Kelli Tarin posted a strange photo in the “Homemaking Tips” group on Facebook on August 10. The photo showed a pile of fine, dirt-like material on the floor. She asked for help identifying it, as she had found two such piles in her daughter’s room and had to clean them daily.
This was particularly concerning since they had just moved into a rented house. Tarin described the substance as feeling like shells but looking like coffee grounds or ant nests.
The post quickly went viral, attracting over 9000 comments and more than 440,000 reactions. Despite the huge response, no one could definitively identify the mysterious piles.
There were many suggestions, though. Some thought it was an ant nest, others suggested it might be mouse droppings, and some even thought it could be from termites. With these ideas in mind, Tarin decided to call in professional help.
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She contacted two pest control companies, but both were baffled and said they had never seen anything like it before. Tarin updated the group, explaining that her daughter would sleep with her father until the mystery was resolved.
She ruled out termites because their droppings were different, and it wasn’t roaches since she had sprayed thoroughly and had only seen a few dead ones. Having grown up on a farm, she knew it wasn’t mice droppings either. Someone suggested bats, but that was unlikely given their location in West Texas.
Tarin continued to clean the house daily, noting that the piles only formed in her daughter’s room and took about two days to appear. She mentioned that she had called the landlords to check out the situation. Despite not finding a solution immediately, Tarin was grateful for the group’s support, which helped her stay positive through the ordeal.
Finally, a breakthrough came when someone suggested that the material might be from a lavender bear that had burst. This reminded Tarin of a lavender blush bear among her daughter’s toys. She had thrown it away, thinking it was infested, but she retrieved it and found a hole inside.
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When she looked inside the bear, she discovered that it contained the same material as the mysterious piles. The problem was solved, much to everyone’s relief, proving that sometimes the solution can be surprisingly simple.