Do Not Let Mice Control Your Home
During autumn months, the temperature drops and mice are looking for a nice warm place to live and ride out the winter. And quite often they find the perfect place in your home or garage. Mice have been sneaking into homes since there were homes and while it may be difficult to eliminate the problem, there are more steps then just setting up a few traps to take in controlling mice in your home.
In addition to the minor heart attack we all experience upon seeing a mouse, there are many problems that come with a mouse invasion. Mice can cause damage to structures and food packaging, especially when feeding on grain. They also can transmit deadly diseases including salmonella, tularemia and murine typhus.
Part of the reason why mice are hard to control is that mice repopulate so quickly that it can be difficult to eradicate the entire litter of mice in your home. Each year a female gives birth to up to ten litters of five or six babies and the young mice can begin reproducing in as little as six weeks. What started as one or two mice can escalate to an entire population living in your home.
Controlling mice involves sanitation, efforts to reduce the population in and around your home and mouse proofing. To sanitize, clean up any spilled food and before you go to bed make sure that there are no crumbs in the kitchen or any other room. Store all dry goods in sealed containers that are glass, metal or heavy duty rubber.
Many people already use traps in controlling mice, but there is a right way to use them. You must set the traps behind furniture or along the walls. Cheese is not effective bait, so you should try peanut butter or dried fruit. Don’t stop at just one. Be sure to set the traps within ten feet from each other. Check the traps each morning for victims and set them up again for the following night.
Using poison is another option, but the mice need to ingest the poison over the course of a few days in order to reach the critical amount necessary to kill them. Plus, these poisons are toxic for people and animals so you are putting your whole household at risk to kill a few mice.
If you have eliminated the mice population and cleaned up the crumbs, you will still need to mouse proof your home. Mice are still attracted to the warmth of your home so actually have to provide a physical barrier that prevents mice from entering. To mouse-proof your home, seal openings that are large enough for a mouse with caulking and steel wool. All cracks in foundations or openings need to be sealed.
Controlling mice on your own is a long, difficult process and homeowners frequently turn to pest control services to eradicate the population. Calling an exterminator is sometimes the only solution to controlling a mouse problem.
