The white on the end indicates some kind of reptile, most likely. A great book for identifying these kinds of things is: Barbara Triggs, Tracks, Scats and Other Traces: A Field Guide to Australian Mammals.

could the dropping be from a mouse or rat?

Hi Dash. Birds and reptiles can both have white in their droppings. The white part of a dropping comes from the nitrogen content (urea) in the faeces. Lizards often eat insects, so the black part of the dropping would contain insect parts. I assume you've seen geckoes around or in the house then? Other lizards may also produce similar droppings, so it might be hard to assume gecko based on a single dropping alone.

There are a couple of good books on identifying Australian animals via their droppings - one being Barbara Triggs' Tracks, Scats and other Traces. We have this book here in the Museum in our Search & Discover information centre!

I was wondering what gecko faeces looks like. I have found droppings in my house that are about 1.75 to 2cm long, and about 3mm wide, mostly dark brown/black but white on the end. I thought maybe this might be gecko poo? If not what could it be?

Thankyou for your very informative and entertaining comment! It is amazing how these cryptic animals can so quickly blend back into their surroundings, isn't it? We often get just the tail of this particular species brought in the Museum to be identified - without the rest of the gecko, the leaf-shaped tail is a very puzzling object if you haven't encountered it before! I haven't heard of nips from geckos, but it's always a good idea to use gloves around wild animals (or a suitable container).

Just yesterday a Southern Leaf-tailed gecko managed to fall or crawl into my stainless steel laundry tub. Whilst they are superb climbers it appears that this one could not get sufficient grip on the surface of the tub in order to escape from from confinement (it has happened before with huntsman spiders and the ubiquitous skink). As I would with a skink or a blue-tongue I thought I'd pick up the poor thing and put him back into the garden. That's not to say I don't catch and release the huntsmen, it's just that I don't pick them up. What a huge amount of noise from such a small package! (at a guess it would have been 5 to 6 inches (125 - 150mm) in length). I must admit that I know little about the gecko but that exhibition of defensive behavior combined with a little dance which indicated aggressiveness put me on guard. After putting back the little brush and pan that I had used to relocate it it took me at least forty seconds to see it again. It seems that it is the wont of this species to sit perfectly still when disturbed and, even though I knew exactly where it was, I found it hard to believe that it took me so long to locate it. I don't see many gecko around my house - perhaps due to their ability to blend so well into their background - but if such another episode should happen I wonder if I am likely to receive a nasty nip should I use my ungloved hand to put it back where it belongs.