I’ve got a strange substance that keeps appearing in the carpet in the corner of my office room. I noticed a small bit of it in the top of my closet as well. It’s dry, granular like sand, dark brown in color, and does not turn bloody or otherwise lose coherence when wet (so it’s not flea dirt). Each individual grain is mostly ovoid-shaped (though tiny). I can’t find anything around the area that might suggest what it is (such as a spider nest or similar). If I leave it alone it increases in quantity–I vacuumed it up awhile back and I noticed a couple of days ago that it reappeared.
Anybody got any idea what it might be? Thanks in advance!
I would almost bet my life that it is termites. Those are the classic signs: oval frass, about the size of fine sand, recurs no matter how often it’s cleaned, appears in the corner of a room or under a join in the ceiling material.
Call a Pest Controller ASAP. Termites can be a very, very serious problem.
Eek! Termites. That sounds scary. I’ve never had any experience with them before. Is getting rid of them hard? Is it expensive? Will I need to have my house tented?
Mostly I’m worried about our cats–we have five of them. If we have to get the place tented and shot full of chemicals, how soon is it safe for them to come back? Anything a concerned pet parent should know about, in particular?
I know I’m jumping to conclusions a bit, but I’d like to know what I’m up against if it does turn out to be termites.
It can be, yes. It depends a lot on what species you have and how well established they are. Which is another reason why an inspection that at least confirms they are there chould be carried out ASAP.
The bad news is that loose frass means drywood termites. They are usually the hardest kind to get rid of
Once again, that depends a lot on what needs to be done. But it won’t be cheap. Expect to pay several hundred dollars at least.
Quite probably.
Depends what fumigant is used, but in most cases they won’t suffer any harm if they go in 15 minutes after the place is vented, and even you will be allowed to re-enter after 2 hours, although due to the odour you probably won’t want to.
Yes, if it is fumigated make sure you catch the cats the night * before* the treatment at the very least and keep them caged until the house if fully tented. I’ve seen a few dead cats that snuck back into a house before it was sealed properly. Fumigators do check the house for pets and people, but we all know how hard it is to find a cat who wants to hide.
Regulations and treament vary so much depending on local laws, the company doing the job, the species involved, the extent of the infestation, the construction of your house and a dozen other factors that it’s impossible to give general advice on a message board.
The best thing is to get an inspection to confirm youhave termites in the first place. Then get at least 3 quotes for treatment from differnt companies if at allpossible. Prices and treatments vary wildly.
Then get them to answer your questions.
Then get back to us if you want to clarify anything. But the best people to answer these quetsions are the people doing the job. They’ve seen what sort of probelm you’ve got and they know what they are going to do about it.