This reader has been finding “brown larvae coming out of a nail hole on the interior wall of his house in the mountains of Colorado.” The picture below depicts the creatures, which, according to our reader, are “about 1/4-inch long, reddish brown, and spiny.” So far, he has found a “total” of “about six in the area.” He does not pose a question, per say, but we assume he wants to know what these are. Unfortunately, the picture he sent is of really low resolution, so when we zoom in on the photo to get a closer look at the larvae, the photo becomes blurry and so we are unable to see the details of the creatures’ physical characteristics. This makes it much harder to provide an identification.

Generally speaking, given the location they are coming from, they could be some kind of wood-eating pest. Such bugs includes wood-boring beetles and termites, though none of those produce larvae that match our reader’s description. So, perhaps these bugs are not feeding on whatever is inside the wall: perhaps the mother insect laid her eggs there as it was a safe place to do so. In that case, these could be any number of things, and they do not necessarily have to be some pest that is going to infest our reader’s home and make his life miserable.

What we suggest doing is: 1) Taking some of these larvae to his local county extension office. There someone will be able to physically examine the larvae and will have a better chance at identifying them. Then our reader will be able to find out if they are something to be worried about. 2) If he finds out they are an issue and need to be dealt with, he should contact a professional to take care of the problem, as infestations within walls should be dealt with by someone who knows what they are doing, especially if these critters end up posing some kind of threat to our reader’s health or to the structure of his home. 3) Move any of the larvae he finds outside by brushing them onto a dustpan and thereby avoiding any physical contact (which one should do with any unknown organisms). 4) Once the larvae have stopped coming through, plug up the nail hole.

In conclusion, we are unable to identify the reddish-brown organisms coming out of our reader’s walls. We hope nonetheless that the information we did provide proves helpful and we wish him the very best!

Summary

Article Name

Reddish-brown Larvae Coming from Nail Holes in Wall Could be Wood-eating Insects

Description

This reader has been finding "brown larvae coming out of a nail hole on the interior wall of his house in the mountains of Colorado." The picture below depicts the creatures, which, according to our reader, are "about 1/4-inch long, reddish brown, and spiny." So far, he has found a "total" of "about six in the area." He does not pose a question, per say, but we assume he wants to know what these are. Unfortunately, the picture he sent is of really low resolution, so when we zoom in on the photo to get a closer look at the larvae, the photo becomes blurry and so we are unable to see the details of the creatures' physical characteristics. This makes it much harder to provide an identification.

Author

Worm Researcher Anton