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How to Get Rid of Mice This Winter
You’re sitting in your bedroom, checking your phone before bed. Winter is settling in, and you’re ready to get comfy when you hear it – a skittering sound in the ceiling above you. You don’t want to believe it, so you pause what you’re doing and listen harder to make sure you didn’t imagine it. And then – yes, you heard it again.
That sound can only mean one thing: mice. Mice living in your home. Coming in where they don’t belong. You won’t stand for it. It’s time to set up some mouse pest control in your home.
Keep Pets in Your Home
One of the easiest ways to keep the mouse population down in your home is to keep a pet – specifically, a cat or a dog. Both of these animals are likely to chase down any mouse they see. It’s especially helpful to have cats living outside of your home because they can catch the mice before they have a chance to come inside.
However, if the mice do get into your home and they figure out that there’s a dog or cat running around, they might choose to stay hidden in the walls and the attic of your home where they won’t be disturbed or hunted.
In that case, you’ll need to take further measures to get rid of the mice and keep them out of your home.
Seal Up Holes and Gaps in Your Home
If you start to hear mice scurrying around your home, it’s time to check your home for gaps or holes that could be letting the mice in. Take any possibility into account. Mice can fit through holes much smaller than you might think – holes even as small as a dime aren’t any trouble for them to crawl through. So go over your home thoroughly and carefully to make sure you know where they’re entering.
You may see other signs (such as droppings) that mice are using these holes to get in, but even if you don’t see those signs of a mouse infestation, you’ll want to seal up all of the holes you find. Even if the mice aren’t currently using a hole, they could always use it in the future.
You may want to put bait in the holes to help you kill or catch the mice before sealing up the holes. This could help you get rid of them first. However, the longer the holes are open, the more likely it is that more mice will find their way into your home. So don’t wait too long to seal up the holes, or the problem might not go away. To make sure your home is sealed up well against rodents, follow these recommendations from the CDC.
Store Food and Clean Crumbs
Mice are attracted to your home during the winter for two major reasons.
- Your house provides warm shelter for mice during the cold winter months.
- Your home is well-supplied with food that can keep their whole family fed for months at a time.
Obviously, you don’t want to change the temperature in your home so the mice won’t use it for shelter. You’d have to make your home extremely cold for that to even be a possibility, and it probably still wouldn’t work. So go ahead and keep your house warm.
But you can do something about the food. Cleaning up crumbs and not leaving food sitting out in the open will help prevent mice from being as attracted to your home. Cleaning doesn’t get rid of mice the way it gets rid of insects, but it can help prevent them.
You can also store your food in airtight containers or in the refrigerator or freezer so that mice can’t access it. Mice can chew through some food packaging, so keep an eye out for any gnawed through packages, but airtight containers should be strong enough to keep mice out. Once your food is well-stored, the mice won’t have as much of a reason to be inside your home.
Set Mouse Traps and Poison
A good type of mouse pest control you can try is mouse traps. There are the traditional snapping traps that you can find at the store, and they can be effective if your mouse problem is small. They work best if you have good bait for mice – and yes, that can be cheese. But you can also try other foods you have around the house, like peanut butter.
The problem with mouse traps is that to be really effective, you have to place a lot of them around your home. And if you have a big infestation, the traps may not get rid of all the mice. The traps can be dangerous for your family as well, especially if you have young kids or pets. Their fingers or paws can accidentally set off a trap, and you’ll be dealing with some unpleasant injuries.
Poison can be another good option to get rid of mice in your home. Place it in areas that the mice frequent, and soon your problem will be taken care of overtime. Again, you’ll want to keep the poison away from children or pets so they don’t taste it or play with it and get sick.
Both traps and poison can be effective at getting rid of mice, but if you have a large infestation, you may still hear or see mice in your home. At that point, you’ll need to turn to the best mouse pest control option.
Call Professional Mouse Pest Control
If you really want the mice in your house gone, you’ll need to call in professional pest control services. They know how to inspect your home for signs of rodents, where the mice will likely be hiding, and the best ways to get rid of the rodents.
Professional mouse pest control can also help you find ways to prevent mice from coming into your home in the future. They can help you seal up holes in your home and place rodent killers in safe locations in your home. You also won’t have to worry about storing rodent killer in your home where your kids could find it because the professionals will only place the necessary amounts of rodent killer in your home. Soon, your home will be protected from mice this winter.
