Comments on: A plague o' my house?

Question: A plague o' my house?

mrhaydel — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 06:17:19 -0800

What might be causing the things seen here in this photo and this photo?

The stuff in the first photo kind of looks like an amalgamation of insect...stuff, for lack of a better term.

The second photo looks like droppings to me.

Both photos were taken no more than a foot away from each other, and the wall seen above the baseboard in photo 1 is an external wall in the house. We haven't ever come across either of these things anywhere else in the house.

Has anyone every seen the likes of what's in the photos?

How do I prevent whatever it is from accumulating any more?

By: beagle

beagle — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 06:39:52 -0800

A tad hard to tell from the pix, but my guess is that you have carpenter ants. See info and links here. They live in your walls, eating wood, and are ejecting parts of dead insects as well as wood chewings. Call an exterminator.

By: ootsocsid

ootsocsid — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 06:44:32 -0800

My friend has a termite problem, which he discovered when he had piles of dead insects accumulate on his floor after cleaning his floor with bleach. He says the first photo looks just like his piles did.

By: HuronBob

HuronBob — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 07:07:26 -0800

I would guess carpenter ants as well, call a professional, they can do significant damage.

By: bitdamaged

bitdamaged — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 07:57:39 -0800

Nth'ing bugs in the walls - either termites or carpenter ants.

By: Thorzdad

Thorzdad — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 08:59:53 -0800

Yup. Carpenter ants. They're in your walls. You'll need a professional exterminator to do a thorough job...inside and out.

By: fogster

fogster — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 09:39:23 -0800

Photo #2, a little left of center... There's a few of the red 'things,' and then something black. I'm positive it has legs. Does anyone else see a tick or small spider in that?

By: beagle

beagle — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 09:58:58 -0800

Could be. The thing is, carpenter ants also eat other insects and throw out parts of them with their trash, which is called frass and consists of wood chewings and dead critter parts.

By: sergeant sandwich

sergeant sandwich — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 18:07:56 -0800

photo #2 looks like mouse poop to me. i bet you have several kinds of unofficial pets!

By: mrhaydel

mrhaydel — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 14:10:59 -0800

Thanks everyone for their input as to what it might be.

Seems like the consensus is really that we just need to call an exterminator.

Thanks again Hive Mind.