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Mice are tiny rodents, but not a tiny problem. If you see a mouse, or detect a mouse infestation in some other way, there are a few things you should know. Unfortunately, many Fort Myers residents don't even know it when they have mice. The first step is knowing how to detect them. That is where we'll start today. We'll look at effective tips to help you tell that you have mice, what those little critters do when they explore your home, and why it is often hard to get rid of mice. Once we cover the groundwork, we'll share how to keep mice away naturally and remove them from your home entirely. Does that sound like a good plan? Of course, keep in mind that you can speak with a technician about your mouse control issue at any time by navigating to our contact page or by giving us a call. Stat Pest Control provides smart and eco-friendly pest control in Fort Myers. We can help you get rid of those pests, stat!
How To Tell If It's Mice In Your Home
When mice enter your home, you'll hear mice climbing in your walls, right? Don't count on it. Mice rarely make detectible noises. Mice noises aren't a great way to detect these critters. It is far better to look for warning signs. Here are some you can look for.
- Tiny black excrement. Mice leave their droppings as they explore. You'll find these sprinkled on insulation in your attic, on stored items, inside voids, behind appliances, in the backs of your kitchen drawers, and in the rear of kitchen cabinets. A mouse will leave droppings that are slightly smaller than a grain of rice. If you see black excrement that is smaller than mouse droppings, it is likely cockroach droppings. If you see black excrement that is slightly larger than a grain of rice, you have a rat problem. Fresh droppings are black and squishy; old droppings are dry and gray.
- Tiny holes. Mice make holes in many places. If you get down low in your kitchen or pantry, you may find holes in your walls or baseboards. The holes created by mice do not need to be large. A hole the size of a nickel is enough. A mouse can fit its whole body through if its head will fit.
- Hidden nests. Mice chew holes to nest inside couches, chairs, and other furniture items. They'll rip soft material out of one source and use the material to create a nest inside drawers and other voids. Examine your stored items, including cardboard boxes, to detect holes, excrement, or a scent of urine.
- Damaged items in storage. Mice gnaw on many things. If you have mice in your attic or storage room, you may see damaged wood, cardboard, and other materials.
- Tiny footprints. Mice leave their little footprints in dust, food particles, and other materials. What do mouse footprints look like? The front paws of a mouse have four toes, and the back paws have five.
- Noises. If you have a dog or a cat, they may alert you to mouse activity inside your home. A dog or cat can hear things you can't hear. If they act funny in the kitchen or near the pantry, it is possible that they're hearing rodents in your walls. It is possible that they may also smell them.
When you find evidence of a mouse problem, what should you do about those mice? Can you ignore the problem and hope they will go away? Before you consider doing this, take a moment to consider a few ways mice present a health concern.
Why Having Mice In Your House is Such A Health Risk
A mouse is not an intimidating creature. You'll likely have far more issues with having a snake or a spider in your home. But you should know that wild mice are timid, but they are not harmless. In fact, they can cause devastating harm. Really? Yes, really.
- Mice are known to chew on wires. They are actually attracted to the coating on wires. Gnawing on a wire inside your walls or attic is hazardous to that mouse. It is also hazardous to everyone living in your home if a fire is started.
- Mice enter air ducts and leave their waste to dry, break apart, and become airborne. If a mouse has Hantavirus, it can lead to serious illness for you and your family.
- Mice climb around inside trash receptacles, sewers, and other dirty places. If a mouse enters your home from the outside, it can make you sick. Fortunately, most mice are born indoors. For this reason, they are often considered commensal. Commensalism is when one organism lives off the benefits of another without providing benefits or causing harm. But it is essential to understand that mice entering your home are urban pests that can spread harmful bacteria, parasitic worms, and other organisms.
- Mice carry ticks and fleas. Do you know that one itty bitty mouse can carry as many as a hundred seed ticks on its body? Seed ticks are tiny specks that can balance on the tip of a pencil. So, mice are efficient transportation for ticks and more than capable of creating a tick infestation in your home.
It is best to keep mice outside. Unfortunately, that is easier said than done. Let's examine why it is hard to get rid of mice and keep them out.
Why It Is So Hard To Get Rid Of Mice On Your Own
House mice love living inside structures, and they are incredibly talented critters. They can scale walls, jump over a foot into the air, squeeze through gaps the width of a dime, and chew through building materials. Once inside, they reproduce like crazy. In many cases, DIY mouse control fails because mice reproduce faster than residents can remove them. But there are other reasons mice are hard to control. Here are a few you should consider.
- Some mouse control strategies fail for lack of science. There is a move toward all-natural home remedies for pest control, and more and more people are turning to the internet to get help from untrained influencers. The primary issues with home remedies are that they may work in certain cases, or they may seem like they work. These control solutions are often backed by highly speculative observations. There is no real science to back the efficacy of the control solutions, and your results aren't likely to match the results of the person in that popular video.
- Some over-the-counter products are backed by science but don't work when applied in real-world conditions. For example, high-frequency noise can drive mice out of certain areas, but they rarely work to drive mice out of structures. In some cases, mice get used to the annoying sound these devices make.
- Mice are resourceful. A common and reliable solution for mice is the use of mouse traps. But improperly set mouse traps often fail because people don't know how to set them successfully. Mice are known to remove all the bait of a trap latch without setting a trap off. They are known to cause traps to spring and move quickly enough to avoid capture. The most interesting fact often not understood about mice and mouse traps is that mice may avoid traps touched by human hands. They can smell the oils from human skin on the traps.
- Mice are tough. If you catch a mouse, you may only succeed in causing undue harm to the little critter. Mice are known to gnaw off limbs to escape traps.
- Mice can live on outdoor food sources. If you set traps indoors where mice are not exploring, or mice have found a plentiful food source outside of your home, they may not take the food from traps.
Your DIY mouse control can fall short in many ways. The best solution to rid your home of mice is to have a trained and experienced technician handle your mouse control.
The Most Effective Way To Get Rid Of Mice In Your Home
If you live in Fort Myers, let Stat Pest Control help you remove the mice from your home and keep mice out. We use advanced Integrated Pest Management (IPM) to address pest control issues. IPM is the gold standard of pest control and is based on scientific research and strategies shared by industry experts. At its core, IPM uses smart solutions first and only a limited amount of control materials when necessary to control pests that present a health concern or a risk to man-made structures or belongings. Mice are a double threat. They present a health concern and a property damage risk. But we still find many solutions that require no use of control products, such as applying exclusion work, setting traps, and altering habitats.
Our technicians evaluate rodent control issues, construct science-based strategies, and manage rodents in Fort Myers until no rodents remain. We'll help you find a plan that meets your specific needs and budgetary constraints. Reach out to us today to schedule service. We're here to help.
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