Termite droppings are tiny, hard pellets about 1 millimeter long (roughly 1/16 inch), each with six flat sides and rounded ends. They pile up like coarse sand or ground pepper right below a pinhole in wood. Pest pros call them frass or termite pellets, and they come from drywood termites eating the wood above the pile.
Here is the part most guides skip. The termites that do almost all the damage around Northern Virginia and Maryland are subterranean termites, and they don’t leave pellet piles at all. So if you live in the DMV and found a little pile of brown grains, it is worth checking the look-alikes below before you assume the worst.
The sections below cover how to confirm what you found, what else it could be, and what to do next.
What Are Termite Pellets (Termite Frass)?
Termite pellets, termite frass, and termite droppings are three names for the same thing: the waste drywood termites make as they eat wood. Drywood termites spend their whole lives inside dry wood with no contact with the soil. Their bodies pull almost all the water out of their waste, so what comes out is a hard, dry pellet.
The University of California Statewide IPM Program says drywood termite fecal pellets have six sides and are “diagnostic for drywood termites.” In other words, a pile of true six-sided pellets points to drywood termites and not to any other wood pest.
These pellets are not random debris. They are pushed out of wood the termites are feeding in, usually right above where the pile forms.
What Do Termite Droppings Look Like?
Once you know what to check, termite droppings are hard to mistake for anything else:
- Size: about 1 mm long, close to a grain of coarse sand. Every pellet in a pile is about the same size.
- Shape: an oval capsule with rounded ends and six flat or slightly dented sides. Cut one across and it would look like a little hexagon.
- Ridges: six ridges run the length of each pellet. You’ll want a magnifying glass or a zoomed-in phone photo to see them clearly.
- Pile: a small cone or scatter of grains that looks like sand, pepper, or tiny seeds.
Texture and Feel
Fresh termite pellets are hard and dry. They don’t crumble like sawdust or powder. Roll a few between your fingers and they keep their shape, a bit like grit. Many homeowners first think the pile is sand tracked in from outside.
Color of Termite Pellets
Termite pellets run from cream and light tan to dark brown and nearly black. A single pile often has light and dark grains mixed together, a “salt and pepper” look, like the pile in the photo at the top of this page.
Color does not tell you how old the pellets are. Many people assume darker means older, but Mississippi State University Extension notes the color varies from light to dark “depending on type of wood and other factors.”
Termite Kick-Out Holes: Where the Droppings Come From
Drywood termites don’t leave pellets lying around inside their tunnels. They push them out through tiny openings called kick-out holes. University of California researchers put these holes at less than 2 mm across, about the size of a pencil tip. They are exits for waste, not entry points.
After pushing the pellets out, the termites usually plug the hole again with a thin patch. So you may see the pile before you can find the hole above it.
Where the pellets land gives you a clue. A hole high on a wall or beam spreads pellets out as they fall and bounce. A low hole usually makes a neat cone right below it. Either way, look straight up from the pile for the hole.
Do Subterranean Termites Leave Droppings?
No, not the kind you can sweep up. Subterranean termites live in colonies in the soil and travel up into the house. They don’t push pellets out of the wood. Instead, they mix their soft waste with soil and bits of wood and use it as building material.
The University of Arizona Cooperative Extension explains that subterranean termites build “mud” tubes “made of soil, soft fecal matter and wood chips.” Drywood termites build no mud tubes, which is why their hard pellets are the main sign of them.
That matters here because subterranean termites are the termite problem in our area. University of Maryland Extension lists the signs to look for: shelter tubes about 1/4 inch wide, soil packed into cracks, piles of shed wings on floors and window sills, and blistered or peeling paint on wood. Pellet piles are not on that list. You’ll find more on reading those tubes in our guide to termite mud tubes.
One job from my training shows how quiet this can be. I went out with one of our technician teams to a house in Alexandria, less than a quarter mile from the company owner’s home. The family had never had a termite problem that they knew of. The only thing they noticed was a small bulge in a window sill where an addition had been built. The termites had eaten the sill all the way up to the paint and were starting to break through. There were no pellet piles to warn anyone. When we got into the crawl space, we found tunnels up the inside walls and years of feeding that had caused a lot of hard-to-repair damage. A soft or bulging sill like that one gets a close look during an Alexandria termite inspection, because a coat of paint can hold the shape of wood that is already gone.
Daren, one of our registered technicians, says he finds termites most often in mulch beds around the house, at the band board and sill plate in the basement, and in the garage. Outside, the chimney and the front stoop are the two most common spots. None of those finds start with a pellet pile. For a side-by-side of the two termite types, see subterranean vs. drywood termites.
Termite Droppings but No Termites?
This is one of the most common things people search, and there are a few honest answers:
- The termites are sealed inside. Drywood termites almost never come out into the open. Finding pellets with no termites in sight is normal for an active colony.
- The pile is old. Pellets can sit in a wall void or on a beam for years after a colony dies. Bumping the wood, remodeling, or even a slammed door can shake old pellets loose. The University of California guide warns that building vibrations can make pellets show up even when nothing is feeding.
- It isn’t termite droppings. In the DMV this is the most likely answer. Carpenter ant frass, mouse or roach droppings, and plain debris all get mistaken for termite pellets. See the look-alikes below.
- The pellets rode in on something. Used furniture, antique frames, and wood shipped from warmer states can carry a drywood colony. If the pile is under one piece of furniture and nowhere else, that piece is the first suspect.
The test below answers whether anything is still feeding.
Fresh vs. Old Termite Pellets: How to Test for Active Feeding
You can’t tell old pellets from new ones by looking. The University of California guide is blunt about it: “it is not possible to determine, from fecal pellets alone, whether the infestation is currently active.”
