Mouse Control
It is getting colder outside – rodents may enter your home for food or shelter! Seal up holes or gaps in your home, trap any existing rodents, and clean up any sources of food or water and items that might provide shelter for them.
The house mouse can produce 8-10 litters each year and each litter contains five to seven young mice. Within 21 days, the young are active outside the nest and within 42 days are sexually mature and ready to reproduce. This exceptionally short life cycle explains why seeing one mouse (or a sign of a mouse) suggests that several are hiding behind the scenes.
Mice aren’t long distance travelers. They stay very close to their nest if food and water are present and, contrary to what you may have heard, they eat very little only about 1/10 of an ounce a day. Their preferred menu includes seeds, grains and generally any food materials they contact. When they do move about, it’s usually under the cover of night. You may notice signs of mice in your home during the fall when they naturally enter to escape cooler weather. You can take several precautions to prevent mice from entering your home:
- Be sure all screens and doors fit tightly and that there are no gaps. Check the space under the door as well. A mouse can enter a hole only 3/8″ across!!
- Eliminate any grain materials from your storage area or house. This includes fall door decorations containing wheat or corn that you may have stored.
- Keep shrubbery and vegetation trimmed away from the house to remove natural pathways into your home. Plants serve as shelter and food for these culprits.
- Seal up any holes on the outside of the building that may allow mice to enter. This includes points where utility lines enter the structure such as conduits for water, electricity, air conditioning, drain pipes and vents.
Nobody wants to share their living space with mice. Your home should make you feel happy and relaxed, not stressed about pests and furious about their persistence in not being exterminated. Animal removal experts are well trained in locating, and treating the cause of the problem.
