How To Clean Up Mouse Droppings In Kitchen

The kitchen is the perfect place for mice owing to the easy access to food, water, and the right breeding place.

There are high chances that you may incur frequent damage and repair expenses because most of these rodents destroy cooking appliances. Mice carry diseases causing organisms that render food they come in contact with unfit for consumption.

To keep these rodents far away from your kitchen, you need to develop a clean and healthy lifestyle.

Kitchen hygiene doesn't have to be a prerequisite – it is a must. Usually, mice will leave their droppings in every kitchen appliance, starting from the utensils to your most valuable kitchen electronics.

Most people have asked me, how do you clean mouse droppings in the oven? Or what do you do if you find out there are mouse droppings in the oven? This post will walk you through all the answers to the questions you have regarding this topic. Let's dive in.

Table of Contents

1 How to Clean Mouse Droppings From the Oven?
2 Further Tips When You Find Mouse Droppings in Your Oven
- 2.1 Do's and Don'ts
3 Is It Safe to Use an Oven Touched with Mouse Poop?
4 Can You Get Sick From Cleaning Mouse Droppings?
5 6 Genius Ways to Keep Mice Out of Ovens
- 5.1 1. Reduce Population
- 5.2 2. Prohibit Entry
- 5.3 3. Eliminate Food Source
- 5.4 4. Repel With Peppermint
- 5.5 5. Keep the Kitchen Swept and Tidy
- 5.6 6. Seal All of Your Food
6 Can a Mouse Get Into a Dishwasher?
7 Can a Mouse Get Into a Microwave?
8 Can a Mouse Get Into a Refrigerator?
- 8.1 Frequently Asked Questions
- 8.2 1. Can you catch anything from mouse droppings?
- 8.3 2. What can I use to disinfect mouse droppings?
- 8.4 3. Will lights keep mice away?

How to Clean Mouse Droppings From the Oven?

An oven is a delicate kitchen appliance, and you have to be sure how you will clean it. Also, how you clean one oven to another will depend on the brand. Finding mouse droppings in your oven can be daunting because it makes the oven stink, so what do you do?

The first step is to scope the mouse droppings and then separate the removable parts. This makes it painless to spot hidden features when you are cleaning. However, as you do this, you need to ensure that you have disconnected the oven's power supply.

The next step is to boil some water with vinegar and use it to clean your oven drawers and your oven's surface. The main reason you are doing this is that you want to get rid of the pathogens and the smell that comes out from the oven.

If the oven still smells, you need to start your broil for a few hours. Get the temperature to 350 degrees until you don't get the smell again. This high temperature should be able to kill all the pathogens. Once that is done, use a fragrance to bring back the good smell in the oven.

Further Tips When You Find Mouse Droppings in Your Oven

Usually, most people get disturbed when they find mouse droppings in the oven. In most cases, they will give up and leave the droppings hoping to find a way of removing them. You should note that you must never hold the mouse droppings with your bare hands because you stand a risk of getting infections.

The first step is always to be sure what you see – is it mouse droppings, or is it another thing? This will help you come up with better ways to handle the foreign or smelly material. Besides that, I also summarise what you should do and should not do when you find mouse droppings in your oven.

Do's and Don'ts

Don't be the overreacting person. Instead of reacting to what you have seen, you need to sweep the droppings away, and you need to be careful when doing this.
Never use a vacuum cleaner to clean mouse droppings. Most people get tempted to use a vacuum cleaner, but this doesn't seem right and should be avoided by all means. This is because blowing them away using a vacuum cleaner increases your chances of inhaling them.
It would be best if you never handled the mouse dropping using your bare hands because the droppings have pathogens leading to diseases. Use gloves and remove the gloves when you complete removing them.
Instead of airing the area before cleaning the area, you'd better open all the windows and doors to make sure that there is free circulation of air coming in and going out. This will help reduce your chances of inhaling the bad air.
After you have collected the mouse droppings, please put them in a sealed bag, and appropriately dispose of them.

Is It Safe to Use an Oven Touched with Mouse Poop?

Cleaning and disinfecting an oven touched with rat poop is necessary before any direct contact. Mice carry disease-causing pathogens that cause diseases and viruses. The accumulation of mouse droppings and urines can contaminate the environment, food items and cause people to be infected after touching them.

Handling mouse droppings with your hands is not safe. It could make you prone to diseases and infections, which may be hazardous if not properly treated. Get a glove or toilet paper to pick the droppings from the oven immediately you spot one. However, if the droppings are soaked in urine, merely picking them up would not kill the bacteria.

To clean mouse droppings from the oven safely, wipe the oven with a bleach solution, good detergent and a clean towel. It would be best if you allowed the oven to for at least 5 minutes before drying off. Once you switch the oven on, the heat will eventually destroy the remaining bacteria from the mouse poop.

Can You Get Sick From Cleaning Mouse Droppings?

Hantavirus is an infection caused by rodents. When cleaning up a mouse dropping from the oven, microwave, drawers, the dust you breathe in may be contaminated. This can cause serious health challenges to a human. Hantavirus is a non-communicable disease and cannot get transmitted from one person to another.

Hantavirus is a severe disease that can get worse quickly. Even with intensive treatments, there is the possibility of complications like lung and heart failure, which can lead to death. Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS) has an approximately a 36% fatality rate.

