What is this on my kitchen counter?! (Pic included)

[holidayers]

This was on the kitchen counter, four of these quite close together. No food close by and the place is clean. It's not moving but I'm so grossed out. What the heck is it? Pic in next post

Here

Mouse droppings?

Seconding mouse droppings

Weevil casings?

yes mouse droppings

Oh my god. But I don't see them anywhere else. Surely there'd be signs, like scurrying noises etc. 😩

Those look like paupae cases to me - larvae turning into a fly of some sort.

Had anything been put on the counter that they could have fallen off of?

They usually crawl away from their food source to pupate, so is there anything nearby that might have attracted flies? Pet food or anything like that? Any dodgy smells recently?

It does look like it might be hollow. But I didn't touch it 😰 Off to google weevil casings

If they're hollow, it sounds like a pupae that has hatched already.

I don't think they're weevil casings. The pictures of those look different.

These are about 7-8 mm long horrible things

There's been no smells there. We keep food in a separate pantry that's nowhere close. But I do keep fruits there sometimes. Could it be from this?

Rat poo. It’s unusual for rats to poop away from their chosen toilet place so you’ve either got a wandering rat looking for a home OR lots of rats and they are becoming more evident.

I got panicked by something very like this once. Turned out to be CocoPops.

I know exactly what these are because unbeknown to me, someone had put half an open pack of dog food right to the back of the dog food cupboard that then got hidden by new cans of dog food.

They are bluebottle pupae. And if you leave them they hatch into maggots. This has actually brought back an awful memory 🤢

I think these are fly larvae. We had these in our kitchen once - I had absolutely no idea where they came from- they suddenly appeared on the kitchen floor. A few days later we had a plague of flies!

I don't think it will be fruit - rotten fruit can attract fruit flies, but these are definitely bluebottle larvae. As you found them on your counter, I'd say they have likely fallen from the cupboards. Take everything out and do a thorough inspection and clean. But for God's sake brace yourself first. Wear rubber gloves and a facemask. Ideally a full hazmat suit if you have one, and prepare yourself to be physically sick if any have hatched.

Definitely not poo of any kind, as others have said it's some kind of pupae

Use kitchen roll to pick it up and crush it. See what it is- hollow or squishy, brown or not.

Do you have a cat? The source could also be something like a dead mouse or a dead bird. We did once get a plague of flies when a bird must have fallen down the chimney and died. At least I didn't have to see the maggots that time though. Just about 100 dead bluebottles when we returned from holiday.

The picture isn't clear enough, can you re-take with the questionable items on some white paper/tissue and with something for scale?

They're not black actually. It was dark there earlier but now there's light I see that it's a brownish colour. And deffo a shell so I wonder where the things have got to. I'm going to be sick

No cupboards on top there. It's just bottom units only

New pic looks less horrible

It IS clear enough. They match perfectly the image still burned onto my retinas. I can even smell the awful awful stench of rotten magotty dog food.

Better than rats though!

I’d celebrate and get scrubbing

@Fallenangelofthenorth I've just googled that and you're righttttttt OMG I'm going to die does this mean the maggots are skulking somewhere