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AIBU?

To wonder what the hell this is!?

72 replies

Ansumpasty · 05/04/2019 14:33

Every day, this weird stuff is appearing from under my skirting board.
My first thought was termites but I’m in England and apparently they’re really rare here?
We’ve been in the house a year and this only started about a month ago. Every day I hoover it up and every night it comes back:

To wonder what the hell this is!?
OP posts:
lels99 · 05/04/2019 14:34

I think it's from woodlice. We used to get it in our conservatory

CabbageHippy · 05/04/2019 14:35

looks like mouse droppings to me

Ansumpasty · 05/04/2019 14:37

@lels99 we also have lots of woodlice! Maybe they have a big nest (do they have nests!?)

@cabbagehippy - they’re much too small, I’ve zoomed.

OP posts:
HollowTalk · 05/04/2019 14:41

I would ask a builder to come and have a look. Or ask @pigletjohn for help!

lels99 · 05/04/2019 14:41

No idea but couldn't get rid of them. Only dissappeared when we knocked the conservatory down

Cornettoninja · 05/04/2019 14:42

We don’t really get termites but woodworm and wood beetles are a possibility. Can you take up the skirting and check more throughly?

I’m sure I’ve read wood lice can be a sign of damp too.

Cheeserton · 05/04/2019 14:43

Reckon you have mice. That's a fair gap under the bottom of the skirting board there. Get a couple of humane traps and leave them there a couple of nights. You'll soon see if it's them.

DontCallMeShitley · 05/04/2019 14:43

If it is soft wood it might well be wood boring insects. They are not as rare as you might think, especially in certain parts of England.

Google wood boring insects and the area you live in and you will get pest control companies which have photos, also Google images.

Are you in Surrey? There is a type of insect that is notifiable to the Council which gets away at soft or damp damaged wood. We had it a few years ago, every Spring a pile of dust appeared which was apparently the old dead insects. The new ones were chomping away inside the wooden structure which had been left unrepaired by the landlord, wood had been damp for some time due to a leak which no-one seemed able to fix, or could be bothered to fix.

Again it might be woodlice, however they also like soft damp wood.

DontCallMeShitley · 05/04/2019 14:44

sorry, 'eats away at soft or damaged wood'

Thisisthelaststraw · 05/04/2019 14:47

Woodlice droppings?

They don’t look like mouse droppings.

ABC1234DEF · 05/04/2019 14:50

Woodlouse poo
(Or the world's smallest mice)

MrTumblePulledAKnifeOnMe · 05/04/2019 14:53

Looks like frass to me. I'm currently experiencing the same from ants living in my wall.

AdaColeman · 05/04/2019 14:53

An ants' nest under the floor, watch out for flying ants.

Cheeserton · 05/04/2019 14:55

Mice actually are often pretty tiny.

DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen · 05/04/2019 14:55

They're not mice droppings.

I'd spray a load of fly spray into the crack (evil)

Ansumpasty · 05/04/2019 14:58

Giving me the creeps, now! I will put some insect killer down there and hope it stops.

I’ve just found 5 dead woodlice in the living room.

OP posts:
Thisisthelaststraw · 05/04/2019 14:58

Flying ants? Wtf!? 😳

Ansumpasty · 05/04/2019 15:00

It’s definitely not mice, the crack (and potential poo) is tiny:

To wonder what the hell this is!?
OP posts:
Escherichiacoli · 05/04/2019 15:00

My bet is some sort of termite or wood eating insect. I'd be tempted to remove that section of skirting to find out anyway.

Ansumpasty · 05/04/2019 15:00

That didn’t work

To wonder what the hell this is!?
OP posts:
Judashascomeintosomemoney · 05/04/2019 15:04

I get this too, in the corner of a sun room. It’s ants (sorry, flying ants) they seem to be getting in the actual wall somehow, are visible outside but never come in, but their ‘debris’ always appears inside. They seem to come back year after year.

Spidey66 · 05/04/2019 15:06

Don't be fooled that a space is too small for mice. They've evolved to get into the smallest possible place.

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WhereIsMyTVRemote · 05/04/2019 15:06

Also ants here in the same situation!

floribunda18 · 05/04/2019 15:09

If it is soft wood it might well be wood boring insects

Woodlice are in fact very interesting insects if you try to get to know us. Signed, A Louse.

Amanduh · 05/04/2019 15:11

Ants

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