Major Pest Control Edmonton shares 5 Effective Methods to Get Rid of Mice

With fall upon us, and winter soon to follow, mice are looking for a nice warm place to nest, and your home could host some unwanted visitors before you know it. Mice not only cause damage to your home and property, but they also carry diseases that will put you and your family at risk. But no fear, Major Pest Control in Edmonton knows tips and tricks to help you not only get rid of a mouse infestation but keep them from coming back!

Major Pest Control are experts at controlling pest and mice infestations and have been doing it for years. This post will help you learn what you can do to take back control of your home and get rid of mice for good.

Overview:

1. Safety Precautions Before You Start
2. Know the Signs of Mice Activity
3. Make it Difficult for Mice to Find Food and Shelter
4. Seal Up Any Entry Points
5. Put Out Mouse Traps
6. Be Mindful of Decreasing Mice Activity
7. Chemical Mouse Baits for Large Infestations
8. Avoid Ineffective Removal Techniques
9. Make Your Home and Property Unattractive to Mice
10. Frequently Asked Questions About Mice
11. Call Local Experts in Pest Control

Quick run down of all points

Always take all safety precautions, from wearing gloves, long sleeves and long pants and goggles, to reading and following instructions and labels at all times. This will keep you and your family safe.

Become familiar with all the signs of mouse activity: chew, claw and gnaw marks, food crumbs where they don’t belong, mouse droppings, strange pet behavior, and more.

Clean your home inside and out to get rid of their food source and potential nesting materials.

Seal up any potential entry points – mice can get in through openings that are a quarter of an inch in diameter. Sealing these up will ensure no new mice will enter while you’re trying to eliminate them.

Setting mice traps – learn about the various models, what the differences are and find out which ones are most effective for your home.

If you have a larger infestation, or your efforts have not worked this far, there are different chemical baits that you can use – with caution – to get rid of mice from your home and property. Be advised that this should only be used as a last resort.

Learn common myths about what not to do to get rid of mice, such as depending on cats, ultrasound, fabric softeners, and more. Use your time on the effective methods to get rid of a mouse infestation.

Once you have eliminated the mice, make your home unattractive to mice, to avoid an infestation in the future, like cleaning up food spills right away, fix leaky pipes that can serve as a water source, and routinely inspect your home for entry points.

If your efforts are not successful, call a professional pest control company to help you take care of your mouse infestation.

Safety Precautions Before You Start

There are important safety considerations you should be aware of and follow when it comes to getting rid of mice in your home, business or on your property. This will help you, as well as your family or staff be safe, while protecting the environment.

• Handle pesticides safely: ensure all pesticide products are clearly marked and are kept out of reach of children and pets, keeping products locked up when not in use.
• Do not use chemical baits inside – for safety reasons. In their place, use mouse traps, repellents and exclusion tactics outlined in this article. If you must use them, ensure you use tamper-proof bait containments to ensure children and pets do not encounter the chemical bait by accident.
• Wear your personal protective equipment (PPE) such as gloves, goggles, and long sleeves and pants when handling baits, pesticides or dead mice for disposal.
• Always read and follow the instructions on all rodenticides, pesticides and any toxic products before handling them.

5 Effective Mouse Control Methods

Know the Signs of Mice Activity

Mice are very obvious house guests, and they leave evidence of their infestation everywhere. Learning what to look for and where will help you eliminate these pests and ensure they do not return, because once you know where mice are nesting, hiding, and feeding, you set traps in the correct location, helping you eliminate mice faster.

Signs of Mice Activity:

Chew and bite marks on food packaging in pantry shelves or cupboards. There also may be scratches or chew marks on floor trim or on baseboards.

Holes in flooring and walls, just over an inch in diameter. You will notice that these holes are very clean cut.

Food crumbs or debris on shelves, in the pantry, or unusual places – like the middle of the floor.

Mouse droppings will be left where mice are most active, such as behinds cabinets, under sinks and even in the corners of rooms. Use a light source to help you spot these droppings more easily. The droppings will be small, oblong shaped and dark brown or black in color.

You may see dark spots on floors or carpets, these are mouse urine stains.

Shredded fabric, paper, pet hair, string and more make up mouse nests. If you spot this, or these types of materials, those will indicate the presence of mice.

