# What's this thing that came out of my toilet? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 13, 2025, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-thing-that-came-out-of-my-toilet/1015534 "2025-03-13T15:09:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2025, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-thing-that-came-out-of-my-toilet/1015534/21 "2025-03-14T12:35:14Z")
> [@colinfred](#): > > So my toilet had a block and I reached in as far as I could and this came out. It’s like a circle of flexible and somewhat strong cottonlike material, that’s been saturated with poo. What does it taste like? That can give you a clue as to its origin. J/K But, it could be a biofilm-forming bacterial or fungal growth of some type. ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2025, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-thing-that-came-out-of-my-toilet/1015534/22 "2025-03-14T12:58:47Z")
Yeah, I agree, looks very similar to fungal growth I’ve seen in crawlspaces, back when I was doing mold remediation in buildings. The question remains though, how did it get there? Inside a toilet throat isn’t conducive to fungal growth as far as I know. ---
**Author:** ![teelabrown](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/teelabrown/32/8412_2.png) [@teelabrown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teelabrown)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2025, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-thing-that-came-out-of-my-toilet/1015534/23 "2025-03-14T13:07:47Z")
It kind of looks like that wax ring upon which the commode is seated - that thing which forms a seal between the commode and the flooring. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2025, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-thing-that-came-out-of-my-toilet/1015534/24 "2025-03-14T13:10:44Z")
Some species of fungi have evolved to thrive in aquatic environments—both freshwater and marine environments, even deep-sea hydrothermal vents. I’m going out on a limb—or maybe a fungal hypha—and guess that the OP’s toilet invader is some kind of fungal growth, given its filamentous appearance. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2025, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-thing-that-came-out-of-my-toilet/1015534/25 "2025-03-14T13:17:46Z")
I just see an empty white space where your picture should be. It’s probably our firewall. In any case, do you have a cat that uses the toilet? Don’t laugh, some do. If he puked up a hairball, I could see it capturing waste matter and clogging up. Please note: I would never reach down into a toilet with my hand. It’s either a plunger or a plumber. LOL ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2025, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-thing-that-came-out-of-my-toilet/1015534/26 "2025-03-14T13:21:30Z")
It took a moment to load the pictures for me as well, maybe refresh and try again? The thing looks vaguely like a burrito folded in half. I’ll let you make the taco bell jokes. @Tibby; fair enough, my knowledge of the microbial life inhabiting our spaces with us is far less than complete. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2025, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-thing-that-came-out-of-my-toilet/1015534/27 "2025-03-14T13:26:44Z")
> [@colinfred](#): > > cottonlike material I can’t tell by the photos (too blurry). I’m just going by the OP describing it as “cottonlike material.” ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2025, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-thing-that-came-out-of-my-toilet/1015534/28 "2025-03-14T16:21:01Z")
A chunk of polyurethane foam? But why would someone flush it down the loo? ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2025, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-thing-that-came-out-of-my-toilet/1015534/29 "2025-03-14T18:25:09Z")
Rats famously climb up sewer pipes and into toilet bowls, and New York’s famous pizza rat dragged a piece of pizza larger than itself up a flight of stairs. It could literally be something that a rat dragged up, so anything like wet wipes, diapers, hair scrunchies, etc are within plausibility. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2025, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-thing-that-came-out-of-my-toilet/1015534/30 "2025-03-14T20:57:56Z")
> [@teelabrown](#): > > It kind of looks like that wax ring upon which the commode is seated - that thing which forms a seal between the commode and the flooring. Sort of this. * * * * * * Just popped into say it’s nice to read something that has nothing to do with Trump. Or does it? ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2025, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-thing-that-came-out-of-my-toilet/1015534/31 "2025-03-14T22:05:52Z")
Ever dropped a whole roll of TP in the toilet? Or a wash cloth? Your undies? I have. It could be just about anything. Oh. Yeah I knew a guy who stuck his arm in a toilet he couldn’t get it out. Had to break the toilet. Careful out there. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2025, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-thing-that-came-out-of-my-toilet/1015534/32 "2025-03-14T22:22:39Z")
I dropped a toothbrush in a toilet once, as it was flushing. It went a bit too far and jammed. We replaced the toilet. ---
