Mice aren’t really more active in the winter like many people think, but the question of how to get rid of mice does tend to come up more for a few key reasons.
How to get rid of mice in your home this winter
When it comes to mice in your home in the winter, the major reason we seem to have more problems during this time of year is the options for dwelling locations for mice greatly diminishes as weather gets colder. This makes it a much higher priority for mice to try and get into your home by any means possible.
The foundation of how to get rid of mice in your home starts with keeping them out to begin with, or at least keeping out new ones while you deal with the invaders already in your home. Almost all pest issues will come from outside of the home unless the pests were already inside, so exclusion, or sealing entry points, is essential when it comes to getting rid of mice.
A few of the common entry points you want to look out for are things like cracks under doors and windows since mice can sneak in with as little as a 1/4 of an inch of space. This means they can get in through broken screens and sometimes even come through dryer vents or exhaust fan vents as well.
Making sure that these common entry points are sealed with intact screens, installing weather stripping under windows, or door sweeps under doors can be your first defense for how to get rid of mice in your home this winter.
Eliminate food and water sources as an effective way to get rid of mice
Once you have sealed the possible entry points for mice getting into your home, the next step is to cut off their food and water supply. Pests need 3 things to survive: food, water, and shelter. Your job is to eliminate as many of those options as possible to get rid of mice.
You can start with the outside of your home first. Many people let less than obvious sanitation elements go and don’t properly seal their garbage or recycling containers. This can lead to pests like mice having access to food near your home. If these mice have a readily available food source near your home, they probably hide out in places like your garage or under snow piles or leaf piles left during the warmer months.
While these mice aren’t yet in your home, they could be only a few feet away and will take any chance they can get in from a door left open to other entry points not properly sealed. So focus on properly storing any garbage outside of your home and make sure that containers are sealed that are left outside that may contain food.
The cleaner the better
Moving on from the outside of your home, it is also important to properly seal food containers inside of your home. Mice will get into a variety of places such as in cupboards, on counters, under appliances and more. Proper cleanliness becomes an essential part of how to get rid of mice.
Wiping down crumbs from counters, cleaning dishes, and sweeping under appliances, and even vacuuming other areas you eat food around your home is something you should focus on. By eliminating food sources, the mice will eventually die off.
You’ll also want to make sure there aren’t any leaky pipes or standing water left out such as dirty dishes. Sometimes, this isn’t 100% avoidable. For instance, if you have pets and leave out their water dishes, you will have to have water out for certain times, but it is still wise to take all the steps your are able to.
When you remove food and water sources, mice will eventually die out from lack of resources. In addition to that, when mice don’t feel like they have a secure living situation, they won’t breed. This is especially important because mice and rodents can breed incredibly fast.
Healthy and unstressed mice can have large litters and can have them multiple times over a several month span. This means a small mice problem can turn into a large issue very quickly.
Reach out to a pest control service as another strategy of how to get rid of mice
The final step once you have eliminated food, water, shelter, and have removed options for new mice to enter your home is to remove the ones you have inside already. There are a variety of options you can choose from: bait traps, glue traps, snap traps, and other things.
At this point, we really recommend reaching out to a pest control service because it can be difficult to find and trap mice without the proper baits, strateg;y and traps. “Timing is of the essence” as they say when it comes to getting rid of mice. As stated above, they can breed very quickly when left unchecked.
We wouldn’t want you to improperly set traps or put them in the wrong place or encounter other obstacles that could delay getting rid of the mice in your home. For this reason, we urge you to seek out a professional pest control service to deal with any potential mice and rodent issues in your home before it becomes a major issue.
Use these tips to keep your home mouse free this year and to prevent many rodent issues before they even happen!
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