Similar to earthworms, millipedes eat damp, decaying plant material such as leaves and flowers. During periods of drought, millipedes have been known to feed on living plants where they get needed moisture from the leaves and roots.
Getting Rid of Millipedes Is Easy
When millipedes make their way inside your house, they stick around because they don’t know how to get back out. If you find millipedes in your house, you can consider waiting them out. Millipedes can only survive a few days in the dry environment found in most homes, so any infestation is likely to be short-lived.
Preventing Future Problems
To prevent future millipede infestations in your home, do the following:
