Can you identify what left this?

Question

When I raised the blinds to open a little used window on a nice day, I noticed these 'leavings' on the windowsill. If I had seen them anywhere else I would have said 'Mouse', but I don't have any in my house, that I know of. Can anyone tell me what these might be from? I live in Louisville, KY. Thanks in advance.

Woodbridge Environmental Tiptophouse.com · Answer

This looks a bit like Frass. Frass is a byproduct of ants. They deposit debris from their nesting areas, and being cannibalistic they attack each other and the remains of the body parts are discarded. Looking at the small gap you have at the trim and the window stool this may be the location of where this product is coming from. In addition ants can chew up small parts of insulation and discard them in a way that looks like this. Not knowing what type of insulation it is that you have makes this difficult. But with the spider web fragments, the black specks, This is most likely ants. Clean up the area, and watch for a few weeks. If it returns you need to spray for ants. Once sprayed caulk the gap between the trim and the window sill stool.

Found & Fancied Goods · Answer

Termites?

Judy · Answer

It appears that your window does not close securely. Could it be debris that is coming in when the wind blows? Or if there is a heat register under the window and you seldom open the blind it may be just dust and lint.

Carole · Answer

Mouse droppings are the size of a grain of rice and rat droppings are larger by far. I don't think this is either. Most of the stuff in your photo is the wrong shape for mouse droppings.

Chris Anderson-Montgomery · Answer

I would call in pest control to see what it is, to treat properly. Could be a real problem....

Sherry LaSota · Answer

Perhaps a nice big spider..... looks like spider droppings to me.

Adriana · Answer

They dont look like droppings of any kind to me..I see husks......and straw.....something that looks like nesting material ..is there the possibility that you could have a birds nest somewhere above that window? keep us posted.....I am intrigued too now. :)

Woodbridge Environmental Tiptophouse.com · Answer

Quite often carpenter ant frass will contain spider web materials and tiny dark specks from ant body parts as they are expelled from the nesting area. At that same time you often will see insulation particles as well. Here is another post showing the insulation along with the ant body parts posted last year. This hometalker had foam insulation around the window. In your case I suspect you have something else. http://www.hometalk.com/diy/home-tours/q-what-is-this-mysterious-blue-powder-that-keeps-collecting-on-our-window-and-sill-414506

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