**Author:** ![scudsucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scudsucker/32/14101_2.png) [@scudsucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scudsucker)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2025, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-thing-that-came-out-of-my-toilet/1015534/33 "2025-03-15T06:58:47Z")
Not all that related, but… if I can be forgiven an anecdote: My mother was a headmistress at a girls school. Our house overlooked the senior girl’s dorms. One day there was a huge commotion because a large Cape Cobra had somehow entered the sewer system and had emerged from the toilet bowl. I went down to see what the fuss was about, with the school workers trying to beat it to death with sticks. It was huge. Anyway, once subdued I went to get a measuring tape, and measured it. Thankfully I was wise enough to measure from tail to head - but to extend the tape about 20cm beyond the head. It, even in its well beaten state, still tried to bite me. I feel bad for the snake, but there is a cultural fear of certain animals in Zimbabwe (owls, for some reason. Chameleons. Snakes…) It was longer than I am tall, about 2.30m whereas I am 1.81m. So don’t just stick your hand down the toilet bowl, you may be unpleasantly suprised in ways that do not have to do with poo! ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2025, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-thing-that-came-out-of-my-toilet/1015534/34 "2025-03-15T12:53:37Z")
Who cleans the toilet? Maybe it’s the head of a scrubber that came off. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2025, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-thing-that-came-out-of-my-toilet/1015534/35 "2025-03-15T13:20:45Z")
> [@scudsucker](#): > > I feel bad for the snake, but there is a cultural fear of certain animals in Zimbabwe Can’t a cobra bite kill a person? I would think that a fear of cobras, in an area where they’re native, would be perfectly sane and rational. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2025, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-thing-that-came-out-of-my-toilet/1015534/36 "2025-03-15T13:53:55Z")
I recently wrestled with a 33-foot long snake in my toilet. —well, technically it was a drain snake auger, but still… ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2025, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-thing-that-came-out-of-my-toilet/1015534/37 "2025-03-15T13:56:06Z")
Around here we have rattlesnakes. They live in holes that are dug by other animals. We had a neighbor who thought a sinkhole was developing under his porch, so my husband went over and stuck his arm down the hole to see how deep it was… 🤦‍♀️ He got away with it that time, but I read him the riot act! ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2025, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-thing-that-came-out-of-my-toilet/1015534/38 "2025-03-15T14:11:50Z")
Around these parts, we have water moccasins (aka cotton-mouth snakes)—thick-bodied, cranky, and venomous enough to ruin anyone’s day. One once lunged at my schnoodle (a miniature dog, not the other “_schnoodle_” you might be thinking of). It would surely have killed her if it connected; luckily it didn’t. Daisy had cat-like reflexes. ---
**Author:** ![FluffyBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecb155/32.png) [@FluffyBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FluffyBob)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2025, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-thing-that-came-out-of-my-toilet/1015534/39 "2025-03-15T14:51:39Z")
It doesn’t look anything like oakum I have seen, nor a wax ring and certainly not a polymer ring. If it was any of these items any resulting clog would be much less of a priority than the flush water escaping to the floor and the ceiling below. Believe me, you will know very quickly when a WC flange seal fails. It looks to me like a synthetic sponge or pad if some sort, possibly the business end of some cleaning implement. Hence the hollow middle area that may have been the socket for a handle/stick. ---
**Author:** ![scudsucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scudsucker/32/14101_2.png) [@scudsucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scudsucker)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2025, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-thing-that-came-out-of-my-toilet/1015534/40 "2025-03-15T16:23:02Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Can’t a cobra bite kill a person? Yes, of course. They are dangerous. But not aggressive. I’ve almost stood on one while hiking, and while my resulting balletic leap was quite astounding, the snake was having none of this shit and moved away quite quickly. On a different occasion, I managed to call off my dogs who located another on the mountain side. Fortunately my dogs were both all-bark-no-bite cowards so just reversing the direction I was hiking in got them to run back to me. Not much fun to see a cobra with full hood up less than 2m from your beloved dogs. Thank god I decided not to go help them, as that would have made them even more defensive. I went away from them and the snake, until they decided everything was OK, and they should be closer to me. The snake itself said “fuck this” and jumped into nearby water and swam away. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-thing-that-came-out-of-my-toilet/1015534.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-thing-that-came-out-of-my-toilet/1015534.md?page=3)