Getting Rid of Mice in Your House
Mice will try to get indoors during the fall and winter months in search of warmth, food and shelter. Mice can chew through walls and damage food boxes in kitchen cupboards, but they can also do significant damage to your home and health: they chew wires, bring a variety of bacteria, and aggravate allergies and asthma in everyone living in the house. To get rid of them, follow the steps below:
- Find their entry point
Perform any preliminary research before laying any traps or bait. Find out where they come from because strewing traps around your basement floor will not help. Try to figure out where the mice are hiding and constructing dens, and then place your traps in that general area.
- Set mouse traps
Mouse traps are also one of the most successful way of getting rid of mice that have already caused havoc in your home. Mouse traps should be placed in more susceptible areas of your house, such as along walls and behind garbage cans. Choose one of the mouse traps below:
Snap Traps: This fast trigger mechanism traps mice in their tracks and is the most common form of mouse trap. These mouse traps destroy mice quickly when used correctly, making them an effective way to eliminate them all. Snap traps come in a variety of shapes and sizes, including bar, clam, and concealed kill.
Electric Traps: These mouse traps entice mice into a chamber before delivering lethal electric shocks. Don’t worry, they’ve been designed to keep humans and pets safe from being shocked.
Sticky Traps: Mice get trapped on an elastic glue board before you set them free, which isn’t as high-tech as other choices (or kill them). They are less effective than other solutions since they could only be used once.
Live Catch Traps: These traps, like those used for larger rodents, capture mice but do not kill them. They’re a kind of cage with a trigger-activated door that will not open till the captured rodent is released.
All mouse traps, with the exception of sticky traps, require bait of some kind.
- Clear out the garage.
Cars are just as attractive to mice as houses are to humans. If they get into the garage, they may choose to live under the hood of your car, in which the engine is nice and wet, they will severely damage your car as they start biting on wires. To rule out any unwanted rodents, place mouse traps in your garage.
- Call an exterminator.
Everybody has different threshold for what they can endure before seeking assistance. If you find yourself in need of a specialist, ask around if they have any exterminator suggestions, if you are in need of someone that can get the job done quickly or someone who can take a more compassionate approach.
