One morning, you go into your kitchen, and you spot some dry-looking black pellets which resemble tiny pieces of rice. What could they be? If you guessed rodent droppings you are correct. But what exactly are you dealing with here? Rats or mice? Let’s find out.

Rodents are active at night, so it’s rare to see one out in the open indoors, especially during the beginning and middle stages of an infestation. However, these rodents leave other evidence of their presence – most commonly droppings.

Droppings are not only a major sign that there is an infestation in the home, they can also indicate the species and the pattern of activity of the rodents behind the infestation. Since house mice are much smaller than rats, their droppings are also quite small, usually measuring between 1/8th and ¼ of an inch.

One dropping by itself can be pretty hard to spot and identify, but one house mouse will usually leave anywhere from 50 to 75 droppings in a day, and these will almost always be outside of its nest, in areas of high activity, such as behind counters and furniture, and near food. So if you suspect that you have a mouse infestation, you can look in these areas to make sure.

Rat droppings are much larger, at about half an inch in length, and in terms of shape, you will be able to spot that mouse droppings are pointier near the ends, while rat droppings have a more uniform shape.

What to do if you spot droppings?

The bad news when you see droppings is that you have a mouse infestation, but the good news is that you may have spotted it early on, before the mouse population is too large. This makes the removal process much faster, and if you go with a pro, cheaper.

Once you spot the droppings, the best course of action is to call over a pro to perform an inspection and remove the infestation for you. You can choose to go with traps and poisons and get rid of the mice yourself, but DIY usually leads to more headaches than the one you’re trying to solve. The infestation may be impartially removed, which will lead to reinfestation, or you may end up with dead mice in hard to reach areas if you choose to poison them. With a pro, you do not have to worry about these issues, and in the long term, it may prove to be the more cost effective option. If you would like to know more about house mouse control methods, or if you want to schedule an appointment with a pest control pro, contact us today.