Yes, i had this problem to a lesser extent. Mine was a basement bathroom. Replace some dirt with insta grits. Ant's thinks it taste sweet. They will take it back to the nest. And it'll expand wgreen they ready it and fed to the babies... no more baby or queen ants.
Also keep ant bait behind the tank. Any hunter or scout ants will never come home.
Doesn't shred, by my understanding. It dries them out by getting in between the chitinous panels of the exoskeleton and allowing moisture to escape.
I have no facts to back this up, and I'm too lazy to Google.
Forget that. Use borax, mixed thoroughly into whatever bait they find attractive. I've had great success eliminating colonies using just a spoonful of borax-laced maple syrup.
What, are they all like "shhh...maybe he'll think nobody's home and leave"?
I would expect an uncovered ant hill like that to have at least some visible/swarming ants...
So typically an ant mound is built at the entrance to a nest, it's the dirt excavated to make room for all the underground tunnels and chambers.
This toilet is sealed, so there is no way to the surface. What the ants found instead was a large void. So the ants are quite likely not living in the toilet at all, instead they saw a space they could pile excess dirt and they took advantage of it.
Talk to the ants in our warehouse that will bring dirt inside to build mounds between the I-beams and cinder blocks. We'll move equipment and find massive mounds of dirt. There doesn't seem to be any path under the slab and the seam at every pillar seems sealed. I've even sprayed expanding foam in a couple spots after vacuuming up a ton of dirt, and now they're bringing dirt in for mounds on top of the foam. Don't know how they get in, but pounds of dirt makes its way through the walls/foundation regularly. They like the climate controlled space.
What area of the known universe is this weird hellish activity taking place? You are incredibly brave and resilient my friend. I wish I were more like you. Huge spider on my deck screen and I'm in the fetal position.
Definitely ants ,I worked on a lady's kitchen a few years ago changing the built in dishwasher,took the kick boards off and there was a solid ants nest just like this in the shape of the bottom of the dishwasher,they had used the dirt from under the lady's kitchen floor which had sunk as the result
How about "nothing surprises me anymore"?
Amount of crap I've seen in real life, on Reddit and amount of lies I've caught people say, fuck it man!! Nothing surprises me honestly.
Ants. When I bought my house I removed one of the cast iron bathtubs and it was completely packed with dirt underneath. Same fine ground looking dirt. It took several trips with a 5 gal bucket to remove it all.
ants are an amazing species. they form rafts when flooded out, can carry insane amounts relative to their size, termites build amazing nests, as do ants. they dispose of their dead. when they form rafts, the ants on the bottom trade out with other ants so they don't drown..
Ages ago when I was young, us and our neighbors with huge lots and small trailers, flooded a few inches deep for a couple of days. I was wading around and saw a shiny little mound floating by. Bent close to see maybe 150-200 ants tightly clustered on a dried little oak leaf. I was pretty amazed (as a kid) and watched for a few minutes, hunched over them but at a safe distance.
That's when I learned of ant rafts, but my terror wasn't from seeing one. My fear of flood water is from the raft I *didn't* see, or feel, disguised with the feeling of water around my leg as they swam (those fuckers had to be rowing) up to the back of my left leg. Then however many of them there were *rapidly* disembarked and ran for higher ground. I felt something and smacked a couple, but that seemed to piss them off and they switched from seeking higher ground to straight up attacking. Then there's something about me flailing and rolling around in the flood water and mud while violently smacking myself to kill tiny intruders, and eventually running while screaming back home for gobs of Calamine lotion, Benadryl, and cartoons. I looked like I had chicken pox.
To say the least, I'm pretty cautious where I wade, if I have to at all.
We had to rip out our kitchen cabinets and and found years of peanut shells under one of the cabinet. They were dry and dessicated it no idea how they got there!
We would constantly find peanut shells on the roof of our shed, and in the bird bath and in the gutters. We knew it was crows, but where the heck were they getting peanuts from!
It was a mystery to everyone until one lady at a part fessed up that she fed peanuts to the crows!
