Anybody speak deathwatch?

[Me!]

I'm sitting here tapping away at my keyboard, and there is a deathwatch beetle in a beam above my head that keeps tapping back. The faster I type, the more it taps. So, should I type really fast and try and get it to die of exhaustion, or am I inadvertently telling it to eat more of my beam?

 

[Nemesis]

I suspect you are asking it to mate with you - or at least with your keyboard...

 

[shelli]

get soft touch keypad - just in case

 

[Penners]

It's saying: "will you please stop that bloody tapping noise and let me get some sleep".

 

[Nemesis]

http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/preservation/training/pests/watch.htm

 

[shelli]

Handsome little critters aren't they !

Banging their heads against the wood looking for a mate - sounds like typical male behaviour to me!

 

[Juju]

I've never heard deathwatch beetle (luckily) but the other day I discovered a gap in the cellar where a joist used to be! In no doubt now that we have active woodworm in there ...