# What kind of droppings are these mice/rat?



## Thom Paine (Nov 24, 2021)

A spilled box of Raisin Bran ? 

Sorry. Couldn't help myself... 

Appears to be mice but there is no scaled perspective.


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## Harryc1234 (5 mo ago)

Thom Paine said:


> A spilled box of Raisin Bran ?
> 
> Sorry. Couldn't help myself...
> 
> Appears to be mice but there is no scaled perspective.










There was a beetle type thing next to them


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## Thom Paine (Nov 24, 2021)

That pic helps a bit, Rats, generally leave larger droppings... 

Near food or waste storage or passing through to food or waste storage ? 

Gotta' track them to trap them.


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## icerabbit (9 mo ago)

Probably a mouse ( based on the wide image )


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## DoomsDave (Dec 6, 2018)

Get some mouse traps and bait with unpastuerized chunky peanut butter, for starters. Other things will work, too, but that's the best first line of defense/offense.


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## YaterSpoon (Dec 1, 2016)

Rat.


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## DoomsDave (Dec 6, 2018)

It might be a good idea to get a variety of trap sizes; rodents vary, sometimes a lot in size. Don't go wild, just a couple/three of each of about three sizes - mouse, rat and in-between.


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## DrivewayDude (Dec 29, 2014)

I got Tomcat traps and killed no end of mice.

The Tomcat paste bait for traps is worthless. I'll tell you what mice love. You get some Victor mouse bait balls and some peanut butter. Put peanut butter in the trap and then push a bait ball into it. The peanut butter glues the ball into the trap, so the mice have to wrestle to get it out. That pops the trap. Using this method, I have never been robbed. 

Peanut butter alone is no good because they can lick it up without springing the trap. 

Glue traps are inferior. I saw a mouse run around with one stuck to its tail. Sometimes they work, but I have found empty glue traps with mouse fur in them, along with footprints and depressions where the mice rolled around and got loose.

Tomcat bait blocks are actually mouse food. The box says they kill in one feeding, but my mice come back to eat day after day with no ill effects.


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## DoomsDave (Dec 6, 2018)

DrivewayDude said:


> I got Tomcat traps and killed no end of mice.
> 
> The Tomcat paste bait for traps is worthless. I'll tell you what mice love. You get some Victor mouse bait balls and some peanut butter. Put peanut butter in the trap and then push a bait ball into it. The peanut butter glues the ball into the trap, so the mice have to wrestle to get it out. That pops the trap. Using this method, I have never been robbed.
> 
> ...


Hmm. Sounds like your mice have gotten poison resistant. 

Good point about the peanut butter, though not all mice learn the trick to lick quick enough to avoid being caught.


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## DrivewayDude (Dec 29, 2014)

You would think my mice had developed resistance, but I live in the woods. They haven't had much exposure to poison. And warfarin, an old poison, kills them right away. They bleed out from the anus and make a mess.


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## DoomsDave (Dec 6, 2018)

DrivewayDude said:


> You would think my mice had developed resistance, but I live in the woods. They haven't had much exposure to poison. And warfarin, an old poison, kills them right away. They bleed out from the anus and make a mess.


Interesting! (And . . . ewwwww!) I suspect that poison resistance can be a big evolutionary advantage that can spread a lot if a poison is widely used, even in out of the way places. That said, I'd be curious to see if anyone's done any studies. They still sell warfarin over here, too. Both for rodent poison and to people who need to take it to keep their arteries unclogged, like one of my best friends from high school.

Rodent poisons can travel up the food chain; supposedly, the most common causes of death for mountain lions out here are getting hit by a car, and hemorrhage from eating poison resistant rodents that have eaten a lot of poison.


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## Missouri Bound (Apr 9, 2011)

I can't tell from the perspective, but mouse droppings are the size of sprinkles you find on a donut.


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## snic (Sep 16, 2018)

Missouri Bound said:


> I can't tell from the perspective, but mouse droppings are the size of sprinkles you find on a donut.


...And rat droppings are about the size of raisins or maybe slightly larger. It's impossible to tell from the photos how big the droppings are. Next time (hopefully there won't be a next time!) put a ruler down next to them before taking a photo.


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