Tuesday, March 10, 2009

What's worse?

Randy was in the basement and noticed what looked like mice droppings. Yuck. Double yuck. Quickly, I made a mental rundown of our house and how I would clean every nook and cranny, including pulling the fridge and stove out, to make sure they never came back.

Anyone knows, when you see a mouse, you automatically assume your house must be the slums. It suddenly becomes "infested" and just plain gross. Randy kept reassuring me our house was not "a pit" and this sort of thing just happens.

With clorox wipes in hand I began wiping up the evidence. Then I panicked. These were too big for a mouse, could it be, oh no, please. Not a rat. With a big swipe of the wipe, I took a close look. Suddenly I saw little legs and shriveled up bodies. These were not turds, they were simply large ants.

Whew. That was close.

Laughing I called Colie to tell her about my usual, er, crazy overreaction. My relief was short lived when she made it all too clear that yes, they weren't mouse dropping, but no, they weren't large ants.

They were termites. And finding a large dead pile of them meant they were "active in the structure". Great, just what we needed. Little creatures eating away at our investment. Though, ok, secretly I was still glad it wasn't mice, even if you only have to set a trap and bam, they're gone. Termites....not so easy. So, if anyone knows how to get rid of the pesky, little, wood chewing creatures.....let me know.

5 comments:

Pickles for Breakfast ! said...

A $500 treatment !

At least that is what it cost me!

TheFitnessFreak said...

Sorry, I hated to be the bearer of bad news. I guess in this case it's better than being blissfully unaware as they eat away at your home:)

Heth said...

Oh NO!

Jenn said...

Call a pro!! We had this at our last house and they had to drill all around and inject poison. The good thing is that they will usually give you a guarantee and do regular inspections....sorry to hear about all of this!

Beks said...

BUMMER!!! They did a spot treatment on our house. I'm sure we didn't have termites and just paid for it because our realtor made us but... whatever.