You can learn how to clean mouse droppings from mattress in three easy steps. But, unfortunately, it’s not as simple as vacuuming or sweeping the mess off. Find out more about why this practice is even discouraged by health experts.
Are you also dealing with the same problem on your couch? Good news! Here is how to clean mouse droppings from the sofa.
How To Clean Mouse Droppings From Mattress To Avoid Diseases
Step 1. Prepare yourself for disinfection
You must wear the proper protective clothing when cleaning up after rodents. Wear a mask and a pair of gloves to avoid contact with the mouse droppings. You also want to ensure that you have no kids or pets in the room when cleaning the bed.
On the day you’ll remove mouse droppings on the mattress, ventilate the room for half an hour before you start. Open the doors and windows to allow air inside, but never allow wind to blow up the affected area. You don’t want to contaminate the rest of the room potentially.
Step 2. Make the disinfecting solution for the mouse droppings
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, you must use a disinfectant solution on the mouse droppings before removing them. Mix bleach and water with a ratio of 1:10. You can also use other commercial disinfectants and follow the label’s preparation instructions.
Once you have the disinfectant, you need to wet the mouse droppings and allow the affected areas to soak for five minutes. Ensure that you follow through with this step because you must never handle the mouse droppings without spraying them with the bleach solution. A common mistake after finding mouse feces on the bed is immediately sweeping them off.
Step 3. Remove the mouse droppings on the bed accordingly
After soaking the mouse droppings with the bleach solution, please pick them up with a paper towel. More so, please check your gloves if it has any tear or hole to avoid contacting the feces. And finally, put the droppings in two bags to secure them before discarding them off into the trash.
Disinfect the mattress again with the bleach solution. And before you take off and throw away your gloves, wash your hands thoroughly. After disinfecting the bed, you can wash it as usual but use hot water and detergent.
You also have to consider the rest of the items in the bed exposed. First, wash them in hot water with detergent in the washing machine. Then, please place them in the dryer for drying.
What Do You Do If You Find Mouse Poop In Your Bed?
Finding mouse poop in your bed indicates that there might be a potential infestation in your home. The first thing you should do is to disinfect the bed and the room itself. It will also be better that you consider sleeping in another room until you can ensure no potential carriers of Hantavirus in that area.
- Disinfect your bedding and mattress with a bleach solution
- Clean the room throughout with disinfectant towels
- Bring all the items outdoors to expose them to UV rays
- Contact a pest control professional to help you make a safe and effective mouse extermination program for your home
- Wait for a week to ensure that you’ve eliminated the mouse infestation
How to keep mice out of your bed
- Place traps all over the room, along the walls, behind the furniture, and other tight spots where mice can hide
- Make sure that your room is always clean and clutter-free
- Check the room for potential entryways
- Store food items correctly
- Consider getting a pet
Can I Vacuum Mouse Droppings?
Under no circumstances should you vacuum or even sweep off mouse droppings when removing and cleaning them. Instead, you must follow CDC’s advice of soaking the mouse poop with disinfectant before manually picking them off with gloves and paper towels. And for disposal, make sure that they won’t spill out from the trash.
What if I vacuumed mouse droppings?
You cannot vacuum mouse droppings because of the virus risk. If you vacuum mouse droppings or even sweep off mouse droppings, you’re creating dust that puts you at risk of inhaling Hantavirus. This is also the reason why you must wet mouse droppings first before handling them.
Do Vinegar Disinfect Mouse Droppings?
Vinegar won’t be enough to disinfect mouse droppings. Instead, you must use a proper disinfectant or make a bleach solution. In addition, vinegar is only effective for reducing some surface bacteria, but you need something stronger to kill off viruses.
It’s also worth noting that the Environmental Protection Agency does not even include vinegar in its list of registered disinfectants. While it can kill some germs, it still has some limitations, especially disinfecting after something as risky as mouse droppings. It would always be best to follow the proper cleaning protocols to avoid potential transmission of Hantavirus.
Conclusion
Do not panic when you see mouse poop on the bed. In this article, we talked about how to clean mouse droppings from mattress according to the CDC. You only need to wear protective clothing and wet the droppings with a bleach solution.
If you’re also dealing with other critters, read this guide on how to fumigate a mattress. We hope our articles help keep you and your family safe!