[SomethingNew]

Recently I have been seeing several small larvae looking things that resemble a cream colored caterpillar about a half inch in length. I have been remodelling my house for quite a while and am about to repaint but am trying to figure out what these things are. They seem to go to the corners between my ceiling and walls. I'm not sure where they are coming from but I cleaned them all off yesterday and today I see about more on the ceiling.

I would say they almost resemble maggots but are a little longer and thinner (about a millimeter in width) with a dot on one end. I'm afraid they are cockroaches in larvae stage but I don't know how those things develop. I know there were cockroach problems with this house before I bought it but it's been a gut rehab since then. The people who live here were disgusting.

Any ideas?

[ballengerb1]

Could be cockroaches but you'd see more adults running around. Fly maggots often have a small spec of black at one end and can be slender. The fat greasy ones in your garbage are just too well feed.

[okoroste]

I also get those larvae-like insects, and also came to this site to ask what these are and how to get rid of them once and for all. I live in Los Angeles area. When I lived in the mid-west, I've never seen them. I thought these are earwigs, but now I think they are not.
This is exactly where I find a couple of them every morning: where the walls meet the ceiling in my bedroom. When I try to kill them, they run very fast, and sometimes drop on the floor. They are absolutely grey, though, and no dots, but also 1/2 to 1 in long, and very ugly. Somebody please tell us what these are...

[okoroste]

Ok. I got it. This insect is called SILVERFISH!! Now I can Google it, and get rid of it once and for all. Hurray! Hurray!

[gnahcd]

You say they look like caterpillars or maggots. Caterpillars are the larvae of butterflies and moths - most will look like worms of a sort and will have legs. You won't find butterflies infesting houses. You can find moths infesting clothes and sometimes on walls in a small case, but not inside walls.

Maggots are the larvae of some families of flies. They are white, have a very small spot on the thick (rear) end, hooks for teeth on the front end, look like worms and will not have legs. We have had people bring in samples of maggots from their homes. When animals like rats die in the walls, maggots (flies) will attack the carcass, and will leave the carcass when they get ready to pupate.

If you really know what maggots and caterpillars look like, then you aren't looking at cockroaches, silverfish, or earwigs. These last three insects have young stages that look similar to the adults. Cockroaches and earwigs undergo gradual metamorphosis (hemimetabolous) and silverfish don't undergo metamophosis (ametabolous).

It is probably more likely that have termites. Their nymphs will have legs. They are white colored which may make you think they are maggots.