Mice are attracted to homes for three basic reasons; houses are safe, warm and have lots of food. When mice invade your home, they will go to the darkest corridors like wall cavities, air ducts and crawl spaces to look for food. Mice are capable of climbing walls and get into small holes of small sizes. Therefore, it’s a hard task trying to stop them.
This article covers some of the steps you can take if you see mice looming around your home. Moreover, it also covers what you can do about mice that live in crawl spaces and walls.
How do you know mice have infested your home?
If you notice holes in food bags you left on the kitchen counter overnight, then your kitchen is infested with mice. You may have probably heard sounds under the floorboards or within walls in the middle of the night. You might even have spotted one of them crawling around your walls or kitchen. If you don’t see one, the following evidence can be signs of mice in your house.
- Droppings: Mouse droppings look like little dark seeds. The newer ones appear black and shiny. For the older mice, their droppings will appear faded and dried. If you notice a cluster of droppings, then mice live in your home in a hole, crack or vent.
- Runs: Mice are notorious for using the same routes for their movements. Regularly, they leave their runs along wooden floors, countertops, tables and drywalls. You might not notice the runs easily, but you might notice faint runs if you look closely.
- Nests: When rats invade your home heavily, they often chew on clothes and cardboard boxes to make their nests. They love building nests in dark corners in the house such as closets, under furniture and cabinets.
Getting rid of mice in walls
If there are sounds of tiny feet running up and down inside the walls in your house, then you can place snap traps along the bottom edges of the walls. You can place food-baited ends along the walls that serve as doorways for mice. Mice love running along wall edges while moving from one room to another.
Don’t use poison to trap mice as the effects are not immediate. Moreover, mice can have enough time to run back into the walls before they dry up. This could result in a smelly mess in the house that could be hard to remove. Below are some of the tips that can help you get rid of mice inside walls.
- Drill a Small-sized hole on the drywall. Just slightly above the floor.
- Place another hole on the cardboard box, fill it with a food-scented mouse trap, cover the box with transparent paper, and ensure the box is secure against the wall.
- For the next few days, check the box through the transparent paper to see if the mice have taken the bait.
- If necessary, you can repeat this process until no mice are found in your wall.
To prevent mice from infesting your walls, you can seal off the small holes on your walls that could act as doorways for mice. You can use mesh wire to cover these holes to prevent mice from slipping through. When you feel you have been able to take care of the mice problem, you can now seal the hole on the wall with a sealant. You can also go ahead and inspect other rooms in the house to see whether there are holes through which mice can slip.
Getting rid of mice in attics
Getting rid of mice in the attics starts with identifying noises and the presence of mice. To identify the presence of mice, listen to the scratching sounds made by their tiny feet, look out for any mouse nests, and check out for urine-stained areas. To get rid of your mouse problem in the attic, you can adopt the following tips.
- Trim bushes and trees near the house: Mice climb trees to get to the house’s roof.
- Ensure your food storage areas are mouse proof: Store your meat and dried grains in glass jars, metal canisters and tightly sealed containers.
- Hire specialists: If you try to take care of the mice problem by yourself and you are unsuccessful, you can call on pest control services to help you deal with your pest problem.
In a nutshell
Pests can be a nuisance in our homes as they can cause diseases as well as cause property damage. Therefore, if you are unable to deal with the pest problem on your own, you can consider hiring professionals who will take care of the problem fast and safely. Here are some interesting pest facts you can learn as you take care of the pest problem in your home.