living conditions + health problems?

RedBoNe

New member
please bear with me, this is a little bit of an explanation. i haven't been able to find an answer to this on google.

first off, let me say that these aren't true "living conditions". more like "temporary work" conditions.

here's my situation: i'm moving back in with my parents for a short amount of time and i need an extra room to set up my computer and a bunch of other electronic equipment. they have a 2 story house and all the bedrooms are on the top floor. i don't have room in my (or any other bedroom) for this stuff. (the actual living conditions of the house are fine, except maybe for one extra junk room that wasn't finished)

my parent's house has a minor mouse problem, mostly because their cat catches them and brings them into the house and lets them go. in any case, the extra room upstairs(not a bedroom, just a big junk room) was packed with boxes of junk that i have since cleaned up. there was mouse crap around the edges of the room (not a ton, maybe a few table spoons worth spread out around the edge of the 35x20 foot room). there was also some ripped up paper, most likely from the mice. every now and then you can hear a mouse in the floor/ceiling between the main floor and 2nd floor.

there have been quite a few mice caught in this big junk room over the years, as well as in the attic (it's not usable. it's full of fibreglass). the attic entrance (which you need a ladder to access) is right inside this junk room. around this area you can smell something bad. it's either a dead mouse that nobody can find (we've looked) or maybe mouse crap in between the 2nd floor ceiling and the attic that you can't see. you can't really smell this at all when you're in the junk room, just within about 4-5 feet of the attic door.

there is almost no drywall used in this big room. it was there a while ago, but was taken off to deal with a water problem and never put back. so the fibreglass insulation in the room only has plastic over it. there are a few small areas where this plastic has ripped off, and i plan to staple up new plastic over these areas.

soooooo, with all that being said (small amounts of uncovered fibreglass, possible close proximity to mouse crap and maybe a dead mouse (hopefully not))
is there any health issues that might arise if i spend a few hours in that room per day?
i've heard things about fumes that come off of mouse poop and how it can be really harmful. as far as the fibreglass goes, it should be safe as long as it's not disturbed, right?


i don't know how much of this can be answered in this forum. if i could find out anything it would be:

can working in a room that has mouse poop in it's ceiling and maybe other places (there is no poo in the room itself) be hazardous to your health?

if anyone has any info it would be much appreciated.
 
I don't have any scientific info for you but I do have experience. My husband and I moved into his parents house after they passed away, 9 years ago. It was filled with mice and had been for some time. I thought my cats would get rid of them...nope...brought more in just like your parents cat did.

So 2 years ago I got tired of being kept awake by the sounds of them chewing the wood and other stuff at night. I've even see them taking dry cat food out of the cat dish when they weren't around. I got a couple of humane traps and baited them with crackers. Over the next 2 months I took out over 100 mice of 3 different types...and there were still more. So very reluctantly, I put out poison blocks to get rid of the rest.

So now I live in a house with a ton of mouse droppings in the ceiling and no way to get to it. I'm here all day, everyday and I haven't had any health problems from it as far as I know.

But to help you out.....you should know that mice love the glue in cardboard boxes. Get rid of the boxes and the mice have nothing to eat. And watch your electrical equipment as they will eat the cords. Those little monsters will eat the soap out of an SOS pad and leave the steel wool all messed up and full of poop and pee. They are amazing at what they will eat!

So you should be okay. Just keep the droppings picked up and watch for visitors to the boxes. Unlike bird droppings which can carry disease, mice are not that bad and if the droppings stay concealed, you should be fine.

good luck..............Jenny
 
thanks for the reply jenny. that makes me feel better about my situation. i ended up reading stuff about infections from mouse droppings that sounded so serious and easy to get. then in the next sentence i would read that there were maybe 300 cases in 3-4 years in all of the united states. between that and your story, i'm not too worried about it.

thanks again.
 
Good, I'm glad. The cat came in again last night with another live mouse in it's mouth and I ran over and grabbed the tail and put it back outside...then I chuckled as I thought of your problem. Want a mouse or 2..a couple of chipmunks...how about a flying squirrel? The worst was a small rattle snake that I thought was dead until it suddenly moved and curled up and started to rattle. Love cats but.........

Jenny >^..^
 
Hi jackson. Mouse droppings can affect your heath in a negative way. Never touch the stuff bare handed.Alway' use Clorox. For one thing, you can get a lung disease that has no cure. Sorry to be so blunt. Noway would I spend any time in that room.Ask the experts how to clean the infested room. Let us know what happens.
 
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