Dec 24, 2011 – The Scoop On The Poop
QUESTION:
How can I tell the difference between rat droppings & squirrel droppings? Thanks.
ANSWER:
I actually kind of like this topic, and recognize that it is an important one when it comes to determining what animal is living in or around a structure. We can class up the whole topic by referring to it as Scatology - the study of scats, or fecal droppings - and now it has evolved to an actual "scientific" investigation rather than just a fascination with poop. But, distinguishing rat or mouse droppings from bat droppings, or American cockroach droppings, or frog or lizard droppings certainly is important when it comes to dealing with the problem animals that produced those pellets.
One way to make this distinctions is to examine the makeup of that pellet. Carnivores such as bats, lizards, and frogs will have lots of pieces of insect body parts in their scat, and under good magnification you can easily see the bug legs and wing covers. However, rats and squirrels do not make their diet high in insects, so their fecal pellets will be more of a homogenous look that does not offer any good clues. Mouse droppings will often have hairs in them due to the constant grooming habit of mice, and this helps distinguish them from other animals. In general, rat droppings are elongated and cylindrical, and blunt at both ends. One text book I have that actually shows depictions of scats of many animals shows squirrel and chipmunk droppings as frequently having a long, thin "tail" on one end, presumably the end that exited last. In these depictions in this book this tail seems to be a fairly consistent character on the scats of squirrels, so if you have a small number of them you could look for this.
Believe it or not there are actually some websites that offer decent images of the various scats of mammals, and if you put in search words such as "identify squirrel droppings" you can locate these.
Another very important message to keep in mind is that squirrel and rat and mouse droppings are filthy and often filled with pathogens. We do not want to eat them or inhale the dust from them, so when dealing with large numbers of fecal droppings we need to wear disposable gloves and a respirator fitted with a HEPA filter. Removing rodent droppings from a structure following the elimination of the animals is a service we ought to be offering. Leaving those fecal piles behind in a home or restaurant or school is to leave behind a mess that now poses a health threat to the occupants. Removing the mess and sanitizing the surface needs to be done in the proper manner, and CDC and other health agencies can offer guidelines for this. You also can find discussions of this on previous Ask Mr. Pest Control questions in the Archives.
View past Ask Mr. Pest Control questions.
How can I tell the difference between rat droppings & squirrel droppings? Thanks.
ANSWER:
I actually kind of like this topic, and recognize that it is an important one when it comes to determining what animal is living in or around a structure. We can class up the whole topic by referring to it as Scatology - the study of scats, or fecal droppings - and now it has evolved to an actual "scientific" investigation rather than just a fascination with poop. But, distinguishing rat or mouse droppings from bat droppings, or American cockroach droppings, or frog or lizard droppings certainly is important when it comes to dealing with the problem animals that produced those pellets.
One way to make this distinctions is to examine the makeup of that pellet. Carnivores such as bats, lizards, and frogs will have lots of pieces of insect body parts in their scat, and under good magnification you can easily see the bug legs and wing covers. However, rats and squirrels do not make their diet high in insects, so their fecal pellets will be more of a homogenous look that does not offer any good clues. Mouse droppings will often have hairs in them due to the constant grooming habit of mice, and this helps distinguish them from other animals. In general, rat droppings are elongated and cylindrical, and blunt at both ends. One text book I have that actually shows depictions of scats of many animals shows squirrel and chipmunk droppings as frequently having a long, thin "tail" on one end, presumably the end that exited last. In these depictions in this book this tail seems to be a fairly consistent character on the scats of squirrels, so if you have a small number of them you could look for this.
Believe it or not there are actually some websites that offer decent images of the various scats of mammals, and if you put in search words such as "identify squirrel droppings" you can locate these.
Another very important message to keep in mind is that squirrel and rat and mouse droppings are filthy and often filled with pathogens. We do not want to eat them or inhale the dust from them, so when dealing with large numbers of fecal droppings we need to wear disposable gloves and a respirator fitted with a HEPA filter. Removing rodent droppings from a structure following the elimination of the animals is a service we ought to be offering. Leaving those fecal piles behind in a home or restaurant or school is to leave behind a mess that now poses a health threat to the occupants. Removing the mess and sanitizing the surface needs to be done in the proper manner, and CDC and other health agencies can offer guidelines for this. You also can find discussions of this on previous Ask Mr. Pest Control questions in the Archives.
View past Ask Mr. Pest Control questions.
