Mouse Droppings Identification Made Easy

One of the most common signs that you have mice coming into your home is spotting mice poop. There are several different animals that leave droppings behind however, and it might not be mice that are leaving the poop.

Mouse droppings identification is easy if you know what you’re looking for.I will cover everything you need to know in this article.

It’s important to know what animal is leaving the droppings if you’re going to do something about it. Different animals require very different plans of action. As well as presenting different problems to you and your property.

Safety First

I want to talk about safety first. Dealing with droppings is not a pleasant experience. Rodent or animal droppings can pose a serious health risk, even though they are small they can carry diseases.

Wear gloves at all times, even if you’re not picking up the poop directly. The whole area will likely be contaminated with urine and footprints. A mask is advisable too, the ammonia from the urine is harmful to your health.

If it’s in your kitchen that you find the droppings you should call a professional cleaning company once the infestation has been dealt with. You can’t be too cautious when it comes to preparing and storing food in a clean environment.

Different Animal and Mouse Droppings Identification

House Mice Poop

House mice leave a lot of poop behind. The droppings will be just a few mm in length, and will be brown in color. It’s not a nice thought, but to be honest house mice droppings look like brown grains of rice.

Rat Poop

Obviously rats are similar to mice, but they are larger rodents that pose a lot more health risks. If you are finding droppings that are 1cm (10mm) and larger than it’s likely rats droppings.

Rat poo is also shiny and moist when fresh and dark in color. Signs of fresh poop is worrying, but don’t worry a call to pest control can take care of it for you. Act as soon as you find the evidence, that rats won’t leave on their own accord.

Squirrel Poop

I thought I’d include squirrels as their poop is often mistaken for mice and rats. Squirrel poop is around the same size as rat poop. So if you get close enough to get a good idea what size the feces are you can categorize them as rats or squirrels and not mice.

They will be dark brown and will lighten the older they are. So you can use how dry and light they are as a rough indication to how old the droppings are.

In Summary

Mouse droppings identification isn’t easy. There are various rodents and other animals that also may be responsible. It’s certainly not fun getting up close an tying to identify poop.

Professional pest control companies can help. I always recommend using humane methods yourself first to help move the animals on somewhere else without exterminating them.

Mice produce up to 100 droppings a day. This is also worth keeping in mind as an indication of how many mice, or how long they are spending in your home.

Diseases Carried by Mice Droppings

Rodent droppings potentially carry some diseases that can be harmful to humans and house pets. Some of the more common diseases are:

• Rat-Bite Fever
• Salmonellosis
• Lassa Fever
• Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome
• Tularemia

These are some pretty serious medical conditions. Although it’s only a small chance, I’m sure you will agree it’s pretty scary. All the more reason to clean up very thoroughly, and call in some professionals if you have a serious problem with a large amount feces.

Cleaning up Mouse Poop

As soon as you find droppings you need to clean them up. As mentioned earlier the first thing you need to do is wear protective items. Gloves and a mask are the essential.

I covered cleaning up rodent droppings in more detail. Here are the basics:

• Spray the entire area with a strong disinfectant of a bleach and water solution
• Let is soak for 5-10 minutes, open some windows to allow good air-flow
• Wipe up all the solution and any mess with paper towels and safely dispose of it all
• Disinfect any surrounding areas that you think the mice walked over
• Use floor and surface cleaners to be thorougher
• It materials like fabric have been affected you will need to steam clean them
• Remove your gloves and mask and dispose of them along with any other cleaning materials