Colour of rat droppings

Neil3030

I saw a rat in my kitchen at the very end of January. It ran from under my fridge to under my oven. Exterminator came and found a hole behind the oven, leading to a crawl space. He packed the hole with steel wool and cement. As a precaution I left some rat traps around the apartment, including behind the fridge and behind the oven.

I have not seen nor heard anything rodent related since, however while vacuuming the kitchen this evening I saw a large (twice the size of a grain of rice) dark pellet along the skirting board beside the fridge where I saw the rat back in January. I pulled the fridge out to reveal three or four more pellets. In at the very back wall. No droppings anywhere else in the apartment.

Since I never caught anything in the traps, my hunch (hope) is that these were from the rat I saw in January, but my understanding is that rat droppings only remain dark for a couple of days, then turn grey and dusty. These droppings are dark, almost coffee bean in colour. Is it possible that they could stay dark for this long?

Tiercel Dave

How dry were they, rat droppings are very moist when first 'deposited'.....

Neil3030

Tiercel Dave wrote: »

How dry were they, rat droppings are very moist when first 'deposited'.....

I'd say they were fairly dry. I didn't touch them but i threw a bleach solution on before wiping them up, and there was no smearing or diluting.

New Home

They could have very well been "leftovers" from its last visit.

Del.Monte

Rule.1. is to meticulously clear away any droppings after a rodent incursion then you can be sure whether or not there are fresh ones. Would you not have seen these droppings when you were putting traps down? Droppings can stay dark brown for ages but you probably would have seen a rat again if there was one in the apartment and if you haven't then you're probably clear.

Ultimate Seduction

Del.Monte wrote: »

Rule.1. is to meticulously clear away any droppings after a rodent incursion then you can be sure whether or not there are fresh ones. Would you not have seen these droppings when you were putting traps down? Droppings can stay dark brown for ages but you probably would have seen a rat again if there was one in the apartment and if you haven't then you're probably clear.

If not seen him, you would have definitely heard it. There very loud when moving around at night

fryup

hi folks,

saw these black droppings on the insulation in my attic..mice or rat ?

harr

fryup wrote: »

hi folks,

saw these black droppings on the insulation in my attic..mice or rat ?

Found some droppings that size in my attic a few weeks and I taught for sure I had a rat I set a few traps ( rat traps and mouse traps) I caught 4 mice in a week and no sign of any rats and I have set poison trap and that hasn’t been touched. But going by the droppings I found I was sure we had a rat.

ciarang85

Hard to tell from that photo,

They do look quiet small, Mouse droppings look like grains of rice,

I have seen some rat droppings recently and they were much bigger and thicker that rice

McMurphy

harr wrote: »

Found some droppings that size in my attic a few weeks and I taught for sure I had a rat I set a few traps ( rat traps and mouse traps) I caught 4 mice in a week and no sign of any rats and I have set poison trap and that hasn’t been touched. But going by the droppings I found I was sure we had a rat.

Don't they say you rarely find mice and rats in the same place?

magicbastarder

they do say it, but apparently that doesn't make it true.

fryup

Johnny Dogs wrote: »

Don't they say you rarely find mice and rats in the same place?

i thought it was the other way around...where's there's mice there's rats ..no?

ldy4mxonucwsq6

fryup wrote: »

hi folks,

saw these black droppings on the insulation in my attic..mice or rat ?

Looks like mice to me.

Scotty #

Neil3030 wrote: »

I'd say they were fairly dry. I didn't touch them but i threw a bleach solution on before wiping them up, and there was no smearing or diluting.

This might be a long shot but... I came across what I first thought was a load of rat droppings in work lately. On further, and very close inspection, they turned out to be dead Woodlouse. Dead Woodlouse kind of go a bit mouldy after a while and from a short distance can look very like rat droppings.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Any chance there were bats around, if the droppings are dry?

fryup

hadn't had bats in the attic in years....anyway they'd hardly roost this time of year?

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

fryup wrote: »

hadn't had bats in the attic in years....anyway they'd hardly roost this time of year?

Not roosting at at this time but droppings will be there. I see them on my annual visit to the attic for the Christmas decorations.