Because mice are primarily nocturnal (though they are somewhat active during the day as well) they aren’t the easiest critters to catch sight of. This makes their droppings the closest and most accurate way of gauging how often they are frequenting your home as well as an idea as to their numbers.
If you are noticing what you suspect to be the droppings of some rodent or another in your home, finding out exactly what species is leaving you these little surprises will enable you to apply the best pest control methods to get the job done.
Mice, rats, squirrels, and their various subspecies require specialized baits and traps to be used for the most efficient results. And, at any rate, rodent droppings can be dangerous.
That said, It can be difficult to tell mouse droppings from rat droppings (and other various types of pests’ droppings). So, how do you tell the difference? What exactly do mouse droppings look like?
How To Identify Mouse Droppings
As you could probably guess, there are few differences between the droppings of some rodent species. Mouse droppings, for example, are normally one-eighth to one-quarter of an inch long in size. Furthermore, the ends of the droppings are most often tapered (appearing somewhat like a grain of rice).
Larger rodents, such as common rats, leave droppings that are much larger (reaching up to just over half an inch in size) and wider. So, in other words, mouse poop is thinner and half the size of rat poop.
Color is one factor that is not regular enough to rely on for identification purposes. The main reason being that the color of a mouse’s droppings depends on their diet, which in turn is dictated by whatever food happens to be available at the time.
Characteristics of mouse droppings include:
- A length of one-eighth of an inch to one-quarter of an inch
- Sharp pointed ends (similar to rice)
- Colors ranging from dark black and brown to lighter shades including grey
Where To Search For Mouse Droppings
Each day, a single mouse may create as many as 75 pellets (also known as droppings). This knowledge allows professionals to determine how many mice may be involved in an infestation once they have got a good look at the area and counted droppings.
If you’re not sure if there are currently mouse droppings in your home, here are a few of the most common places that you can search to find them:
- Kitchens
- Bathrooms
- Attics
- Crawlspaces
- Cabinets
- Food storage
- Countertops
- Under and behind appliances
- Attic and crawl space
- Areas of the home with pipes, wires, or structural damage
Final Thoughts
Mouse droppings, quite frankly, are pretty easy to spot regardless of the fact that they can and do vary wildly in color. If you’ve noticed droppings, and they are under a half-inch, thin in shape, with pointy ends, you are dealing with mouse droppings.
If your droppings are larger than a half-inch, thick, or rounded on the end, chances are you are dealing with something else (probably a rat).
Be sure to practice caution while removing the mouse droppings. Likewise, afterward, do wear a pair of disposable gloves to clean and sanitize the area thoroughly before calling it a day.