Speaking of hives,  this should be an easy one:

I just discovered little snail-looking things around the lower doorjam of my basement entryway.   There is a small area of wood rot where they are festering, and they really do look like mini snails (about 2-3mm long with a hard spiral shell, dark brown and they don't really move.  but there are probably a few dozen to a hundred of these little boogers within a 4-6 inch area of the externior door jam, and it looks like (but I haven't pulled it apart yet) that they're either burrowing into or underneath the paint of the jam.   no wings (so not thinking termites) but a little seashell looking shape to them.

I cannot tell if the wood rot is what let them into the door, or if they are causing the rot because of their presence?   this is in southwest Ohio (Cincinnati area) and we are adjacent to a modest wooded area.   I will try to get photos - but ARFCOM:  what are they?

(and perhaps more importantly, what should I kill them with?   And no, "fire" is not an option!)

Salt the earth!

bleach maybe?

okay - but what the hell ARE they?

I checked terminex.com and they have nothing close listed....

Sounds like it might be Obama bugs.

Go to lowes

Get snail bait

???

Profit!




****Do not use snail bait if you have pets, it has some megadethaline type chemical that will kill them.

update:  these guys are little snails.  sticking to the wood...  but there are a LOT of them.  

wood mite

That sounds very serious.

If they are soft and gooey on the inside like snails, diotamaceous earth will kill them.  You can find it at most hardware stores.  Generally used in pool filters. Something about its extreme porosity and extra fineness will suck the moisture out of the critters and dehydrate them to death.

they don't appear to be wood mites - let me get a picture

P
I
C

edit:

silverfish

Silverfish look nothing like snails...
 

Snails are drawn to damp areas.
The rot is caused by damp wood.
Is the area wet?
Why?
Stop the wet wood = stop the snails/rot.
You may have termites also.

Sorry about the pics - we're also in the process of moving (to a new house) and the Mrs. packed up all of the cords I need to download...



At this point, I'm just guessing it's a local breeding of snails - there were a lot of slugs and such in the yard as of late with a lot of heavy rains; but I will have to pull apart the door jam to look for `mites.   Fingers crossed.

The pics I did take (zoom in) basically show what looks like a mini seashell...  wierd.