Finding animals in your home is never fun, especially when you suspect rodents are living in your space. You might hear scratching noises in your walls or find gnaw marks on some of the food in your pantry. Either way, the thought of sharing your home with mice is never comforting.
One of the easiest ways to tell if mice are in your home is by looking for their droppings. Mice droppings look similar to dark grains of rice and are usually an eighth to a quarter of an inch in length. However, if you see something that looks like mouse droppings, you should avoid coming in close contact with them, as they can spread diseases.
If you find mouse droppings, you should contact a wildlife removal company to assist you in cleaning the area and finding the live mice to remove them safely.
What Do Mouse Droppings Look Like?
Unfortunately, mouse infestations are common issues that many homeowners face at some point in their lives. While knowing mice are living in your home can be unnerving, this is nothing a wildlife removal company cannot fix for you.
If you suspect that you have found mouse droppings, it’s important to know what they look like. Being able to identify them properly can help you provide accurate information to a pest removal company when you make your call.
Mouse droppings resemble dark brown grains of rice. Typically, they are between an eighth to a quarter of an inch in length.
Oftentimes, mouse droppings are confused with rat excrement because they look similar. The main difference is that rat droppings are wider and larger. Even if you have a rat infestation rather than mice, you should still contact a professional for assistance.
Where to Check For Mouse Droppings
If you have heard scratching noises or found evidence of mice eating your shelved food, you might be wondering where to check for their droppings. While it is best to have a professional inspect this for you, it can be a good idea to know where to look. If you are looking for mouse droppings yourself, you should consider wearing gloves and a mask to keep yourself from getting sick.
When looking for mouse droppings, check the following areas:
- Kitchen cabinets, pantries, and other areas where food is stored
- Utility closets and areas near appliances or water heaters
- Closets and small spaces
- Bathroom cabinets
- Attics and crawl spaces
- Air vents or exposed pipes
- Holes in walls
If you find mouse droppings in your home, this most likely means that there is an active infestation. While you might be tempted to look for the mice on your own, it is safer to contact a professional mouse removal company.
How to Safely Clean Mouse Droppings
It is best to ask for help from a professional pest removal company, however, if you are set on removing the mouse droppings on your own, you should know how to do it safely.
Mice can carry a wide range of diseases, including:[1]
- Hantavirus
- Hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome
- Lassa fever
- Leptospirosis
- Lujo hemorrhagic fever
- Lymphocytic Choriomeningitis (LCM)
- Monkeypox
- Omsk Hemorrhagic Fever
- Rat-Bite Fever
- Salmonellosis
- South American arenaviruses
- Sylvatic typhus
- Tularemia
Because of the risk of developing potentially life-threatening diseases, you should always air out the area containing mouse droppings before you go in to clean. Additionally, wearing a mask and gloves is vital.
Once you begin cleaning, you should use a disinfectant and let it soak for at least five minutes. Then clean the space with rags or paper towels that are immediately put into a sealable disposal bag.
After cleaning, check the area 24 hours later. If you find new mouse droppings, you definitely have a current infestation.
Why Should You Contact a Professional Wildlife Removal Company When You Find Mouse Droppings?
As previously demonstrated, mice can carry dangerous diseases. If you attempt to remove them on your own, you could come in contact with the excrement that carries these diseases. Additionally, if you find a live mouse, you could get bitten and contract a disease in that manner.
Another reason you should always contact a professional wildlife removal company is that ensuring the mouse infestation is resolved can be a difficult task. These companies are experienced and trained to remove infestations efficiently.
Professional wildlife removal companies will take the following steps to ensure the mice infestation is properly dealt with:
- Check for potential entry points that the mice might be breaching your home through
- Close off any openings around the home or in crawl spaces
- Helping you limit access to possible food sources
- Showing you how to clear clutter that might serve as hiding places
- Trapping mice to remove them from the home
- Removing any dead mice from spaces they may have hidden in
- Providing you with advice on how to prevent an infestation in the future
Contact Nuisance Wildlife Rangers Today
If you believe your home is infested with mice or another type of rodent, Nuisance Wildlife Rangers is here to help. We can ensure that the infestation is taken care of while offering you advice on how to prevent it in the future.
Contact us today for help with containing mice infestations.
References:
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): How to Control Wild Rodent Infestations, Retrieved December 2023 From https://www.cdc.gov/healthypets/pets/wildlife/rodent-control.html