MN Wild Animal Removal | Mice & Rodent Removal MN
We share our planet with millions of insects, bugs, and wild animals. Some of them are even pretty darn cute, others extremely beneficial. Some animals that wander into your backyard are even fun and relaxing to watch. None the less, I don’t know about you, but most people have no desire to share their home with them. Rodents and mice are dirty, unwanted guests. Skunks … well, skunks are just smelly. One of us has got to go!
Winter Is Coming! So Are Mice & Rodents!
With winter just around the corner, mice and other rodents are looking for a place to call home. All they need is food, water, and shelter. And yours can provide them with all they could possibly ask for! Once inside, they can cause thousands of dollars in damage. They will chew through nearly everything from walls to food to cardboard boxes to electrical wiring, which may lead to electrical short and fire.
Mice, and squirrels are the most common invaders, though there have been cases of a raccoon getting in as well (often when the weather starts turning cool). They really don’t mean any harm. They’re just looking for food, water and shelter. They can squeeze through almost any opening on your house from pet doors to vents with missing screens to dryer ducts to even holes they chew through your walls.
A mouse needs only a space the size of nickle to gain access. A mouse can also jump down from a height of 12 feet without injury, and are capable of leaping at least 12 inches vertically. They can easily scale any vertical surface that is textured or rough enough to allow a toehold. If there is even the tiniest entry point, they will get in. Chimneys without caps and foundation’s that are not sealed are the biggest problems.
Since mice and rodents are so small and secretive, people are often unaware that they have rodents living right alongside them – in wall voids, attic spaces, between floors, beneath the house, or behind a cabinet. If you don’t see one directly, you can tell you have a problem by the gnawing evidence, or hearing scampering or gnawing sounds in the attic or inside walls. You could also find droppings in undisturbed areas of the house such as pantries, attics, and along baseboards and walls.
Animal-Proofing Your Home
To keep them away, animal-proof you house by eliminating food sources and eliminating shelter and access to your house. Also have a plan for getting rid of an animal that gets in your house.
Eliminate Food Sources
Pick up any fruits or nuts that drop from your trees. They love that. Mice will often stock pile their food. (The more food means the more mice are able to stash up, and reproduce over the winter.) The dropped food is an also an easy buffet for raccoons and other prowling creatures. Keep your garbage in the garage, until garbage day. If that is not possible, get airtight garbage cans with lids. If you have some particularly clever raccoons, even these cans might not stop them. In that case, get a rack in which to place the garbage cans so that they cannot be turned over.
Tip: If the raccoons keep getting into your garbage, try adding one cup of ammonia to
the garbage bag before you close it up. The smell drives raccoons away and keeps them
from spreading the garbage all over. After a while they learn to not even open the
garbage.
A compost heap can be a tasty meal to many animals. You need to keep the compost covered with a heavy lid and avoid putting meats into it. Pet food is another source of food for wild animals. If your pet is an outdoor animal, try not to leave its food lying about. Feed it and when it is done take the food away. Pretty much leave nothing sitting out that a small creature might find tasty.
Eliminate Shelter and Access To Your House
Seal up ALL entrances!
Make sure your house has no cracks or holes that lead outside. They could be on the roof, in the house or foundation. If you find these problems, just caulk or patch them. Vents in the attic are a common way for bats to get in. Just screen these vents off with insect screen.
Tip: Wait until dusk to patch any holes in the attic if you have bats. This way all the bats
are out of your house and will not be able to get back in. The hole might be small; a bat
can squeeze through a crack that is only 1/2 inch.
Protect window wells with plastic window well covers. This keeps animals and water out. Some animals are diggers so put screen under your deck or porch. You may have to embed it into the ground to keep raccoons and skunks from digging under a porch or deck. Dryer vents are another common point of access.
It is also important to protect your chimney. During the months when your chimney is not in use, animals can use the enclosed walls of the chimney as a nice spot to build a nest. Often during inspections we find squirrel, raccoon and bird nests that have been living in uncovered chimneys. It does not take long for these little nests to become BIG problems. An uncapped chimney is a huge hole in your home!
Birds and animals find chimneys a perfect nesting area. To keep them out, install a chimney cap. You can purchase these at your local hardware store and they are easy to install.
Tip: To get birds and animals out of a chimney without hurting them, put a pan full of
ammonia into the fireplace. Close the fireplace doors and open the flue. The smell of the ammonia goes up the chimney and after a short while the animals clear out. When you are sure they are gone, put on a chimney cap.
MN Mice Removal | Mice Damage Repair & Prevention
Of course, even with your best efforts, occasionally animals do get in. In that case, leave the
animal alone. Do not chase it around and do not try to pick it up yourself. Some animals carry disease and can bite through gloves.
Of course, there’s no silver bullet to keep animals out of your house during the winter months. If you have done everything you can and still have mice or rodents in your home, don’t hesitate to call a Minnesota Wild Animal Removal professional. The longer the rodents are in your house, the more droppings, which could carry disease, they’ll leave, and the more damage they’ll likely do.