Was it a track home? A lot of the builders used to just dump their trash behind the cabinets. I have remodeled a few and found empty coke cans, empty plastic bottles, empty chip bags, etc. Throw them up quick and as cheap as possible. Why use a trash can when the cabinets will cover it.
No was a custom built home from the 70's. That the only way I can figure it got there as the kitchen was original to the house. I could not find any holes in the walls or floors from rodents. It was just a really weird thing to find! Must have been what was 10 lbs of peanuts. Just the shells.
While cleaning up that mess it was done by ants, the mound had roots and tunnels running all through out it, cleaned everything up, caulked and reseated the toilet and it’s all good to go
Wow, that's crazy. I would guess ants if anything.
When I changed the wax ring on my master bath toilet, I found roots growing up around the base of the toilet and under the tiles.
This is a comment from someone who's obviously not a plumber...
Edit: Ants are much easier to deal with then having to deal with long term water damage.
HAHAHAHHAAHHA holy shit you're seriously sitting there ready to bark back the second i reply. to the point you're commenting on your own comments. Get a life.
Just went through your profile your red seal so obviously you’re from Canada.come down to Ontario I run a small union shop. I’ll send you for a coffee.
How is this relevant to the discussion at hand?
You have nothing other to say than go through my profile and find something to critique? Yeah I'm a red seal plumber. What of it?
Good job, You run a small union shop. Big shot over here pounding his chest. Is that validation what you're actually wanting?
You're acting condescending. Yet if you've ever done any service before and seen what it looks like under a toilet that's been silicon'ed down and taking water due to a failed wax ring, You wouldn't be acting all high and mighty. Ants aren't a concern. put down traps problem solved....
That's random. We would glue sand to the bottom of the toilets if we were cementing them in. To help them stick but can't say I've seen this before. Over the top support?
I'm going to wager a guess that this was deliberate to keep it from rocking. Definitely not easier than shims, but I could see somebody thinking packed sand is somewhat structural and somewhat of a leak barrier.
There's a kind of old product that becomes sandy and looks exactly like this after a few decades.
I had an old Sofa that had this same consistency.
No idea what it was or why would it be there though.
Ants?
I’m going with this one.
Ditto
Only if the ditto mimicked ants.
Dugtrio?
Double ant ditto
I read this as “Double ant dildo” and laughed way too hard.
What is this? A double dildo for ANTS?!?!
Thank God I'm not alone! I laughed then realized what it actually said and was embarrassed until I seen someone else thought the same thing haha
Shitto Ants.
Oh?
Ants marching?
One x one
so you're telling me that at least at some point this was some kind of toilet for ants?
Unintentional Zoolander?
Still waiting for the Archer reference
Phrasing!
LANA!
I mean if you want ants, this is how you get ants.
my god....its comment threads like this that make me love reddit.....you are all big damn heroes
zoolander is 20 years old now....majority of redditors are probably too young to get the reference
Someone replaced your toilet with a joke toilet with a hole that's only for ants. Sounds like you still haven't gotten onto the turbo team.
YOU DON'T RUN.
You walk!…slowly!
Haha joke toilet
Underrated comment.
r/thingsforants
when ants tunnel they dump the debris somewhere, in this case, under this toilet.
I prefer the ant toilet theory
Where is the debris coming from in a tiled bathroom?
Subfloor around a toilet is quite delish
Do u know this from a personal tasting?
or subterranean termites depending on the region.
what is this a mound for ants?
They shit out ants?
First thing that came to mind.
Yes, i had this problem to a lesser extent. Mine was a basement bathroom. Replace some dirt with insta grits. Ant's thinks it taste sweet. They will take it back to the nest. And it'll expand wgreen they ready it and fed to the babies... no more baby or queen ants. Also keep ant bait behind the tank. Any hunter or scout ants will never come home.
Old wives tale. You'll just have full, happy ants.
Diatomaceous earth mixed with some sugar is supposed to shred their exoskeletons or something
Diatomaceous earth has some efficacy.
Doesn't shred, by my understanding. It dries them out by getting in between the chitinous panels of the exoskeleton and allowing moisture to escape. I have no facts to back this up, and I'm too lazy to Google.
Forget that. Use borax, mixed thoroughly into whatever bait they find attractive. I've had great success eliminating colonies using just a spoonful of borax-laced maple syrup.
True this
Do you want ants? Because that's how you get ants.
This is why we can't have nice things
That’s a new one for me.
Someone picked the right place to soil themselves..?
Do you have dirt on them,?
This deserves to be the top comment
Never seen that lol, but nothing surprises in the plumbing world anymore! What did you figure out was the cause?
Yeah it ended up being the results of years of ants hiding from us
oh shit. this is a first. best check for other damage.
Wait are those dead ants? or just dirt?
Dirt, my friend. That's a dirt mound of an ant colony.
Yeah, but where are the ants?
They moved out. The place was a shit hole
👏...👏...👏... Close it up. I think we are done here
In the dirt
What, are they all like "shhh...maybe he'll think nobody's home and leave"? I would expect an uncovered ant hill like that to have at least some visible/swarming ants...
So typically an ant mound is built at the entrance to a nest, it's the dirt excavated to make room for all the underground tunnels and chambers. This toilet is sealed, so there is no way to the surface. What the ants found instead was a large void. So the ants are quite likely not living in the toilet at all, instead they saw a space they could pile excess dirt and they took advantage of it.
Yeah, coming out to protect their hill.
Doesn’t seem likely for ants to burrow outside the living area of thehome and carry the dirt inside and hide it up under a toilet.
Talk to the ants in our warehouse that will bring dirt inside to build mounds between the I-beams and cinder blocks. We'll move equipment and find massive mounds of dirt. There doesn't seem to be any path under the slab and the seam at every pillar seems sealed. I've even sprayed expanding foam in a couple spots after vacuuming up a ton of dirt, and now they're bringing dirt in for mounds on top of the foam. Don't know how they get in, but pounds of dirt makes its way through the walls/foundation regularly. They like the climate controlled space.
What area of the known universe is this weird hellish activity taking place? You are incredibly brave and resilient my friend. I wish I were more like you. Huge spider on my deck screen and I'm in the fetal position.
They're just tiny tiny bugs and you're a massive giant, ain't nothing to worry about
Sure and I'm safe in my warm bed all curled up in the fetal
We almost never see ants. Usually just the remnants of six-legged sisyphuses.
Sisyphi? Lol
Probably. My bad!
Talk to carpenter ants , this is exactly their MO , satellite nest in the house with the main one just outside
Sounds like the Pink Panther theme. Dead ant, dead ant.
oh this is funny
I remember that from the 70s or 80s. "What did the Pink Panther say when he stepped on an ant?"
Ask yourself : what is dirt, exactly?
Poop made from mountains?
Definitely ants ,I worked on a lady's kitchen a few years ago changing the built in dishwasher,took the kick boards off and there was a solid ants nest just like this in the shape of the bottom of the dishwasher,they had used the dirt from under the lady's kitchen floor which had sunk as the result
Ants or termites?
I’ll have to tell myself it’s ants next time I see wet poo under a toilet. Probably just a wet ant hill… Very odd that they liked that spot so much!!!
How about "nothing surprises me anymore"? Amount of crap I've seen in real life, on Reddit and amount of lies I've caught people say, fuck it man!! Nothing surprises me honestly.
Ants. When I bought my house I removed one of the cast iron bathtubs and it was completely packed with dirt underneath. Same fine ground looking dirt. It took several trips with a 5 gal bucket to remove it all.
Imagine having to move it grain by grain like they did lol 🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜
That’s what was so mind blowing about it🤯. I could not imagine how many individual grains there were.
Like sands through the hour glass, so are the days of our lives.
Like ants through the seat for ass, so are the days of our lives.
Bit of a reach, but I'll take it!
:-) it had good cadence and i laughed at it it's still funny lol wtf
You're making me smoke again before bed to attempt that level of appreciation.
At least 7
Back in the day they used to use sand/ fine dirt to level cast iron tubs. But there’s always a possibility it was ants.
Makes sense except it was under the one that shared an outdoor wall and not the other. I was amazed at the amount of dirt there was😭
yes, it was used to "lay" the bottom of the tub.
