“What is this that is doing this to my house?” is all Alicia writes in her submission regarding what we presume to be a wooden door frame, pictured below. Now, we have to start by saying that we are not quite sure what we are looking at, which makes it hard to know what to look for. Typically, when people send pictures of wooden structures, they are concerned about wood-eating/-boring insects, like wood-boring beetles or termites. But Alicia also includes two other photos, one of which is also pictured below, which show other types of matter that bear no resemblance to the first photo.

Unfortunately, we do not see anything that could be attributed to worms or worm-like creatures, and it would have been very helpful to know what Alicia wished us to see. For a moment, we thought she might be referring to the long, glossy black, vertical object in the first photo, on the right. But then we saw the gaping, ‘crumbly’ hole in its center, and dismissed that theory. Then again, Alicia might not be referring to any worm-like organism at all in the photo, but might merely be photographing various parts of her house that are damaged to ask us if they are indeed caused by anything worm-like. And in that case, we still do not have an answer for her.

If she is finding small round holes in the wooden foundations of her home, or in wooden furniture, we would say she might be experiencing an infestation of some type of wood-boring insect. If this is the case, then Alicia would have to contact a professional to deal with this. Such infestations can have serious consequences, as they can weaken the overall structural integrity of the house, so only a professional will be able to adequately eliminate them to save the house. Likewise, if she is worried there are creatures damaging other parts of her home, we also recommend contacting a professional, such as pest control, to check out the problem. Unfortunately, we will not be able to help on that front based on these photos and the little context provided. There is simply not enough information to go on.

To conclude, it is unfortunate that we cannot help Alicia more, as we wish we could. For future reference, providing as much context as possible is incredibly helpful, and can make the difference between getting a solid identification, with information and help tailored to the species of worm-like organism discovered, or an “I don’t know”, which is all we can say. If Alicia really thinks there are creatures damaging her home, we urge her to contact professionals to help her. We wish her the very best!

• 
•