Several people have contacted search & discover to report large numbers of small, dead 'prawns' inside the house.
These are talitrid amphipods (or landhoppers) - small terrestrial crustaceans related to slaters. Landhoppers live in damp leaf litter and eat rotting plant material. When disturbed, they jump about quite a lot, which makes them quite easy to see against the dark soil.
During and after rain, the leaf litter often becomes flooded, forcing groups of landhoppers to seek shelter. Sometimes they come into houses, where they soon die from dehydration. Like prawns, some landhoppers are light-coloured when alive, but change to pink when they die. They are completely harmless and cause no damage to houses.
If you find dead landhoppers in your house, you can just sweep them up and dispose of them.
Autumn 2003
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