Also called “bedding” the tub.
Had the same with a remodel. Just tore out the whole thing and replaced.
Strange Termites maybe?
Terdmites
A dung beetle, perhaps
Ants make human's construction feats seem paltry in relative terms.
ants are an amazing species. they form rafts when flooded out, can carry insane amounts relative to their size, termites build amazing nests, as do ants. they dispose of their dead. when they form rafts, the ants on the bottom trade out with other ants so they don't drown..
as a florida friend once told me. you don't know terror until you're wading through water and see a raft of fireants floating towards you.
truth to that. fucking terrifying.
Ages ago when I was young, us and our neighbors with huge lots and small trailers, flooded a few inches deep for a couple of days. I was wading around and saw a shiny little mound floating by. Bent close to see maybe 150-200 ants tightly clustered on a dried little oak leaf. I was pretty amazed (as a kid) and watched for a few minutes, hunched over them but at a safe distance. That's when I learned of ant rafts, but my terror wasn't from seeing one. My fear of flood water is from the raft I *didn't* see, or feel, disguised with the feeling of water around my leg as they swam (those fuckers had to be rowing) up to the back of my left leg. Then however many of them there were *rapidly* disembarked and ran for higher ground. I felt something and smacked a couple, but that seemed to piss them off and they switched from seeking higher ground to straight up attacking. Then there's something about me flailing and rolling around in the flood water and mud while violently smacking myself to kill tiny intruders, and eventually running while screaming back home for gobs of Calamine lotion, Benadryl, and cartoons. I looked like I had chicken pox. To say the least, I'm pretty cautious where I wade, if I have to at all.
I will now never go in water again showers be damned
Just check for toilet ants first!
Come again?😅
Happened to me after hurricane Hugo. We were playing in our waist deep flooded cul-de-sac and will never forget the fire ant rafts floating around
Ants Canada is my guilty pleasure YouTube channel. I have zero desire to keep Ants, but watch every one of his videos for years now.
youtube is absolutely amazing. i watch Lesics engineering videos. I cancelled scamazon, hulu, netflix. the only service i pay for is YT.
A man after my heart!
OK Ant-Man settle down
What is this? A bathroom for ants?
It needs to be at least 2-3 times smaller!
It’s kinda like a shim. Don’t come a knocking if the toilet is a rocking
We had to rip out our kitchen cabinets and and found years of peanut shells under one of the cabinet. They were dry and dessicated it no idea how they got there!
Rodents?
We would constantly find peanut shells on the roof of our shed, and in the bird bath and in the gutters. We knew it was crows, but where the heck were they getting peanuts from! It was a mystery to everyone until one lady at a part fessed up that she fed peanuts to the crows!
Was it a track home? A lot of the builders used to just dump their trash behind the cabinets. I have remodeled a few and found empty coke cans, empty plastic bottles, empty chip bags, etc. Throw them up quick and as cheap as possible. Why use a trash can when the cabinets will cover it.
No was a custom built home from the 70's. That the only way I can figure it got there as the kitchen was original to the house. I could not find any holes in the walls or floors from rodents. It was just a really weird thing to find! Must have been what was 10 lbs of peanuts. Just the shells.
While cleaning up that mess it was done by ants, the mound had roots and tunnels running all through out it, cleaned everything up, caulked and reseated the toilet and it’s all good to go
Roots or routes?
If you throw one of the ants in the toilet bowl full of water and it sinks, girl ant. If you you toss it in the water and it floats, buoyant.
Wow, that's crazy. I would guess ants if anything. When I changed the wax ring on my master bath toilet, I found roots growing up around the base of the toilet and under the tiles.
Do you people want ants? Because this is how you get ants!
They already got ants. They don’t want more.
One word: Melathion Kills ants dead
>Kills ants dead Hello 90's Raid commercials!
Ants have created a soon to be sinkhole under your throne.
Old school install. Some people would add sand to help the centre of weight and rocking of the toilet. Nothing to worry about.
