Gross! You Can Tell The Number Of Mice You May Have By The Number Of Droppings

It happened again! This last weekend my wife went to pull out some silverware from the drawer and discovered mice droppings in the drawer. This seems to be the spot they get into this time of year. Our recent drop in temperatures in Minnesota and Wisconsin has brought the mice back into our home.

Mice look for warmth when the temperature drops in the fall. It's the most likely time of year these critters will find their way into your home, vehicles, garages, campers, boats, you name it! They are destructive and they are everywhere.

What I can't believe is how many droppings we found in our drawer! It happened overnight. There must be hundreds in the house, right?

I did some research, trying to find out just how many droppings a single mouse leaves behind in a day. I thought for sure I had at least a dozen in our kitchen.

I don't know if the answer was good news or bad news. Here's why: a mouse on average can leave behind 50 to 100 droppings a day. That's just one mouse in a 24-hour period of time. That's a lot of mouse poop.

I counted in our drawer around 100 mice droppings. We left a mouse trap in there for 3 days now, and we have caught two mice. We haven't had a mouse caught now since the morning of day 2, so I'm hoping we got them all. It would make sense based on the number of droppings that we had 2 mice.

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Now before you start counting the mice droppings, make sure you protect yourself. Mice can transmit disease through their droppings and there are some steps you should take to protect yourself.

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Terminix offers some guidelines for this that can help you keep yourself safe while you clean it.

• Air out the space where the droppings are for 30 minutes before cleaning
• Wear rubber, latex, or vinyl gloves and a respirator
• Let the area soak in a disinfectant spray for 5 minutes
• Clean out the area with disposable paper towels or rags
• Seal it and dispose of it outside immediately in a closed trash can

To prevent mice from entering your home, look for potential openings they can get through. Mice can fit through a space as small as a dime.

Don't leave food sources out, try to keep kitchen areas clean. Clearing clutter around the home can help as well.

Set out mouse traps, and poisons (in safe areas away from pets), and check them regularly. If you continue to have a mice problem, consider hiring a professional exterminator.