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Old 23-09-2004, 01:50 PM
Gary Brady
 
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Sounds like carpenter ants. They burrow into wood and produce a by-product
that looks like white cornmeal. If you listen carefullly, you can hear a
sound like chewing or munching. They're not really dangerous because they
don't eat wood like termites, they just live in it. Individual ants are
large, red and black, and don't sting.

--
Gary Brady
Austin, TX


"Michelle Fulton" wrote in message
...
Hi, everyone :-) I have an issue that I hope someone in this group will

be
able to help me with. I've read and posted to this group a couple of

times
and was pleased with the knowledge and helpful attitude, so I'm back :-)

A recent storm brought down some large tree limbs in my mom's yard. She

had
some people out to trim the trees and they cut it up into fireplace size
pieces (almost). I was the recipient of said firewood, which I have

chosen
to store in the garage, instead of outside, because it stays dry and
relatively bug free, and rats won't nest in it if it's in the garage.
There's about a cord, or slightly less.

Anyway, I noticed a couple of days ago, these little piles of very fine
sawdust here and there amongst the logs, so there is something chewing
through the wood. Lots of somethings :-/ I saw one pile, looked like a
very small ant hill, that couldn't have come from wood above, because

there
was no wood above it. This indicated to me that the creature was pushing
the wood up out of the log as it bores in, but when I cleared the little
pile, there was no hole :-?

Being a bit worried about bringing such creatures into my home, I set off
two insecticide bombs and closed the garage, as I left for the day. I had
already done this once, the day I brought the wood home, because there

were
spiders in it. I came home many hours later last night and blew the piles
of sawdust away so I could see if they reappeared. I looked and looked,

but
could never see any bugs. However, I could hear them. This is scaring
me!!!

Sooooooo, do any of you know of a creature that might do this? I believe
the majority of the wood is mulberry. Some of the piles of sawdust were 2
or 4 inches long and 1/2 inch deep at the deepest point. It is very fine.
I'm not totally sure it is not excretion, but it still looks just like the
wood so I'm thinking the bug isn't eating it. However, there were a

couple
of piles that didn't get blown away, so I can examine the stuff more
thoroughly if needed. I have turned over logs that it looked like the

stuff
must be coming from and see nothing. It is baffling, but I can see where
some branches might have been weakened enough to snap in a storm.

Thanks for any help!

--
Michelle
Fort Worth, Texas, USA
Life is short. Be determined to enjoy every minute of it!