Insect in Chinese-made sofa!

[Globalti]

Mrs Gti thought she'd got a bargain when she bought two leather sofas very cheap from a pal who is in the furniture trade, very nice they are. Mrs Gti also likes the lounge flippin' hot with the wood-burner blazing away. Last two nights we've heard a scritch-scritch noise coming from inside the arm of one of the sofas so last night I unpicked the staples underneath and looked inside to find, as I expected, lots of wood dust with little round pellets in it, some manky wood that looks as if it's been very wet at some time and some long insect tunnels about 4-5mm wide along one strut. I happened to have a can of woodworm treatment in the shed so I gave the lot a dousing, must have poured several CCs into it before it began dripping out so there must be quite a lot of tunnels inside.

Assuming the sofas were made in China like everything else nowadays and whatever was in the piece of wood woke up when it got nice and warm, does anybody know what it might have been? I'd like to dig it out but can't be bothered to dismantle half the arm to get to it.

 

[asterix]

Got any pictures?

I get a lot of timber from local saw mills, usually green oak or chestnut. The sappier bits often have holes and tunnels. Often little piles of dust appear or even the worms themselves. However a dose of insecticide puts an end to them. The French are fairly blase about it all.

Some info here>

Unfortunately some pests from faraway places are new to Britain/Europe and once introduced in some way, can wreak havoc. Dutch Elm disease being a classic insect-borne example.

 

[Globalti]

Interesting link thanks but this looks like something non-native to Britain. I guess I ought to dig it out for identification but that would mean some keyhole surgery to the inside of the sofa arm.

 

[Fnaar]

Article from New Zealand about dodgy Chinese furniture/insects
http://www.biosecurity.govt.nz/publications/biosecurity-magazine/issue-79/unwanted

 

[ASC1951]

In a former existence I had to do a Food and Drugs case for someone who had sold a Mars bar containing 'a foreign object'. My chap's supplier had had an infestation of boll weevils and one had burrowed a tiny hole into one end of the bar and proceeded to get fatter and fatter inside. Apparently there was no sign of it at all on the wrapper or even on the outside of the bar.

So it was a bit of a surprise when the customer bit into it....

 

[slugonabike]

In a former existence I had to do a Food and Drugs case for someone who had sold a Mars bar containing 'a foreign object'. My chap's supplier had had an infestation of boll weevils and one had burrowed a tiny hole into one end of the bar and proceeded to get fatter and fatter inside. Apparently there was no sign of it at all on the wrapper or even on the outside of the bar.

So it was a bit of a surprise when the customer bit into it....

 

[dellzeqq]

In a former existence I had to do a Food and Drugs case for someone who had sold a Mars bar containing 'a foreign object'. My chap's supplier had had an infestation of boll weevils and one had burrowed a tiny hole into one end of the bar and proceeded to get fatter and fatter inside. Apparently there was no sign of it at all on the wrapper or even on the outside of the bar.

So it was a bit of a surprise when the customer bit into it....

yyeeeucchhhh!!!!

 

[benb]

On the plus side, it probably made the Mars Bar more nutritious.

 

[Campfire]

Yes, a bit of protein, ugh! I'm vegetarian.

 

[longers]

The Boll Weevil Song

The Boll Weevil Monument

If it were my sofa I'd be tempted to find it or one of them anyway. Or send it back to where it came from.

 

[Arch]

In a former existence I had to do a Food and Drugs case for someone who had sold a Mars bar containing 'a foreign object'. My chap's supplier had had an infestation of boll weevils and one had burrowed a tiny hole into one end of the bar and proceeded to get fatter and fatter inside. Apparently there was no sign of it at all on the wrapper or even on the outside of the bar.

So it was a bit of a surprise when the customer bit into it....

Cue old joke: What's worse than finding a worm in your apple....?

 

[benb]

Cue old joke: What's worse than finding a worm in your apple....?

Getting a terminal illness?

 

[Globalti]

....finding half an apple! Boom boom!

 

[Globalti]

Here's his dinner:

Here he is, sadly I cut him in half while I was cutting the piece of wood open:

 

[Night Train]

Here's his dinner:

Here he is, sadly I cut him in half while I was cutting the piece of wood open:

Deathwatch beetle.