I've never had a mouse problem in my house. It's a 4 year old house. I have not seen droppings anywhere. But today may wife pulled out the silver ware metal mesh tray and there was some dust and other expected type debris having accumulated over the years. But also some small pellets that looked like mouse poop. Honestly it looked smaller than mouse poop but it still has us freaked out.

There were no droppings or debris in the cabinet under the drawer. There are no droppings or signs of mice in any other cabinets, including where all the food is. There are chip bags on the counter and no sign of mice.

Am I just paranoid and this wasn't a mouse?

Chia Seeds, or something similar?

quote:

Originally posted by nhracecraft:
Chia Seeds, or something similar?

It's strange because it's a silverware drawer that isn't near any of the food cabinets. We don't have any seeds or anything that looks like that. Wife cleaned it up before I got a chance to really look and try to figure it out.

Have the other drawers been gentrified?

I just looked in the basement, both finished and unfinished areas. No signs of mice. We have all our outdoor cushions stored, perfect nesting material and nothing. No droppings in our lazy susan full of food, nothing in adjacent drawers or cabinets. I'm guessing this was just dust/debris that rolled up in that shape over time as the silverware tray moves back and forth.

I just see no way a mouse would go to one drawer with no food and leave no droppings along the way. Also no signs of mouse pee in that drawer.

We had one who came in thru the plastic ducts under the house in NC, knawed a hole thru the plastic, thru the fiberglass, more plastic, then climbed up into the kitchen. After I heard him, I began the search. He never went to the pantry, but was feeding on the RID-X you pour down the line for the septic.
I had to crawl under the house to put out mouse blocks and the heat came on, revealing the hole in the duct.

They can eat just about anything, and get anywhere due to their size.

I used the sticky glue traps, put them all along the walls in the inside of the cabinet and the toe kicks under the cabinets. Once you get one, take it outside and flip it glue side to the ground and stand on it to put him out of his suffering.

It was the first winter in that home and there was still construction going on in the neighborhood so I think that’s what made him come inside.

I had some invasive mice this latest Fall, home & sister’s apartment. In the home, there was evidence in the basement. I freshened the poison & bait houses, found at least one dead one later.

The sister is on the 2nd floor, newer construction. There were mouse turds in the drawer in the bottom of the stove. She also had a hot pad chewed up. She called the apartment manager, he set some traps. I also put some poison behind the stove.

Mice can weasel their way in all sorts of places. With the stove drawer evidence, that was the only place with signs of mice. With just a few, could only be limited sign, initially.

My other neighbor lady had mouse poop in multiple kitchen drawers. I told her she had to do something about it, she was mostly against killing anything, or using poison.

For most properties, one really needs an ongoing, pest preventative program. The easiest is usually a ‘bait house’, refreshed periodically. I have mine very pet proof, heavy Woden box with a rock on top.

Chances are good.
Put a trap out and see.

Any chance they are cockroach droppings? Much smaller but similar.

Put out some traps. They are cheap and you will soon know.If is foolish not to.

We had a problem just like that.
One small width drawer on the end past the dishwasher, with only utensils ever stored there.

I think they went in there simply because they were able to reach it while exploring.
I figured they got there from the garage below by way of squeezing through the small space around the drain pipe for the sink (there were droppings under there) and then the small space around the dishwasher lines on the side.

I stuffed those spaces with brass wool and the problem stopped.

I'm still not convinced this was a mouse. I mean, I'm paranoid so I took out the silverware drawer, and pulled out all the silverware and other odds and ends. 2 sections were all the stuff you don't use ever, weird knives, cheese knives, funky shaped spoons, etc. Not one turd or anything within all of the silverware. Washed it all.

The silver mesh holder didn't have anything stuck in it. So all we found was the first few bits that looked somewhat like mouse turds. But to me they were too small.

The spray foam around the pipes under the sink is all intact and no signs of turds. But everything is clean and we'll keep an eye out. I have to find some traps.

quote:

Originally posted by MikeinNC:
We had one who came in thru the plastic ducts under the house in NC, knawed a hole thru the plastic, thru the fiberglass, more plastic, then climbed up into the kitchen.

Which is one of a few reasons not to use flex duct in a crawlspace.

Just caught one in a trap. Kitchen base cabinet with tupperware/baking pans in it. Last one we caught was on the opposite side of the same wall. Bathroom sink cabinet. I think that one came in from the drain pipe hole. No poop or pee found.
We also have some flex in the crawl. Hope that is not how they are getting in

quote:

Originally posted by oldbill123:
We also have some flex in the crawl. Hope that is not how they are getting in

Highly likely.
Take a look around your supply registers, check for pink or white insulation caught by the grill or laying in the duct boot under the register.

Yeah the flex duct was what the contractor used, it’s fast and cheap. I can’t fault them, but I would have preferred hard ducting.

Caraway seeds from that deli pastrami sandwich. Those damn things always get my attention when they fall onto the counter top.

I've had a couple of mice lately. My cats play with them and I then find them dead on my den floor. A large one (I'd heard it running to behind the refrigerator) I found alive, sitting on my kitchen sink within a foot of me, not moving. I trapped it with an open plastic cookie container and threw it outside for the outdoor cats to deal with. It was BIG -- body about 5" long -- and well fed (open cat food trays all around).

A quality picture might be of some help. If you take one, put something else in it for size like a penny.

quote:

Originally posted by Gene Hillman:
A quality picture might be of some help. If you take one, put something else in it for size like a penny.

Wife cleaned it too quickly. No pics. I assume I’ll know soon if it’s a mouse when I check the drawer.