The transfer of bacteria from mouse droppings or urine to food can cause Salmonellosis. This is a type of food poisoning that is found naturally in mice, and it's eliminated from their body through feces.

6 Genius Ways to Keep Mice Out of Ovens

1. Reduce Population

Mice reproduce at a quick rate. Female mice can give birth up to 10 times in a year, with 3-24 babies at one sitting. The fast reproductive system of mice can populate the kitchen with the rodents.

An effective way to contain mice is to set multiple traps to eliminate the rodent problem. You can use wood traps, metal traps, bait traps to capture mice around places they build their nest. The more mice trap you set, the better the outcome.

2. Prohibit Entry

Mice can wheeze themselves in any tiny hole. Holes in the kitchens are entry points for mice. You want to make sure that no extra mice can enter the kitchen. Cover up every tiny hole in your house from the plumbing under your sink to behind your cabinets. Use protective gloves when stuffing steel wool into the holes to prevent likely contamination of disease.

3. Eliminate Food Source

Mice can be a common problem in the kitchen. These rodents lurk around the kitchens because of the warmth, presence of food items and the excellent breeding place it offers.

Storing food properly in a sealed container is an excellent step to contain mice in the kitchen. Use seal-tight containers to protect cereals, sugary items, carbohydrates. This would minimize any attracting smells that may lure them.

Don't leave crumbs of food on the kitchen counters. The trash should be secured and bagged in a bin with tight lids to prevent them from gaining access to crumbs. Wash the dishes after every meal and wipe the stovetop properly to remove any scents of food. By doing this simple and practical step, you can significantly reduce the population of mice in your kitchen.

4. Repel With Peppermint

All rodents, especially mice, are allergic to peppermint oils. They can start to clear off any property they smell peppermint oils. Putting a few drops of peppermint flavor in your kitchen cabinet, sinks, walls, and oven reduce the number of mice significantly.

You can make a DIY spray bottle with half water, half vinegar and drops of peppermint oils and use it to clean the surfaces of your kitchen appliances. Use a few drops of peppermint oils in gaps where mice can squeeze through.

If you have a garden in your home, consider planting peppermint plants. Doing this will prevent mice from eating up other flowers that are worth preserving.

5. Keep the Kitchen Swept and Tidy

Keeping your kitchen clean and neat is a must. If there isn't any food to salvage, or any mess to get into, they'll find other housing to move into.

It is important to sweep the kitchen floor, remove all food crumbs from the kitchen appliances and brush the walls to remove stains. Since food crumbs are the perfect food for mice, not seeing any can drive them away fast.

Adequate ventilation is another essential step to prevent mice from your home. Allow the natural breeze to keep the environment fresh and warm. Take care of your floors, laundry and reduce clustered areas in your home. Daily cleaning helps a lot.

6. Seal All of Your Food

Use seal-tight containers to store food items. This will prevent mice from getting any scent of food and looking for a way to nibble around them.

Can a Mouse Get Into a Dishwasher?

Mice can sneeze through any tiny holes in the kitchen. If you notice any hole near your dishwasher, then that's where they are coming from. Close all gaps with steel wool to avoid them from getting access to your homes.

The mice could gain access to your dishwasher through gaps that serve as entry points. Holes may form from wear and tear, caused by heating elements. If that is the case, then you should notify a maintenance specialist to fix the issue.

Mice don't stay far from their hiding spots. They live under places like dishwashers or almost any appliances. Check underneath or beneath your dishwasher for any compromised seal, leaks or gnawed pipes.

After you clean your dishwasher, examine it to make sure that there are no leaks caused by mice. To be on the safer side, you can call a dishwasher repair to have them look at your dishwasher if there is an issue.

Can a Mouse Get Into a Microwave?

Mice are attracted to food and water. That's why the kitchen is the best place for them to breed and inhabit, as a result of the food crumbs, trash, and leaking taps. Mice leave their droppings all over the kitchen as they climb all cooking equipment like Toaster, Microwave, Mixers, etc. You need to be careful when cleaning up mouse poop because they carry pathogens such as Hantavirus.

Can a Mouse Get Into a Refrigerator?

Fridges are designed with sealed doors, and this makes it rare for mice to get into it. However, that doesn't mean you shouldn't check for it! Check if the Fridge is still intact. You can also check the bottom of the fridge or near the compressor to see if they are nesting there.

As warm-bodied rodents, they get attracted to the heat from the refrigerator. It is possible for mice to gnaw and chew through the insulation to find shelter.

After discovering their nestling, you can set traps and bait to catch them. Clean out all mouse dropping and nestling materials you find.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Can you catch anything from mouse droppings?

HantaVirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS) is an infection given to humans by rodents. Rodents spread such conditions through urnes, saliva and droppings. Although the infection isn't transmittable, it is hazardous to human health. Humans come in contact with the disease when they breathe in rodent infected air. It was first discovered in 1993 and is most common in the United States.

2. What can I use to disinfect mouse droppings?

Mouse droppings pose a danger to the health of humans. To safely disinfect mouse droppings, urine and nesting materials, use a bleach solution and a quality detergent to clean up the affected areas of your kitchen. Then, allow to ventilate for at least five minutes. This would kill the disease-causing organisms.

3. Will lights keep mice away?

Survival instincts cause mice to keep off during the day time. These rodents are sensitive to bright lights and have low eyesight. They come out mostly at night due to those reasons. Since they try to avoid dangers, they may be scared off by bright and flashing lights and loud noises.