I have lived here 10+ years and this has never come up so I'm asking.

since i have seen them doing their thing i don't need to google them. fixed it with my method and haven't seen them since. moths don't turn into beetles. what i have learned is the bug people here refer to any insect that eats wood,they call a termita. first time i gave them our love seat and they removed the plastic,there were all kinds of the brown beetles dead on the floor. look up post hole beetles and you will see some nice fotos too.

Jim had a termite problem that they had to deal with. When we built we were told to have all of our woodwork termite treated.

Of course youMr know it all, I have seen them too and spoke at lengh with the exterminator down there and you are wrong. There are termitas and there is polilla two different insects The termitas look like ants but are diferent and the others are larvaes .
Under hte paapa here I also hav large holes in the wood caused by some insect as well and large bees (much larger= go in there and they will sting the heck out of you if you bother them.

The beetles are called algavaro accoding to google, do not know if that is the case in Mexico but they are different from the polilla.

brigitte wrote:Of course youMr know it all, I have seen them too and spoke at lengh with the exterminator down there and you are wrong. There are termitas and there is polilla two different insects The termitas look like ants but are diferent and the others are larvaes .
Under  hte paapa here I also hav large holes in the wood caused by some insect as well and large bees (much larger= go in there and they will sting the heck out of you if you bother them.

i know it all about these post hole diggers because i dealt with them directly after twice taking the loveseat to the exterminator across from pemex. they have had success with other bug issues here in mi casa fortunately. and you misunderstood-she calls everything that eats wood TERMITAS not i . she probably does that to make life easier for her when dealing with gringos.
you seem to prefer google to real life so here ya go-post hole beetle-"escarabajo de hojos". and  pic of one and what the residue looks like when their larvae are busy eating inside the wood. termite poop is called fass and looks like tiny brown pellets around where they've been busy not sawdust like the beetle. these 2 things are the only wood eaters the op needs to think about in this area not all the other things you keep adding with your googling but go ahead if that excites you.

Thanks you Pedro, I checked for the pictures and names in google because I do not know the names in English, just knew them in French and Spanish.
I have the beetles holes under the palapa here and I have the moth bolilla things in furniture and in the beams and so on in Chiapas so I have a idea of what the problem is in real life. As Canuck Bob said when you have the polilla in small pieces, putting them in the freezer will take care of them. The exterminator I spoke with in Chiapas is an enthemologist so he does not call all bugs termitas..
Since we all have a problem with the polilla is Chiapas we hav a pretty good idea of that it looks like and thank you for the picture but it is not polilla...

the op lives here and not chiapas so why should he care about something that he doesn't have to deal with. i am talking about post hole beetles and i named as such with the pics never said one thing about polillas-you did and neither did bob, we are talking about what we have to deal with here in chapala where we and the op live and you are talking about chiapas and an insect there. i don't care about chiapas since i don't live there but good luck with your moths and stinging bees and whatever else you have there. just be nice and not bring stough with you in your luggage on your return.AGAIN-the picture is A POSTHOLE BEETLE/ESCARABAJO DE HOYOS found in chapala, so of course it's not some MOTH/POLILLA from chiapas. please read carefully before you criticize por nada.

Sorry Pedro but there is polilla HERE too I have it one one of the chair outside AND we have the beetle holes that are larger and where nasty stinging insects move in as well.
Both insects make holes in the wood and the beetle holes are larger than the moths´holes.
No need to go to Chiapas to know that.

U2 should get a room.... snork .....

brigitte wrote:Sorry Pedro but there is polilla HERE too I have it one one of the chair outside AND we have the beetle holes that are larger and where nasty stinging insects move in as well.
Both insects make holes in the wood and the beetle holes are larger than the moths´holes.
No need to go to Chiapas to know that.

Maybe the moths stowed away in your luggage? vehicle? and hitched a ride back.

Pedro is NOT going to be happy.  

escarabajos de hoyos [beetle] holes are not large as the picture shows. so you did already bring us some vermin from chiapas?.

All I can see is FDR on a dime.

I always thought that wuz God!!

Why doesn't it say " In FDR We Trust "

If you have the post beetle you can either freeze or bake them out. Either way it kills the larva. We bought a vanity from the copper artisans at the Feria de Maestros and a very fine powder started to appear inside the cabinet at it's base. It was white and felt like talcum powder. We contacted the seller and after the 4th promise that they would come to remedy the problem we gave up and started a google search. Because of the the vanity size we decided to bake the piece in our van. Worked like a charm, we parked our van in full sunlight and we still had to boost the temperature with an electric heater and hold it for 4 or 6 hours. We repeated the process twice. Google post beetle and all the information you need should be there. We opted for overkill. Afterwards I put a new coat of varnish on and made sure it penetrated the holes. The adult beetle will lay her eggs on unprotected wood and it is the larva that matures inside the wood and creates the dust as it exits the wood causing a tiny exit hole. This is why protecting the wood from the outside stops the problem from reoccurring.

We also live in an area that has a lot of termites so we decided to take their food away by replacing wood jambs with metal. We have had neighbors who paid a company from Guadalajara to drill holes and inject poison. In 2 years the termites were back!
Maybe they didn't drill far enough, or didn't inject enough poison?

Just our experience for what its worth.

I think this thread should be moved to the octagon.
Some of the pictures disgust even me.