Mouse droppings in your home can become a living hell. Smelly and dirty, the burden of their existence not only weighs heavily on your morale, but more importantly, can be a sign of infestation. Our mouse exterminators are used to dealing with this pest, including decontamination.
What do mouse droppings look like?
Mouse droppings are usually small, cylindrical in shape and about 3 to 6 mm long. Their colour can vary from black to dark brown, and they often have a shiny appearance when fresh.
Mouse droppings are uniform in size and resemble small grains of rice with pointed ends. Unlike rat droppings, which are larger and more varied in shape, mouse droppings are fairly small and regular. They are often numerous and scattered, as mice make them in abundance. Mouse droppings are a true sign of mouse infestation.
Let’s take a look at the situation, to easily identify the droppings of these rodents:
- Small, cylindrical in shape
- Approx. 3 to 6 mm long
- Black or dark brown in colour
- Shiny appearance when fresh
- Frequently found along walls, in corners, near food sources and in hiding places
- Numerous and scattered
- Uniform size, resembling small grains of rice with pointed ends
Mouse droppings or field mice droppings?
To differentiate between mouse and field mouse droppings, look at size and shape. Mouse droppings are small and cylindrical, as seen above, measuring around 3 to 6 mm in length, with pointed ends. Mouse field droppings, on the other hand, are slightly smaller and may be less uniform, often thinner and more irregular in shape. The location of droppings can also help: field mice often prefer outdoor areas or attics, while mice can be found anywhere in the house.
Photos of mouse droppings
That will help you identify them!
How many droppings does one mouse leave?
A mouse leaves between 50 and 80 droppings a day. This means that a single mouse can quickly leave obvious signs of its presence. In the case of an infestation, the large quantity of feces is the most obvious evidence.
Although they can be found just about anywhere in the house, droppings are most likely to be found around food sources, along walls and corners, in closets, kitchen cabinets, drawers and under furniture. In short, places where mice move around and feel safe.
Are mouse droppings dangerous?
Yes, mouse droppings are dangerous, both for humans and for your pets. The reason? Mice droppings carry serious diseases:
- Hantavirus, potentially fatal to humans;
- Salmonella, which can cause serious gastrointestinal infections;
- Leptospirosis, which can affect several organs;
- Allergies or aggravated symptoms in asthmatics.
It’s imperative to guard against such dangers by taking extra care when cleaning.
How to clean up mouse poop
Cleaning up mouse poop is an essential part of decontaminating a house after a mouse infestation. We’ve just given you a few tips in this previous article on how to clean up mouse poop, especially as it needs to be handled with the utmost care.
Wear rubber gloves to protect yourself from bacteria and viruses. We recommend using a mask to avoid inhaling dangerous particles.
Before cleaning, air the room well with windows open to allow adequate ventilation. Moisten the droppings with a disinfectant solution to reduce the dispersion of particles in the air. Then pick them up with wet wipes or absorbent paper, and place them in a sealed plastic bag. Clean the area thoroughly with an appropriate disinfectant solution.
Washing your hands with soap and warm water for at least 20 seconds will remove all traces of contamination.
Is it OK to vacuum mouse droppings?
No, we strongly advise against vacuuming mouse droppings because of the risk of particle dispersion and contamination. Vacuuming can throw dust particles and pathogens from mouse droppings into the air. This considerably increases the risk of inhalation of dangerous bacteria and viruses, such as hantavirus. Such particle dispersion makes the indoor environment potentially hazardous to the health of occupants!
Household vacuum cleaners are not designed to effectively filter out fine particles and pathogens. Using a vacuum cleaner to clean up mouse poop can result in contamination of the vacuum itself. This means that each time you use the vacuum cleaner afterwards, you could spread these harmful particles throughout your home, increasing the risk of spreading disease. So please save yourself the trouble!
Dried mouse droppings are more dangerous
The fact that mouse droppings are dry points to several important considerations.
- Mouse droppings disintegrate more easily into small particles that can become airborne. Inhaling these particles is therefore even more dangerous.
- Dry droppings are more fragile and can break into small fragments, making clean-up more complex and increasing the risk of environmental contamination.
- The presence of dry droppings often indicates that you’re dealing with an infestation that’s been going on for some time, requiring special care to assess the extent of the problem and take corrective action!
Extermination to eliminate mice and droppings
You’ll have no choice but to exterminate mice to be free of the burden of their droppings. Even if they’re only the size of a grain of rice, their multiplication is a real source of danger, and their smell and presence are very unpleasant for household members.
If you’re faced with a mouse infestation in your home, call in a team of professionals equipped to remedy the problem once and for all. The risk of trying to put an end to an infestation yourself is that you’ll do it badly, and the rodents will quickly return. Our exterminators in Montreal travel to all surrounding cities to get rid of pests for good.
