Your Nashville Home Is A Mouse Hotel

Houses big and small, and clean or dirty, are the perfect places for mice to stay warm in the winter. Right now, those little rodents are house shopping, and if you haven’t rodent-proofed your home, they are looking at your home and garage next. Rodents can cause hundreds and thousands of dollars in damage, regardless of the number of DIY remedies you use. This winter, deter mice once and for all with help from true rodent professionals.

Facts About Mice and Your Home

You need to know exactly what you are up against to better understand how to handle mouse-proofing your home. Here are a few fun facts about mice looking at your home.

• Mice begin reproducing early in their lives, and they continue to do so up until their deaths. A female can have between 8 to 10 babies in a litter, more than once per month. Where there is one, there are many.

• Mice are most active at night, which means just when you think they are gone, they are scattering across the floor and in the walls when you sleep.

• Mice will build their homes next to a reliable food source, which is why you find nests near cupboards and animal food. A mouse can eat as frequently as 20 times per day. All that eating results in frequent bathroom breaks and mice will go wherever they are. Mice have been known to leave droppings as much as 100 times per day.

• Mice carry common diseases that make hundreds of people sick on a daily basis. Common illnesses mice carry include norovirus, salmonella, and hantavirus.

• Mice look for shelter in the winter, which is why they choose your home. Mice can also take up shop under the hood of your car and in the exhaust.

• Mice can see and smell things you can’t. Mice communicate with each other by leaving a scent trail, and the can see very will, which is why can’t track them or catch them all on your own.

Worst DIY Mouse-Proofing Remedies

Mouse-proofing your home and getting rid of mice is not something you can solve easily with internet posts and DIY solutions. There are a few DIY solutions in particular that won’t get rid of mice in your home.

Peppermint oil - Many DIYers suggest soaking a cotton ball in peppermint oil and plugging the area where you suspect mice. What this doesn’t address is the fact that mice can jump, squeeze, and wiggle into tight spaces. So where you block one entrance, they already have many more.

Snake poop - There really are no words for leaving snake poop around your home to deter mice.

Catch and release - This is a humane alternative to poison and traps, but you cannot keep up with the number of mice that are likely hiding in the walls and cupboards. Again, mice reproduce rapidly and they leave scent trails for other mice, so you may have caught one and released it into your back yard, but the scent will lure it back and many others to the spot.

Effective Ways to Mouse-Proof your Home

To prevent mice in your home, be smart and don’t cut corners.

• Glue traps - Place glue traps throughout your home to catch mice in the act.

• Cover openings - Place steel wool in your exhaust pipes if you store your car in the garage for the winter. You should also ensure that openings and cracks in the walls, floors, foundation, and windows are sealed.

• Wrap it up and clean it up - Do not leave food uncovered in your cupboards, and make sure you clean up crumbs often so mice don’t have a reliable food source.

• Get a cat or a terrier - Cats are the natural predator for mice. Get a cat in your home to deter and catch mice. If you are a dog person, try a terrier. They are rodent hunters by nature.

Don’t trust the internet

Mouse-proofing your home is serious business, and an ill-informed post or DIY site isn’t equipped with the professional experience and education to prevent mice from invading your home. DIY remedies often fail, and it hits your wallet hard.

Call the professionals at All-American Pest Control to mouse-proof your home so you get it done the right time. You will save more money in the long-run when you do.