However, you must keep the sink, bathtub, toilet, and pet dishes clean with regular rinsing to keep the worm infestation at bay. The best they can do is cause discomfort in the human intestinal tract before the acids dissolve them. It is uncommon for a creature as thin as a horsehair worm to spread diseases in humans, plants, or animals. The larvae develop and mature inside the body, and when it comes out of the body wall, it kills the host.

The females lay a string of eggs in the freshwater, which insects eat up unknowingly. However, they are parasitic to a small population of insects. So, no, they are not poisonous and, thus, not harmful to you. They are also quite an uncommon occurrence in your bathtub or sink. These worms are entirely harmless to people, plants, and animals. Horsehair worms are harmless to humans, pets, livestock, and animals and only parasites to insects, such as cockroaches, centipedes, beetles, millipedes, grasshoppers, etc.įor what it’s worth, they benefit humans since they help clear the pests away from homes and gardens. The only way to stop them from reaching the next insect is to kill them, or else they will have it their way! Do They Bite/Sting? Thus, they are dangerous to arthropods and other pests because they cramp their body walls before moving on to a new host.

Hairlike worms are internal parasites that can only survive inside insects like grasshoppers, beetles, cockroaches, centipedes, etc. They usually live inside insects like beetles, cockroaches, crickets, grasshoppers, and other arthropods. These thread-like creatures are parasitic but do not worry you aren’t their target. You can also see them swimming in your sinks, bathtubs, and toilets. However, they are only 1/25th to 1/16th inch wide.Īlso known as Cabbagehair or Gordiid, these worms are usually spotted in a loose, curled-up shape and can often be found in ponds,and swimming pools near homes. They have dark brown, yellow, or black bodies stretched up to 3.2 feet (one meter) or more. Horsehair worms, also known as Gordian worms, are as thin as a horse’s hair, and that is the reason behind their strange name.

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