If you have mice in your home, there are generally three ways that they can enter. Those are through your attic, your basement. The first thing you’ll want to do is check around the foundation of your home, looking for small cracks or openings especially near windows, pipes, or other outlets to your home. After checking the basement, you’ll want to check the attic. Mice are incredibly adept when it comes to climbing and can tight-rope walk powerlines that lead to your home. You’ll want to check under the eaves of your house to see if they’re managing to get in that way. Lastly, mice can enter the home through sewer lines and drainage pipes when they are not properly sealed.
If you can’t figure out how they’re getting in, the pest control experts at Pointe Pest Control offer free inspections.
How Do I Get Mice Out of My Walls?
Once mice have gotten into your home, they can be extremely difficult to get rid of. Worse still, they can do serious damage to your electrical wiring. Since they mostly come out at night, you may not notice them until you hear chewing or gnawing in the walls. It’s important to first identify the pests as mice. Other pests may make similar sounds, notable, rats and termites.
There are several commercially available options, but they generally fall into one of two categories. Those are baits and poisons. Those with pets and children around the house will want to be very careful about how they deploy poisons. The most popular home method of dealing with mice is spring-loaded traps. You can also find traps that don’t kill the mice but allow you to set them free.
The best method of getting rid of mice is still calling a professional exterminator to handle the job for you. We can manage the process in the most expedient way available and offer guarantees or ongoing service to ensure that the problem is controlled.
How Do Mouse Traps Work?
The most popular type of trap purchased by homeowners is (by far) the spring-loaded bar mouse trap, also called “snap traps”. They are placed along pathways that rodents are likely to travel and then a bait (like cheese) is placed on the trap to lure them there. When the spring mechanism is triggered, the bar snaps shut breaking the rodent’s neck. Incidentally, this is also why it’s important to know if you’re dealing with mice or rats. Since rats are larger than mice, they might be annoyed by the trap, but it won’t kill them. For rats, you need a larger trap.
Another type of trap, one that doesn’t require specialized knowledge of the difference between mice and rats, is the glue trap. In search of food, the mice or rate steps onto an adhesive surface where it’s immobilized and eventually dies. These traps are notable for being grotesque mass graves for rats and mice.
Lastly, there are live-catch traps for the homeowner with a sentimental soul. Those who are not interested in killing the mice or rats can catch them and release them outside. These traps are wildly unpopular.
What Do I Need to Do After a Mouse Infestation Has Been Eliminated?
After and during the mouse extermination process (or even right before it begins) you’ll want to begin the process of cleaning. Mice are attracted to homes for two reasons. One, they provide climate-controlled warmth and coziness. Two, they provide food supplies. While freezing your butt off all winter isn’t a viable pest control option, you can limit their access to foodstuffs.
How?
The best way is to take all dry perishable goods that are not found in cans (think boxes) and place them into plastic, sealable containers. Mice may have strong jaws, but they can’t chew through plastic. Next, it’ll be time to do a bit of off-schedule spring cleaning. You want to make sure countertops and cabinets are scrubbed down with bleach. They may look clean to you, but small foodstuffs end up being feasts for little mice.
Dealing with the nest and droppings are a different story entirely. These can be dangerous, carry diseases, and the use of common household items like vacuums can cause the fecal dust to balloon into the air where it becomes breathable.
Professional pest control specialists use OSHA-approved respirators to prevent them from breathing in the potentially disease-ridden fecal dust.
Avoid DIY Mouse Control; Talk to Pointe Pest Control Today
If you have a mouse or rat problem in your home, the pest control experts at Pointe Pest Control can safely and effectively manage the mouse infestation. Talk to us today for a free home inspection.
