Termites in the lump bag

DieselkW

Thousands of them. I lifted the bag, and the bottom fell out, along with a zillion insects IN MY GARAGE! They had to have come with the lump, the bag is kept inside an aluminum trash can for the purpose of storing lump. I carry the bag to the Egg, and put the bag back inside the trash can. Didn't notice them when I opened the bag maybe two weeks ago, apparently they were on the bottom. 

It's been rainy, and I hadn't been cooking for 4-5 days, which is a long dry spell for me. Yesterday, just a simple burger and hot dog cook, I lifted the bag and the bottom was eaten out of it. I noticed the little buggers right away, there must have been a few thousand. Some of them on the garage floor, I swept them up as fast as I could, hope I didn't miss any. 

I dumped the whole lot of it into a heavy duty plastic bag, took a video, and tied it up - placed it in a large plastic trash container and got it the hell away from the house. 

Since it was in my lump container, I am hoping these termites came to my home with the lump. I'm pissed off, I'm going to have to make sure I didn't contaminate the house.

<link to video removed>

alaskanassasin

I would check back to the location you bought it from, they could be infested.

 I didn’t look at your picture when I followed the link, it wanted me to log in for some reason.
 but this website has a great updated picture posting ability if you are interested.

DoubleEgger

I don’t think the termites rode in with the bag. You’d have to have some uncarbonized lump. 

alaskanassasin

After a quick search it turns out termites actually eat charcoal!

 I have seen swarms of termites in the spring, sounds like your bag picked one up somewhere 

DieselkW

alaskanassasin said:

I would check back to the location you bought it from, they could be infested.

 I didn’t look at your picture when I followed the link, it wanted me to log in for some reason.
 but this website has a great updated picture posting ability if you are interested.

I removed the link since it requires access to my Google account. It was a video. My "still" picture shows the bag, and I don't want to start a huge  controversy here by slandering the lump vendor in case these are "my" termites and not their fault.

alaskanassasin

By location I meant if you bought it at a local hardware store say on a pallet in the back or something you might make sure they aren’t breeding termites. 

DieselkW

alaskanassasin said:

By location I meant if you bought it at a local hardware store say on a pallet in the back or something you might make sure they aren’t breeding termites. 

I understood that... and I will be returning the empty bag with the pictures I took, so they will be informed.

I don't want to show the bag because this may be a problem at distribution, or storage, or retail and I don't want to impact the manufacturer.

ColtsFan

If you don't want to post pictures or divulge any further then what's the point of this thread?

No offense, just seems dramatic

JohnInCarolina

DieselkW said:

alaskanassasin said:

I would check back to the location you bought it from, they could be infested.

 I didn’t look at your picture when I followed the link, it wanted me to log in for some reason.
 but this website has a great updated picture posting ability if you are interested.

I removed the link since it requires access to my Google account. It was a video. My "still" picture shows the bag, and I don't want to start a huge  controversy here by slandering the lump vendor in case these are "my" termites and not their fault.

Good call.

JohnInCarolina

By the way, I don’t know if this was Rockwood or not, but if it was, you’ll want to ping @stlcharcoal.  Jonathan is very responsive to stuff like this and will tell you what he thinks happened.  He’ll also just want to know based on what I’ve seen from him.

alaskanassasin

I am fairly certain that when they carbonize wood in a kiln... well termites probably wouldn’t survive that so the manufacturer should not even be in the discussion. 

alaskanassasin

Wait... is it Friday!?

HeavyG

I didn't see your video but are you positive they were termites and not ants?

stlcharcoal

Termites want to eat wood not carbon.  There is no way they would ever survive a kiln......up to 1500F and for 4-7 days (depending on the manufacturer.  Any charcoal plant has hundreds of thousands of pounds of green wood and seasoned wood all over the place, so they're not going to choose a charcoal bag over that. 

If the bottom of the bag wasn't eaten when you put it in, were they eating their way out or their way into the bag?  Doesn't make sense that they would be in there for months, and then just decide to leave.  Any charcoal bag you're getting is at least 30-60 days old.  Probably more like 90+ days.

Regardless of the manufacturer, it doesn't add up.  It could be where you buy it, but if it's a store that keeps in inside, then that makes it even more unlikely.

I would get a pest control guy over and have him check your place either way.

RRP

Any chance you can find a dead bug or two for close up inspection? As I recall termites need a readily available daily source of water whereas ants can do without.  That said then thousands of termites in an enclosed metal container seems unlikely.

thetrim

MotownVol

Low and slow termites with a little brown sugar and BBQ sauce could be delicious.

Just kidding.  Hope your home is OK.