Mice in my attic? White "droppings"

[mystang52]

In the 30 years I'm in my house I've had mice in the attic about 3 times (to best of my knowledge). Traps worked great. Haven't seen indications of any in last several years, until maybe now.
We keep our luggage in the attic, right next to the access door. I noticed, today, our 2 weekend bags have what look like sesame seeds on top of them.
I checked rest of my attic and see nothing similar. Because of prior experience, I have some mouse traps set and they are empty.
I Googled "white droppings in attic" and found nothing. Does anyone have ideas about this? I'm not aware of any droppings being white, so I'm stumped.

 

[MichaelB]

Could they be insect larvae?

 

[Senator]

In the 30 years I'm in my house I've had mice int he attic about 3 times (to best of my knowledge). Traps worked great. Haven't seen indications of any in last several years, until maybe now.
We keep our luggage in the attic, right next to the access door. I noticed, today. Our 2 weekend bags have what look like sesame seeds on top of them.
I checked rest of my attic and see nothing similar. Because of prior experience, I have some mouse traps set and they are empty.
I Googled "white droppings in attic" and found nothing. Does anyone have ideas about this? I'm not aware of any droppings being white, so I'm stumped.

It may be what they are eating. Or seeds they brought in.

Put some one-stop poison in the attic to prevent and get rid of them.

 

[2017ish]

All evidence of mice that I've ever seen have been black (or close to it)--and we've had a few over the years in older, rural homes.

I did a search for "white small droppings," but nothing obvious pops up. (snakes/birds....)

_____________
E.T.A.___ +1 for Senator (he'd know, with the abundance of landlording experience!)

 

[easysurfer]

All evidence of mice that I've ever seen have been black (or close to it)--and we've had a few over the years in older, rural homes.

I did a search for "white small droppings," but nothing obvious pops up. (snakes/birds....)

_____________
E.T.A.___ +1 for Senator (he'd know, with the abundance of landlording experience!)

+1.

Mice droppings look more like a black grain of rice. Ick .

 

[MRG]

White dung = Hyena.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Early Retirement Forum mobile app

 

[mystang52]

Thanks, all. I'm concerned about killing the damned rodent(s) with poison. No, not about the killing, but about the thing eating poison and then dying and rotting somewhere hidden in my attic.
So, for now I'm going out and buying more traps.

 

[travelover]

.........I'm not aware of any droppings being white, so I'm stumped.

They are eating your drywall.

 

[REWahoo]

... have what look like sesame seeds on top of them.

Oh boy, sounds like you have sesame mice. Those things are almost impossible to get rid of. You might try setting traps using buns as bait.

 

[ivinsfan]

Luggage, it might very well be bedbug larvae..the egg and first stage are definitely white, hopefully you wouldn't have them in your living area. I always put my suitcase in the garage or an enclosed screen porch (in the winter time) to sure this doesn't happen to us.Check out the inside of the bags.

 

[eytonxav]

Take a look at this link, possibly squirrels:
Photographs of Wildlife Poop in Attics - Raccoon, Squirrel, Rat Feces Pictures Pics

 

[Senator]

Thanks, all. I'm concerned about killing the damned rodent(s) with poison. No, not about the killing, but about the thing eating poison and then dying and rotting somewhere hidden in my attic.
So, for now I'm going out and buying more traps.

Buy something like a Victor Tin cat. They make generics too. It will catch multiple mice and not have to be monitored.

 

[gayl]

Luggage, it might very well be bedbug larvae..the egg and first stage are definitely white, hopefully you wouldn't have them in your living area. I always put my suitcase in the garage or an enclosed screen porch (in the winter time) to sure this doesn't happen to us.Check out the inside of the bags.

That's a bigger fear of mine than mice or the raccoons I just evicted & harder to get rid of

My luggage goes into garage until bug bombed, EVERYTHING into washer immediately clean or not. Never had 'em, hopefully never will

 

[mystang52]

Luggage, it might very well be bedbug larvae..the egg and first stage are definitely white, hopefully you wouldn't have them in your living area. I always put my suitcase in the garage or an enclosed screen porch (in the winter time) to sure this doesn't happen to us.Check out the inside of the bags.

Pretty certain not bed bugs. The 2 weekend bags are next to our 2 large luggage pieces. Nothing on the large ones. From what I can see from Google Images, these look nothing like bed bug larvae. And, these have been in the attic since last December, so it seems unlikely they'd be thriving up there with no food for 5+ months. Still, I'm creeped out!

 

[ivinsfan]

Take a look at this link, possibly squirrels:
Photographs of Wildlife Poop in Attics - Raccoon, Squirrel, Rat Feces Pictures Pics

Ok. living out in the country with more then our share of all these critters, this link has officially ruined my day. Our attic is basically a crawl space and my DH goes up there regularly to make sure none of this is going on.

 

[ivinsfan]

Pretty certain not bed bugs. The 2 weekend bags are next to our 2 large luggage pieces. Nothing on the large ones. From what I can see from Google Images, these look nothing like bed bug larvae. And, these have been in the attic since last December, so it seems unlikely they'd be thriving up there with no food for 5+ months. Still, I'm creeped out!

Good I hope not, but it could be dried out larvae and been there awhile ..I did make you hurry and look though! Bedbugs are my travel phobia!

If you still have sample of the problem or a picture try your local extension office for an answer.

 

[GrayHare]

Odd you should mention it but also I've observed the white detritus in association with mice, but though we've had field mice for years my first sighting of the white stuff was this spring. A neighbor supplies us with cat litter clumped by urine, and we put the clumps inside the house or garage where we think mice are entering. Since mice are understandably deathly afraid of cats, they keep away. Works for months until the clump dries out and needs to be refreshed.

 

[Sunset]

Bed bugs can live for a year with no food.
Extreme cold (below freezing for 3 days) and extreme heat (120F for couple of hours) kills all stages of them.

As for poisoning mice, in the attic, I would not worry much about the smell of a rotting mouse, as it will stop smelling once it is dried out or fully rotted.
Plus if you notice the smell you might be able to find the body and throw it out during the rotting process.
Traps can be tricky as sometimes the mice learn and simply avoid them.

 

[Beldar]

Sesame seeds eh?

 

[LOL!]

Lizards and geckos will leave white poop that is not unlike small bird droppings. We have mediterranean house geckos that hang out in the garage and around the lights at doors. We often find their egg shells, too.

I haven't seen any in the attic, but if there are insects up there, then I suppose the geckos would follow them up there.

 

[GrayHare]

The white droppings I saw looked more granular, as if someone had spilled a thin coating of white sand within a 2 or 3 inch diameter oval.

 

[Sunset]

Could they be roof granuales falling in a vent hole from above ?

 

[target2019]

White suggests bird or bat...
We had a bat in the house a week ago. Now that was fun!

 

[LOL!]

Spiders will also leave small white poops.

 

[Marita40]

My bet is on bat guano. Watch your head up there.