Can a Mouse Get in Your Toilet? The Interesting Answer

Whether you’re curious or you just heard a story about a mouse in a toilet, it’s only natural to wonder how they got there in the first place.

The short answer is that a mouse can absolutely get in your toilet. The longer answer is a bit more interesting. We’ll break it down for you here and walk you through everything you need to do if you ever find a mouse in your toilet, so keep reading.

Can a Mouse Get in Your Toilet?

Unfortunately, yes, a mouse can get in your toilet. Not only can they climb in if you leave the lid up, but they can travel up through the pipes and enter your toilet that way.

Mice are especially adept at traveling through tight spaces, and pipes make an excellent road system for them to travel safely from place to place.

It’s not the most fun to think about, but finding mice and rats in your toilet is more common than you might think!

How Long Can Mice Swim?

With a toilet full of water, you’re probably wondering how long a mouse can hold their breath and swim to make it into the toilet through the pipes.

The truth is that mice do surprisingly well in water, and they can hold their breath for up to 3 minutes, giving them plenty of time to make it up through pipes. Not only that, but even if they can’t find a dry spot to land once they’re in the bowl, they can swim for up to 3 days¹!

So, if you’re hoping just to put the lid down and let mother nature take its course, that will not work. For starters, larger mice and rats can actually lift the lid up from the toilet to escape! Of course, that’s not the most humane way to deal with the situation either.

What to Do With a Mouse in Your Toilet

If you find a mouse in your toilet it’s pretty easy to start freaking out. But while it can be a little concerning at first, it’s an easy problem to take care of. We recommend taking a container or jar, scooping the mouse up, and closing it.

From there, leave your home and travel for a little while before releasing the mouse back into the wild. Ensure you go far enough away so the mouse won’t come right back into your home!

However, this is what to do if you find a live mouse in your toilet. And while it’s probably more likely to find a live mouse in your toilet, that doesn’t rule out the possibility of a dead mouse.

You should remove a dead mouse from your toilet in much the same way as a live mouse, except you can then move it straight to a trash can instead of finding a place to release it.

No matter whether you find a live or dead mouse in your toilet, you should not try to flush it down the toilet. While it might seem small, they can create a clog in the pipes. When this happens, it can lead to big problems that cost quite a bit to repair.

Final Thoughts

Now that you know a little more about how mice can find their way into your toilet and what to do if you find one, it’s time for you to try and put this disturbing thought out of your head! It might happen to you at some point, but it’s still not all that common and there’s really not all that much you can do about it.

• See also: Can a Spider Get In Your Toilet? 

Featured Image Credit: Jarle Eknes, Pixabay