What is this maroon capsule-looking thing?
September 29, 2013 6:09 AM   Subscribe

I found a couple of these in a bag of old clothes. The maroon "shell" is thin, rigid, and cracks under pressure (the one in the picture was originally whole). There is a ridge on one side (visible in the second picture) that looks like the result of being sealed in a machine. The inside is lighter, somewhat whitish, and looks a bit like the inside of a bean. When I squeezed one of them a sort of white fluid came out, which was sticky. The outside looks inorganic and the inside looks organic (although I guess the whole thing probably is organic). I haven't touched them with bare skin so I don't know how they feel. Any insight as to what this is? Thanks!
posted by John Raskolnikov Gilson to Home & Garden (6 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
looks like roach egg sac.
posted by Max Power at 6:12 AM on September 29, 2013


Yeah, my first thought was cockroach eggs.
posted by MexicanYenta at 6:16 AM on September 29, 2013


Thirded, that's almost certainly a cockroach egg case. I used to have to remove them by the dozens from a live museum exhibit, and your pictures/descriptions match up with my horrible, horrible experience.
posted by Coatlicue at 6:32 AM on September 29, 2013


That is a cockroach egg sac. To be specific, the large ones I call palmetto bugs.
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 8:08 AM on September 29, 2013


I've (fortunately) only seen a cockroach egg sac once, and I had the same thought as you--from the outside, it really looks inorganic. Without even looking at the picture that's almost definitely what it is.
posted by snorkmaiden at 1:57 PM on September 29, 2013


Roach egg was first thought for me too. I am still shuddering...
posted by JujuB at 7:27 PM on September 29, 2013


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