Did something eat the inside of my husband's shoe?

October 24, 2017 5:30 AM

My husband put his shoes on yesterday and thought the right one felt really weird. Lo and behold, the inside looks like this and this (video).

The weird part: the outside sole is intact. No hole in the bottom of the shoe. He says it feels chewed up. To me it looks like typical wear but it *is* weird that the wear is confined to the inside.

We fear the worst obviously: beetles, moths, roaches, mice, rats (or maybe not roaches or rats... woof). We *have* seen occasional mice in our house but we've been really good about defense and it's been a while. What are the odds that this is not just typical wear and is in fact a pest eating his shoe? Had anyone had wear like this?

posted by ancient star to Grab Bag (21 answers total)

Did he by chance put his shoes on after using bug spray (like deet) on his feet/socks? I’ve had sandles get eaten up that way.
posted by Drosera at 5:33 AM on October 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

I've definitely had wear like that without anything eating the shoes. I'd bet that's all this is too - you can see worn areas of grey all around the 'nibbled' parts that haven't yet quite worn through to the white underneath.
posted by Catseye at 5:38 AM on October 24, 2017 [7 favorites]

I've had a mouse nibble my flip-flops when I was camping, and it looked quite different from this. I could clearly see the markings of tiny, sharp teeth. I'm not seeing those here.
posted by Too-Ticky at 5:40 AM on October 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

Agreeing with Catseye - there’s a top fabric layer to the insole and once it wears away the foam underlayer can deteriorate very quickly and it develops little holes. Just natural wear. I find I get this type of wear more on shoes I wear without socks.
posted by mskyle at 5:42 AM on October 24, 2017 [8 favorites]

That looks 100% like normal wear to me, it's right where the ball of the foot rubs against the sole.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 5:53 AM on October 24, 2017 [7 favorites]

Response by poster: My husband wants me to include two more photos here and here.
posted by ancient star at 6:53 AM on October 24, 2017

Look at the soles of both shoes. Does the sole of the right one look more worn than the sole of the left one? If that's the case it's likely wear.
posted by mareli at 6:59 AM on October 24, 2017

Sorry, but that's completely normal wear.
posted by DarlingBri at 7:06 AM on October 24, 2017 [10 favorites]

I definitely looks like wear to me. It's not unusual for wear to be more advanced in one shoe than in the other. Humans simply aren't exactly symmetrical in their gait.
posted by Thorzdad at 7:07 AM on October 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

Mice leave tooth marks and shavings, and if it was bugs you'd probably see a few (though I suppose you could put down a piece of tape overnight to catch some if you wanted). But if something had been eating it, I would expect the area surrounding the hole to be more 'clean' but these photos seem to show wear around the edge of the holes - where it is a lighter color. I really think this is normal wear.
posted by epanalepsis at 7:08 AM on October 24, 2017

Nthing normal wear. Even if something did eat it, what are the chances it would choose to chow down right on the exact same areas where there is existing wear? I highly suspect that during his last wearing of the shoes the wear finally broke through the fabric, and the underlying material underneath wasn't designed to stand up to the foot friction on its own.
posted by cgg at 7:10 AM on October 24, 2017 [7 favorites]

That is basically what the inside of my right shoe(s) look like most of the time - it's the wear of my gait. I now put thin insoles inside and replace them as often as I need too now that I know what is happening.
posted by halcyonday at 7:48 AM on October 24, 2017

Yeah, I get the exact same wear in the exact same places, especially in shoes with memory sole footbeds and where I don't wear socks. Sweat + friction does bad things to manmade materials.
posted by joyceanmachine at 7:49 AM on October 24, 2017

What does the inside of the other shoe look like?
posted by humboldt32 at 9:16 AM on October 24, 2017

I replace the insoles in my work boots every two months because that is how long they last before exhibiting that wear pattern.
posted by Mitheral at 10:09 AM on October 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

Looks to me like the very outer perimeter of the damaged area conforms to the pattern I'd expect if a liquid had spilled into the shoe and then soaked in/evaporated.

After that a bacterium or mold ate away at the substance of the insole where the liquid had been and weakened it to the point that it ruptured from the normal stresses exerted by a foot.
posted by jamjam at 11:25 AM on October 24, 2017

I'm probably not going to be of much help, but the new photos definitely provide enough detail to make it look like something other than normal wear and tear. The edges of the white splotches almost look raised, like there was some chemical reaction that took place. If I had to guess, it looks like some kind of liquid got in there and reacted with the insole. Is it possible that an antifungal medication was used recently, or any kind of solvent could have gotten in there?

How long has it been since the shoes were last worn?
posted by Quiscale at 1:05 PM on October 24, 2017

Another option I thought of is that some critter could have excreted something in your shoe, and then that either dried white or mold grew on it which dried white. You could see if the stuff will scrape away or not.
posted by Quiscale at 1:14 PM on October 24, 2017

... that looks raised... did he step in something then put his foot in? Can you scratch it off? Looks like dried mud from the second set of photos. I mean, it's exactly where the toe impressions are, so it has to do with wear. Whether that means it's worn through or there's something that got squashed in.. I'm not sure.
posted by Crystalinne at 2:12 PM on October 24, 2017

Most of the shoes I have look like that on the inside. No, there doesn't have to be a hole all the way through from the outside of the shoe -- your foot pushes down on the inside of the shoe, and the insoles are generally going to wear out before the outsoles.
posted by yohko at 5:43 PM on October 24, 2017

If you have recently moved to a different climate, this can affect what part of the shoe wears out first. This might be why you are seeing wear inside of the shoe but surprised to not see much on the outsoles -- or it may be that the outsole is more durable than other shoes he's had in the past.
posted by yohko at 5:47 PM on October 24, 2017