Incredible 317kg find inside homeowner's walls: 'UNREAL'

A pest control company found thousands of acorns stashed inside a home

A pest controller had a nutty discovery on his hands when thousands of acorns were found stashed away inside a homeowner's property, believed to be the work of a local woodpecker.

Nick's Extreme Pest Control is based in the US state of California and the team said they were used to dealing with animals making themselves at home in unwanted places, but admitted they had "never come across something like this", calling it an "unreal" discovery.

Man lying on top of acorns found inside wall.
The pest control company regularly removes mouse and rat's nests but have never come across a huge stash of acorns in the wall before. Source: Facebook / Nick's Extreme Pest Control

After the worried homeowners called the company due to finding "little worms" coming out of their walls, it was confirmed the meal worms were the result a stash of acorns hiding inside the property.

Pictures of the acorn mass accumulating on the floor were shared online after every hole cut into the wall was met with more acorns spilling out onto the floor. It was confirmed that eight garbage bags weighing roughly 317 kg were removed from the home.

"Bird was a bit of a hoarder," the company joked on Facebook.

Acorns in wall continued to multiply.
The acorns in the wall continued to spill out from where they were believed to be hoarded by a woodpecker. Source: Facebook / Nick's Extreme Pest Control

People impressed by woodpecker's impeccable work

The Facebook post attracted hundreds of comments from people who were shocked by the sheer magnitude of the bird's work.

"Amazing! Hello.. those are a lot of acorns. He sure was busy collecting them," one wrote.

"Wow, that's a real hoarder," another said.

After asking how the bird managed to gain access to the property to store the acorns, the company clarified that hundreds of little holes inside the property's chimney were made before the bird seemingly moved onto the attic's ventilation system.

"Acorns were piled from lower floor to about 20 ft up into attic," the pest control company explained.

Acorn woodpeckers are known hoarders

Acorn woodpeckers are given their namesake due to their hoarding behaviour and it is believed they stock up on acorns to save themselves from migrating in the colder months. They are commonly found on the west coast of America where this stash was found by the pest control company.

According to Cornell University, acorn woodpeckers are one of the most sociable woodpecker species and are always found in flocks. Being of similar size to the commonly recognisable robin, these small birds pack a punch when they put their minds to it. It is likely that the stash found in California was the work of many birds working together.

Two acorn woodpeckers.
The woodpeckers hoard acorns for the cold months as they are rich in fat. Source: Getty

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