Mice have been around for over 65 million years. These rodents can be pesky and are found all over the world. With their ability to maneuver through small spaces and their quick reproduction rates, mice can quickly multiply and infest your house before you know it. Since most homeowners are not dying to have an uncontrollable mice population in their homes, we are going to spend some time looking at how mice live and how to get rid of them.
Why Do Mouse Come in the House?
If you have found yourself with mice in your home your question may be how on earth did they get here? Mice enter your home to meet three main needs; shelter, warmth, and food. In an effort to provide themselves with shelter, warmth, and food they will go to great lengths to get inside your home. If mice in your home weren’t so disgusting you may find yourself admiring their agility and creativity. In an effort to get into your house they can scale walls that are over six feet high, squeeze through holes the width of a pencil, jump as high as 9 1/2 inches, climb ladders, walk across wires, swim through sewers and more. They can enter your home through cracks and holes in your foundation, walls, and floors. Sometimes they even come through holds around plumbing and gas lines. With all of these different ways to access your house what can homeowners do to prevent them from coming in?
Mice Prevention
Homeowners can take many different precautions to prevent mice from getting into their homes. Storing food in plastic or metal containers that are completely sealed will make it so that the mice can’t forage for food in your house. Doors and windows should be sealed and snug so there aren’t any holes for them to squeeze through. Outdoor vents should be covered with fine galvanized wire mesh. The sealing around holes for pipes should be tight and maintained regularly. The eaves of your roof need to be properly maintained as well. If you take all of these precautions you still cannot guarantee 100% that you will not have mice in your home, but you are certainly making it harder for them to infest your house.
Mice Reproduction Rate
If your precautions didn’t prevent mice from getting into your home you will need to start right away on getting rid of them. The gestation period for mice is extremely small and they have large litters so they multiply quickly. Female mice can have 5-10 litters per year. Each litter has an average of six to eight babies. If you let them keep multiplying you will find yourself with an infestation faster than you can imagine.
DIY Mouse Control Products
So what do you do to get ready of these pesky rodents? You can start with setting mousetraps up in your home. The three most popular types of house traps are the traditional snap traps, electronic traps, and live catch mouse traps. Once you have your traps put them near where the mice are living in your home. If you aren’t entirely sure where they are living you can use trial and error to find the best spot for your traps. After the traps are set, you will want to check them several times a day to see if you have caught any mice. Trapped mice need to be removed as soon as possible as they can pose a health threat to your family members. Another method you can use to get rid of mice is mouse bait and poison. This is a controversial decision. Some people feel that poisoning the mice is unethical. This decision is up to you! If you decide to use poison to kill the mice you will want to follow some precautions for the safety of your family and any pets that may reside in your home. The precautions will be outlined on the container of bait or poison that your purchase. Please be sure that you carefully read all of the directions.
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If you have been working on getting rid of the mice in your home and are still having a problem it is time to hire an exterminator. By hiring an exterminator you are getting the benefits of a skilled professional with proven experience and tricks to catch the smartest rodents. Professional Exterminators like A Five Star Pest & Termite Control know that it’s not enough to get rid of the existing mice. The only successful way of ensuring a mice or rat infestation doesn’t return is through rodent exclusion. We can perform a thorough pest and rodent inspection that identifies and recommends areas around your home that need to be sealed. We will work with you from start to finish and take care of everything including rodent exclusion and removal. Contact us at Five Star Termite and Pest Control today to set up your appointment today! We look forward to getting your house free of clear of these pesky mice.