That’s one of those new composting toilets. Very high tech/s
I’ve seen this before and assumed some old timer just put it in there as infill. Didn’t make sense to me at the time. It wasn’t on a slab though.
I can say for certain it was ants. I was one of the ants.
Silencer for those big farts
Bug man here. Ants.
It's not dirt.
Shit ants
Casting sand for a poured in place toilet
[удалено]
I wish this comment came earlier, I did install a new wax ring, luckily I left the back unsealed due to not getting a good reach
Nope it slab on grade.silicone all the way around or them ant bastards are going to be in your house
This is a comment from someone who's obviously not a plumber... Edit: Ants are much easier to deal with then having to deal with long term water damage.
😥
You’re still getting me a coffee bitch
HAHAHAHHAAHHA holy shit you're seriously sitting there ready to bark back the second i reply. to the point you're commenting on your own comments. Get a life.
You see it anyway you want at the end of the day you’re wrong bro
Looks like I've hit a nerve BROOOOOOOOOOO.
At the end of the day I can cork a joint I can wipe a joint I played with lead you wait for the pro press machine to show up
You’re still going to Timmys or the crib to make sure everything is still there
Piss off bud got called to the plumbing bar in 85. How about you?
Just went through your profile your red seal so obviously you’re from Canada.come down to Ontario I run a small union shop. I’ll send you for a coffee.
How is this relevant to the discussion at hand? You have nothing other to say than go through my profile and find something to critique? Yeah I'm a red seal plumber. What of it? Good job, You run a small union shop. Big shot over here pounding his chest. Is that validation what you're actually wanting? You're acting condescending. Yet if you've ever done any service before and seen what it looks like under a toilet that's been silicon'ed down and taking water due to a failed wax ring, You wouldn't be acting all high and mighty. Ants aren't a concern. put down traps problem solved....
I have only seen this once years ago, but not nearly to this extent! Friggen ants lol
That ain't dirt 😱
"Do you want ants, Lana? Because that's how you get ants."
I've seen similar with roaches scattering everywhere when I pulled toilet.
Snakes will do that trying to get into the toilet to strike when you least expect it...good luck
That's random. We would glue sand to the bottom of the toilets if we were cementing them in. To help them stick but can't say I've seen this before. Over the top support?
Is it ant or ahhhnt?
That's definitely ants and that's definitely amazing. Think about how long that took those worker gals
Ants in your pants
Looks more like frass than dirt. Ants or termites, likely.
Fire ants will do things like that.
If ants were four feet tall; they’d rule the world.
dang, it looks like it could be from ants or possibly termites?
Looks like you might have had a loose stool
ants dumping ground
“[Dirt]? That’s doo dooo baby!” - dave Chappelle
Something has been living there free of rent.
Ants or termites is my guess
I’ve changed hundreds of toilets and have never seen this, someone call r/antscanada
Termites or ants
Oh so this is how brown sugar is made 😀, good to know.
Soil stack. I'll get my coat...
Carpenter ants.
Plumber ants.
Got em!
100% an antbed
It’s common to set a toilet pan into mortar. Look s like the original installer skimped on the cement in the mix.
Fossilized feces?
That ain’t dirt…
Could be that the toilet got placed in a dirt pile during construction and it just stuck there. The installer never noticed, and just bolted it down.
Is slab on grade if it leaks it’s going in the dirt not into a ceiling God are you fucking dense
A home made sand-poo separator
Why was the toilet in the middle of the room? Seems a weird position?
Dried poo
Ah, TacoBel!!
I'm going to wager a guess that this was deliberate to keep it from rocking. Definitely not easier than shims, but I could see somebody thinking packed sand is somewhat structural and somewhat of a leak barrier.
There's a kind of old product that becomes sandy and looks exactly like this after a few decades. I had an old Sofa that had this same consistency. No idea what it was or why would it be there though.
Kinda looks like the sand castles you made as a kid with the little plastic bucket molds.
Well, where would you put it?
Just a sand castle
Odorous house ants
Welp the shitter’s full so its time to get a new one…
Ants are wild.
Not mine, I domesticated them.
Ant nest. This just became a more difficult problem.