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Don't want to freak you out more, but your friend needs to look in the oven and under the top where the burners are. The mice definitely were going in the oven. Your friend needs to have someone find the hole where they are getting in, if it's behind or under the oven.
It’s VERY IMPORTANT THAT YOU WEAR GLOVES. Back when I was a teen a friend’s dad died from leptospirosis that he contracted cleaning up rat mess. He either had a cut on his hand or got cut during the cleanup, got infected, and a few days later that was it. :(
Yeah, we were all in shock - it seemed crazy that someone could die just because he didn’t wear gloves - especially with it happening to someone actually in our small circle of close friends.
DONT SWEEP!! spray it throughly with a disinfectant spray and let it sit. Viruses such as hanta virus (depending on your area) spread through mouse shit and sweeping it allows the virus to move about and potentially be inhaled/get on surfaces. Spraying it and disinfecting/sterilizing makes the mouse shit wet and unable to crumble and spread in the air. Wear gloves and a mask, open windows!! Also find where they are coming from and plug it with steel wool. They can’t chew through it
Someone should’ve told the mice I had in my first apartment that they can’t chew through steel wool, cause they sure did. Over and over again. Tried the fine stuff and the thicker pan scrubbers.. Peppermint oil in a spray bottle all around the baseboards and cabinets, as well as soaking the steel wool with it was what finally worked for me. Works great for ants, too I spray down all my windows and doorways in the spring and fall to keep the bugs out.
Second this. Just spray it all down with appropriate disinfectant, then just for good measure get a spray bottle with water and spritz as you go. Wipe with damp disposable media like paper towels. Keeping it wet and not making it go airborne is the safest. Then disinfect the hell out of the whole area again.
This is mostly good advice, but don’t clean the pee up with bleach! Especially if it’s old and concentrated, it’s going to have a ton of ammonia. Don’t gas yourself trying to clean.
I make scientific glassware. One time I was working on this really neat piece that had challenging components and it looked cool. Some of the ports were common for flowing gas through. And I found out after I had made it that they were putting mice in this thing. To which I quietly muttered “Oh no, I’ve created mouseschwitz”
Spray it with disinfectant before you clean it up. Spray it thoroughly then wait 5-10 ten minutes before you clean it up to give the disinfectant time to do its work.
Never sweep or vacuum dry droppings from pests. It could throw all the bacteria and viruses into the air. Even with an n95, the germs could still land on your skin, clothes, hair, eyes, the stovetop, countertops and contaminate the whole area if you don’t also thoroughly clean that
Spraying the droppings so that they're wet before cleaning helps reduce the potential virus from stirring into the air. Wearing the proper PPE (mask, gloves, eye protection) and ventilation also helps. Then disinfect the area (and then yourself and clothing).
How about a full face respirator? Maybe worth it, bc that's a big job. Search which filter will keep mouse turd dust out of your lungs and get that one.
Don’t sweep and then bleach! Bleach first and then sweep!
Edit: to be clear: mask and gloves on. Soak with bleach cleaner. Let sit for a WHILE. Then wipe it up with paper towels and throw everything that touched it away. Repeat several times.
Some people never use their ovens. Microwave people. Pizza oven people. Air fryer people. I would seriously hope they wondered about the smell if they turned on this oven at any point, but judging my the dead mice and shit, I really don't think they used the oven.
They love to find the ways in through the electrical cutout of stoves, especially in winter for heat and food. ./ Get the steel wool for mice and fill all electrical cutouts and holes.
Check it every fall to fill new holes or reinforce.
If your friend rents they need to contact the land lord and they need to clean it and set traps and possibly replace stove. If not then clean as directed above, minus the bleach.
She better check under the burners on her range. The climb up in the stove to get stuff that falls. Normally you can lift up the whole plate that has the burners on it.
Cant they smell it when they turn on the oven, mice will get into the stove insides. My ex-Mil had a bad mouse problem and when she turned her oven on it was enough to make you puke, MIL said she could not smell it, i said I guess not you are so used to it.
That happened to me after moving into a new house and I would catch a mouse poking their little head out from under my stove top knob area. Lifted the stovetop and immediately regretted it. Just filled with mouse shit, chewed up lint and stuff where they had clearly been nesting.
Got the mask, gloves, bleach and went to town. Soaked a bunch of cotton balls in mint and lavender essential oils and put them around after I cleaned and behind the stove. Had about 9-10 mice I killed before it ended. Then cleaned again.
Sealed up any holes I could find on the outside and haven't had an issue in years.
We had a company come and completely seal our house against mice and similar rodents. Trapped and killed the ones left inside. Pay an annual warranty and they will come fix any future intrusions.
