Pictures would have helped....

My guess by your description is plaster bagworms. Nuisance pests, easily eliminated.

hi,
unfortunately, my battery died on my camera phone before I could take a picture. thank you for your guess of plaster bagworms. I looked it up and those aren't them. these were a cluster of small brown pellets, like rabbit poo, that were on the ceiling. I appreciate the guess, tho. I hope it's not a bug. I can deal with rodents, but I hate bugs!

I hate to say it, especially because you like the house and hate bugs, but they could have been cockroach egg cases...

That could be it :(
I hope they could be exterminated? so disgusting!

I guess it kind of depends on the area where you are. In FL, I would suspect mud daubers, which are completely harmless, although rather scary looking insects.

My first thought was mud daubers also, because of the high location near a corner, but your description of pellets doesn't sound like their typical nest.

Sorry, need more information than you are providing. Could be anything from bed bug droppings to dry wood termite poop to simple spider egg sacks.

I'd either ask for a second showing and grab pictures and some samples to show to a local exterminator, or put in an offer contingent on a full home, pest and WDO inspection.

Sounds like the pupae of something ... flies perhaps.

If a mouse or other critter died under the house, these would be the pupae of the maggots that were eating the dead critter.

Bats maybe?

>but your description of pellets doesn't sound like their typical nest.

No, but I was wondering if they could be either the pupae cases or nests that had fallen. As the others have said, it's hard to know without more details or photos.

Crunchy or squishy? Shiny or fuzzy?

Google American cockroach egg casings. They have a very distinctive look but these sound too big though and I've never heard of them being placed high or in groups. One cockroach, one egg sac.

Mud daubers don't leave pellets (and for sure they aren't harmless--those gals can sting!). They have nice silky cocoons and don't leave them out in the open. I don't think any wasp pupates in the open.

Whatever it is, it's not a common household pest--things that big and in the open don't just sneak around. The house has probably been empty and something got in. When you live there, you'll chase out that whatever it is when it comes in and won't let it...um...make pellets. Rodents don't really glue their poop up high so I think you are safe in that regard.

Odd things get into unoccupied homes.

>and for sure they aren't harmless--those gals can sting!). They have nice silky cocoons and don't leave them out in the open. I don't think any wasp pupates in the open.

Interesting. While ours have fearsome looking stingers I've never known anyone to get stung around here. Perhaps some species are more aggressive/defensive than others.

As for pupating in the open, no, they don't. You're right about that. I was thinking of the times I've found dead pupae (often not silky, depending on the development stage) when the nest crumbled and they dropped out. Sorry I wasn't more clear about that.

It's hard to know without seeing, but it sounds like common House Spider egg sacs to me. Pretty good news, since they aren't harmful and they keep the flies/mosquitoes/worse crawly things at bay.

Here is a link that might be useful: