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We receive about a dozen plus calls each week from people who have rodent droppings in their home, their attics, or in a crawl space under their house. Are rodent droppings dangerous? They certainly can be. The biggest fear is the Hanta Virus, so lets talk about that first. The Hanta Virus is only found in the droppings from Deer Mice, not rats. So, if you have rat droppings don't panic, but don't celebrate either. The Hanta Virus can be deadly so having these cleaned and removed needs to be done by a professional or by following a specific procdedure. How do you know if they are from a deer mouse? You don't. To clean mouse and rat droppings yourself, you need to follow these procedures. First, wear gloves and a half face respirator or disposable mask, but make sure whatever mask you wear it says N95 or N100 on the package. This is how well it filters out particulates with each breath you take. I would also recommend googles or face shield to prevent contaminates flying into your eyes. Remember, the real threat from rodent droppings is when they become dry and and small particulates break off and become airborne. We breath them into our lungs and bingo, it enters our body. To prevent this before cleaning up any droppings wet them with a spray bottle, and I would recommend a bleach solution. Never sweep up rodent droppings that are dry! I would acutally suggest to vacuum them up with a shop vacuum WITH A HEPA FILTER. You can buy this entire set up a Home Depot or Lowes for less than $100. I would also put a bag in the shop vac so when you are done, you simply remove the bag and throw it out. I would then go back and disinfect all areas that were in contact with the droppings with a bleach solution or commercial grade disinfectant. The surface must remain wet with the disinfectant for at least 10 minutes to be affective. If you have questions, contact me at CChalmers@CrimeCleaners.com.
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