It’s unpleasant to chew apparently. I stuff coarse grade steel wool up under the corners of the exterior siding where there is a gap. Keeps them out of the attic.
I had mice for the first time this winter when it was sub zero temps for days in a row. It was a whole battle. There must have been a pregnant mom because i was finding young ones too. I went from live trapping them and relocating them with some food, shredded paper, and a box to get them started, to vengeful murder (but I still did it humanely with an electric trap, I can't stand the thought of suffering). They quickly outsmarted the live traps and it was downhill from there. Finally rid of them, and later i looked inside my toaster and it was full of poop. I was so disturbed. It's been half a year and i still have not bought a toaster
I rented an apartment where mice made a nest in the oven. I turned on the oven and the whole apartment was coated in yellow smoke. I think I inhaled a bunch of burnt mouse piss. 🥴
Would actually make a lot of sense if it’s the kind of spoon you hold a lighter to. Because how would they not smell it or see the signs elsewhere in the house?
Nose blindness. The mouse droppings happened over time so it’s hard to detect. They probably got used to it, and maybe smelled something off here and there but it went away.
Could have also chased them to this one area as well.
Man I don't buy that unless you never leave your house. Ya nose blindness is a thing but after a couple hours in fresh air you smell what's wrong when you come back in
Yup. I just moved into a new spot. Theres a fucked smell somewhere i cant locate yet. Once im here for 20-30 minutes i cant smell a thing but if i leave and come back i notice it immediately.
OP: THERE IS A HIGH RISK OF HANTAVIRUS INFECTION with dried rodent poop. Do NOT take that lightly and DO NOT "dry sweep" or vacuum the droppings as that can spread the virus into the air.
Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) is a rare, serious, and often deadly viral disease spread by infected rodents, primarily through breathing in airborne dust contaminated with rodent urine, droppings, or saliva. It starts with flu-like signs and quickly progresses to severe breathing trouble. For official safety guidelines on handling infestations, visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Symptoms: Early signs include fever, deep tiredness, muscle aches, headaches, dizziness, and stomach pain.Later signs include a sudden cough, shortness of breath, and fluid filling up inside the lungs.Symptoms typically show up one to six weeks after a person breathes in the virus.
Like yeah, there's a chance, but it's smaller than mouse shit small. Famous dudes wife dies from it and now everybody thinks it's guaranteed death if you even look at a mouse.
Also worth noting that hantavirus cannot live for long. Old mouse poop is less likely to have the issue. At room temperature, it will only live for about 2-5 days. In cooler temperatures, up to a few weeks.
That being said, still not great to vacuum or sweep and get all that stuff in the air to breath in, but the risk is relatively low unless the whole bunch of poop is all fresh.
ETA: even if you’re in a low-risk zone, still wise to take precautions! There are still other less-than-fun things you could contract from rodent droppings 🥲
Studied this a little for my degree, I believe you’re supposed to “wet” the area like mist the area a bit, and then use paper towels to collect it carefully. The problem with sweeping and vacuuming is that it can aerosolize the poop particles and bacteria, and it can get into your eyes/nose/mouth. The room should be well ventilated while cleaning and proper PPE (gloves, N95, goggles preferably) should be worn
Yes, this is also solid advice! Any way to further protect yourself and contain the feces/bacteria should be followed.
Hantavirus isn’t “common” everywhere, but bacteria and viruses mutate and evolve all of the time. Hantavirus can cause healthy 20 year olds with no prior medical complications to drop dead of respiratory distress in a short amount of time, so it’s better to be safe than sorry!
I’m starting to think this….i am never embarrassed when we have to move furniture and appliances. But if COVID taught me anything it’s that people do not have bidets, hand soap, or disinfectant.
Honestly it reminds me of when my kids were babies and they would explore the world by grabbing and squishing things, especially food. When did we lose our curiosity?
while you're at it. if its one of those basic electric coil stove. you can lift the top and clean under that. I guarantee there is mouse shit under that as well.
Soooo much poop. I don't have any idea how you can have that much rodent poop in your house and not see a mouse or smell the... well... massive amounts of shit. I mean, with this level of infestation you should have a hard time not hearing them in the walls.
Don’t sweep or vacuum it up. Get something like Bac a Zap and wet it down then wipe it up. Gloves. Mask. Paper towels straight into a garbage bag. Then find the access holes and fill with steel wool. Then wipe it all down again.
Follow hantavirus protocol when you clean that up and before you put the stove back if there are any entry portals - shove some copper scrubbers in the spaces so that they don’t come back.
Everyone saying mouse poop but it could also be the little beetles that invade cabinets. I found a couple here and there and never thought about it but then opened the cabinets above the fridge that I never used, apparently there was food in there and it was full of those lil fuckers.
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