Mice control tops the list as one of the most costly and damaging pest control issues in the United States. Mice can not only survive in many environments, but thrive in them as well. In fact, a female mouse can have as many as 100 baby mice in one year.
Mice consume our food and contaminate our food sources also. Mice cause structural damage by gnawing on wooden door frames or through walls, and are known carriers of many diseases. Mice removal is big business, but before you find yourself in need of extermination services, let's see what you can do to prevent mice from ever plaguing your home in the first place.
Mouse Proofing and Mice Control 101
- Means of Entry: Mice can squeeze through a hole as small as a quarter of an inch in diameter. Sealing up broken screens, gaps in the windows, and cracks in the foundation will help deter these pests. Copper mesh or steel wool mixed with caulking are good hole-fillers because mice cannot chew through them.
- Sanitation: Having mice doesn't mean your home is dirty, but poor sanitation is a quick way to make certain mice come to call. Easy food, like scraps left on floors, crumbs under the furniture, and wrappers left on the floor overnight are all fodder for a hungry mouse.
Good mice control also means keeping garbage away from your house and moving potential habitats, like wood piles and debris, at least 50 feet from your home’s exterior. Basically, you don't want to make your home or yard any more attractive than it already is to a mouse. This means no easy food or ready-to-order habitats to ruin your mice control attempts.
- Repelling: Surrounding the exterior of your home with certain plants, like mint, can help with mice control by warding off the pest. Using mint oil or crushed mint leaves on strategic areas of the home, like pantries, is another useful trick. Sprinkling used cat litter around the foundation of your home is another mouse control idea; mice will instantly detect the scent of a cat and know that this is not the place for them.
- Cats: If you were already in the market for something soft and cuddly, then now may be the time to look at getting a cat. Cats can be a great form of mice control, even if they do not actively catch many of the mice. Just the scent of the feline and natural fear of the cat may be enough to hold back the mouse and his or her family.
- Food Storage: Properly storing your food is not only a useful mice control method, but it is also a great way to keep all kinds of creepy crawlies away. Using sealed storage containers for your grains is a good place to start. If the mice cannot smell the food, they are less likely to ever attempt to come into your home in the first place.
Mice Removal
If, after all of these mice control techniques, you still find a mouse lurking in your home, quick pest removal is the next step. Since mice can reproduce quickly, and many times in one year, you want to be speedy about getting rid of the mice you currently have.
Poisons, lethal traps and non-lethal catch traps are your best do-it-yourself pest removal options.
- Poisons are usually a quick pest removal option, but understand that you cannot predict where or when the mouse will die. Homemade poisons or commercial grade are equally successful in most cases. If you want to try your own mouse poison, mix together equal parts of flour, sugar and baking soda.
- Traps give you the benefit of knowing exactly where the pest will be found. But mouse removal can be disturbing to some people and rather grotesque in rare cases. Snap traps and glue traps are the most common style of mouse trap used by homeowners – just know what you are getting into.
- Catch traps are a fine, humane option as long as you have a place far enough away from your home to dispose of the rodent. Also know that some clever mice can get themselves un-trapped, so your mice control attempts may take longer with this selection.
Whichever mice removal method you choose, keep pets and children away and be certain not to stop until you are certain every mouse has been caught. Mice control takes patience, but your efforts will be rewarded. And if you are diligent, you may be able to avoid ever having to deal with mice in your home.