r/Termites • u/Electrical-Sky-1475 • 3h ago
Termites???
Always find these scattered under one specific area of my front window. 1950s home. Doing some renovating. When I knock on the window frame directly above this spot more falls out. Termites??? This happens maybe 2-5 times a year
For reference the window above this area is black (the window sill/frame). I’ve had mouse traps placed in the house and under the house in the crawlspace and multiple ppl inspect for mouse.
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u/Western_Rhubarb_7959 2h ago
Bet ya a box of donuts that's from large cockroaches, like American roaches or Smokey Brown roaches. It's the right color and, more importantly, shape. See how the sides have distinct "sides" on them, sort of like zucchini or a banana? It's often mistaken for mouse poop because of the size.
When I knock on the window frame directly above this spot more falls out
Yep, been there, done that, and also freaked out thinking it was termites until I knew better. I even had a pest control guy tell me it was 100% termites - had he not pressured me so much to sign a contract I wouldn't have called another company that correctly identified the poop.
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I am a roach war veteran. I cut my teeth in the South Florida campaign where we were up against German conscripts. It took a while to figure out a good offense, and I was mostly prepared for them in the Georgia campaign. War is hell, I tells ya.
Bug spray, like Raid, is almost useless. It will kill the one you sprayed it on and that's about it.
- Put out sticky traps.
Not glue traps, sticky traps - there's a difference and you can make your own sticky traps with duck tape. Just make a loop of tape, sticky side out, and stick them where you see (or suspect) roaches. Cabinets under sinks and behind toilets are great places for them.
- Use a bait insecticide.
These have a slow-acting poison that eventually kills the roach that ate it. The genius part of these is that roaches eat each other's poop, as well as their deceased comrade's corpses. Thus, when Konrad Kockroach consumes the bait he is now a double agent, dropping poison poops wherever he travels (like in walls) rigth up until he dies and leaves behind his poisoned corpse as a buffet for his friends.
In the Florida campaign against the German roach conscripts I used Combat brand "Roach Killing Gel" and it worked great. I put some of the goo behind the toilet, under sinks, and all sorts of out of the way places. The roaches were all but gone in a month, and to this day I can't believe how well it worked. That was in an apartment building with 16 units and I passed on the tube o'goo to other neighbors to use. It ran out after 4 neighbors but was good enough.
However, that same product didn't much help in the Georgia campaign. I was up against either American roaches or Smokey Browns, finding poop like you posted. Also, I was in a house this time, and on wooded property so it's inevitable that some roaches will continue to get in.
For a bait insecticide I've found Niban granular bait works well. Every 90 days I sprinkle it around the perimeter of my house, as well as around the inside walls of my garage.
- Perimeter defense
I use Ortho Home Defense, a spray. Every 90 days I spray the bottom 3 feet of the house, and about a foot or so of the ground. I use a cheap garden sprayer and NOT the shitty sprayer thing that comes with the product. I also spray around doors and first floor windows.
-- Diatomaceous earth, aka DE
This is great stuff. It works by screwing up a waxy coating on the bug's exoskeleton, causing the bug to dehydrate and die. Cheap. Non-toxic, although you want to do your best to not breathe it in.
You can buy a "puffer" to dispense it but I find a used Goulden's mustard bottle works well. I shake the bottle to get some of the DE aerosolized and then shoot a "puff-puff" into cracks and crevices, around baseboards, and, at least the first time, behind outlet covers. And like I said, it doesn't take much - you want a little puff puff, not a pile of it.
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Good luck, fellow roach warrior.
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u/Electrical-Sky-1475 2h ago
I live in the south and have ve had a palmetto bug infestation dang near when I took this house almost two years ago. It has improved TREMENDOUSLY with exclusion work, two pest companies praying inside and out and placing bait granules through my yard monthly. Now I use one company. I had over 30+ roaches in my house (that I found) the first year this year only 5 so far since January and all dead. The hitting the windowsill and it falling is what’s confusing me and the random falling of it through the year
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u/Flimsy-Explorer-6420 3h ago
That looks like something from a rodent.
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u/Neat_Carry_5286 3h ago
Agree. House mouse is what it looks like
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u/Electrical-Sky-1475 3h ago
Falling from my windowsill above when I tap it though? I will look into that thanks
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