If new pellets show up, it’s time to bring in a professional. The longer termites go untreated, the more wood they hollow out.
What Else Looks Like Termite Droppings?
Plenty of things get called termite poop. Here are the usual mix-ups and how to tell them apart.
Carpenter ant frass looks like shredded wood shavings, often with bits of insulation and dead ant parts mixed in. The pieces are uneven, not the matching six-sided grains termites make. Daren puts it simply: carpenter ants leave smooth, clean galleries because they carry the debris out, while termite-damaged wood has mud in it. Our carpenter ant frass guide has photos of both side by side.
Powderpost beetles leave a flour-like powder that is much finer than termite pellets. It sifts out of tiny round holes in the wood and feels like talc, not grit.
Dampwood termites also leave pellets, but University of California researchers describe theirs as football-shaped and missing the lengthwise ridges of drywood pellets. Dampwood termites need wet, rotting wood, so they point to a moisture problem.
Small Brown Pellets in the House That Aren’t Termites
If the grains are larger than a sesame seed, or soft, or smeared, they probably aren’t from termites:
- Mouse droppings are about 1/8 to 1/4 inch long with pointed ends, and they turn up along walls, in drawers, and under sinks. Our mouse droppings guide shows what to look for.
- Cockroach droppings look like ground pepper or coffee grounds and often leave smears on cabinet hinges and shelf edges. See what roach poop looks like.
- Plain sawdust from a recent repair is splintery and uneven. Termites don’t make sawdust.
Where to Look for Termite Pellet Piles
Termite pellets show up under the wood the termites are eating. Check these spots:
- Window sills and door frames
- Floors along baseboards, where pellets fall from the trim above
- Under ceiling beams and attic rafters, where pellets can drop onto the floor or the top of a dresser
- Furniture joints on older wooden pieces, cabinets, and picture frames
The termites are almost always feeding right above the pile, so the pile tells you which board to look at.
What Pile Size Tells You
A bigger pile can mean an older colony, more than one colony, or just a long time without anyone sweeping. Drywood colonies are small. The UC guide says they are usually fewer than 1,000 termites and take years to mature, far smaller than subterranean termite colonies. Even a small colony can build a sizable pile over a few years.
Drywood Termites in the DMV Area
In the DC, Maryland, and Virginia area, subterranean termites are far more common than drywood termites. Inland, in places like Centreville, the termites in a house are almost always a subterranean colony working up through the clay soil, so a termite inspection in Centreville starts at the foundation rather than in the attic. If you’re not sure your damage is termites at all, our guide to termite damage vs. wood rot can help.
Drywood termites do reach Virginia, though. The University of Florida IFAS fact sheet on the dark southern drywood termite lists Virginia among the states where it has been found, and calls it an uncommon structural pest. Even in Mississippi, much farther south, Mississippi State Extension reports that fewer than 1% of reported termite infestations involve drywood termites.
When drywood termites do show up here, they have usually hitchhiked in on used furniture, boats, or shipped goods. Species like the West Indian drywood termite are well known for spreading this way.
Why You Should Act Fast After Finding Termite Pellets
Drywood termites eat both across and along the grain and often leave a paper-thin shell on the outside. By the time you see damage on the surface, there is usually more hidden inside.
As colonies mature, they produce swarmer termites that fly off to start new colonies in nearby wood. That spreading is what turns a one-board problem into a whole-house one.
Treatment Options for Drywood Termites
The right treatment depends on how much wood is involved and whether the colony can be reached. Getting the termite type right comes first. Mississippi State Extension points out that treatments for subterranean termites will not control drywood termites.
Whole-Structure Treatments
When the problem is spread out or the edges are unclear, the whole house is treated at once. According to the University of California, fumigation with sulfuryl fluoride kills drywood termites within several days, but people, pets, and plants have to leave the house for several days, and it leaves no lasting protection.
Heat treatment is the other whole-house option. The same guide says it means heating all the wood to at least 120°F and holding that for at least 33 minutes. It uses no chemicals, but spots that stay cool can be missed.
Spot Treatments
When the colony is in one board or a small group of boards, spot treatment can work. This means drilling into the wood and injecting a liquid, foam, or dust right into the tunnels. Badly damaged wood can be cut out and replaced. Spot treatments only work if every colony is found, and they should be applied only by licensed applicators.
For subterranean termites, the approach is different. In my experience, it’s often cheaper and lower stress to use Sentricon bait stations before there’s a problem. In severe infestations, the termites sometimes don’t find the stations, and we switch to a targeted liquid treatment with a product like Premise or Termidor. Our guide to getting rid of termites covers both.
Keeping Termites Out After Treatment
After treatment, clean up every leftover pellet so any new ones stand out. Then keep an eye on the same spots with regular inspections.
Steps that help keep drywood termites out:
- Sealing cracks and gaps in exterior wood
- Putting fine mesh screens over attic and crawl space vents
- Keeping wood painted or sealed
For a full guide, see our termite prevention tips. Catching new activity early makes any treatment simpler and cheaper.
When to Call a Professional
You can spot obvious termite pellets yourself. A professional inspection tells you what made them, whether anything is still feeding, and how far it goes. Licensed techs know where to find hidden kick-out holes and how to tell termite debris from ant frass or rodent droppings.
Our inspections cover accessible wood, mud tubes and termite tunnels, and the hollow spots that sound different when you tap them. That matters most when pellets show up in more than one place, or when you suspect structural damage. Our team’s 300 years of combined experience, from termite control in Laurel to the rest of the DC metro area, helps homeowners understand their options before they spend money.
If you’ve found what you think are termite droppings in your Northern Virginia or Maryland home, send us a photo or book an inspection and we’ll tell you what you’re looking at.