Your cats and dogs may know you have mice before you! Behavior like barking, pawing, or scratching, especially underneath cabinets or appliances. They smell, hear and may have seen the mice. Pay close attention to where the pets are most agitated and start your search here.

Anyone with a keen nose may smell a musty scent, indicating a larger infestation has taken hold.

You may hear scratches and squeaks. Especially in walls, where mice like to hide, and especially at night because they are nocturnal, and therefore most active at night.

Finally, live mice sightings are the most sure-fire sign that you have a mouse infestation.

Make it Difficult for Mice to Find Food and Shelter

If mice can no longer find food, water and shelter within your home, they will not be so eager to stay. Start by cleaning up your home – inside and out. This means cleaning up any food messes, taking garbage out promptly, avoid leaving your pets food out all the time. Reducing clutter will also remove their hiding spots and eliminate potential nesting material. This will also help you avoid a re-infestation in the future.

Clean Inside Your Home:

Store dry goods in airtight containers – glass or metal is best, since mice are unable to chew through these types of containers. Avoid plastic containers, as these will not stop a mouse.

Do not leave your cat or dog food out all day. Feed them, and once they have eaten, remove their food dish and wash thoroughly. Clean up any food spills immediately, and wash dishes promptly after eating.

Take out the garbage and recycling regularly. Mice can find food in garbage cans, and will chew up paper, plastic and cardboard to make their nests.

Mice will also make nests out of clothing, rugs, blankets, towels and more. Store these in heavy duty plastic storage bins with lids to keep mice out.

Look around your home and eliminate any areas that may be particularly attractive to mice – dark corners, furniture to hide under or behind.

Clean Outside Your Home:

If your pets have food and water dishes outside, remove them when not in use to make the area less attractive to pets.

Have lids on tight to outdoor garbage and recycling bins to prevent attracting mice.

Remove foliage and tree branches from within three feet of the house foundation, and remove any clutter, junk, rocks, lumber that can provide hiding spots for mice. Store any equipment in a shed.

Wood piles should be stored off the ground by at least 18 inches, and a minimum of 12 feet away from your house.

Keep your home well landscaped. Regularly mow your lawn, trim plants, and trees back to reduce the amount of cover mice have to your home.

Seal Up Any Entry Points

The reason mice want into your home, is because they are looking for food and shelter. Especially as autumn gets colder, mice will be attracted to warm indoor spaces to spend the winter. You may think your home is safe, however, mice are small and can squeeze through tiny gaps. It is recommended you patch any holes a quarter of an inch or larger, as mice can gain entry in holes that size.

Fix or windows and doors to eliminate cracks and gaps, seal holes in your siding, doorways and foundation. You can do this inexpensively with a tube of caulking from a hardware store. Also look for any entry points into your home created by utilities, like water, air conditioning, electricity for example. There are many ways to fill these gaps, such as heavy gauge wire screen and metal mesh filler.

Finally, install metal screens over vents to eliminate that access point. The professionals advise against expandable or spray foam, as it is not mouse proof, and mice will chew through the material to gain access to your home.

Once you’ve eliminated mouse entry points into your home, you can further make your home uninviting to these rodent pests by adding door sweeps to the bottom of every external door, to help prevent mice from squeezing in through the bottom of the door. Prevent mice from climbing drains by adding sheet metal 12” up the pipes. Paint with a glossy varnish to make it more difficult to climb.

Put Out Mouse Traps

Now that you’ve cleaned up inside and out, as well as sealed up entry points into your home, you can start focusing on getting rid of your mouse infestation with mouse traps. There are several different styles to choose from. Read about all the different types and make the best choice for your property.

1. Glue Traps
2. Live Traps
3. Snap Traps
4. Automatic Multiple Catch Traps
5. Baiting the Traps

Glue Traps

As the name suggests, glue traps are coated in sticky glue. As a mouse walks onto the glue, their feet stick and they cannot escape. Not only is this type of trap less effective than other traps, but they are also inhumane, and must be adhered to the floor in order to be effective. For these reasons, these are the least recommended mouse trap.

Live Traps

Live traps are for catching and releasing mice. While many people like the idea of these traps, they aren’t ideal. If you release the mice back into your neighborhood, they are likely going to find a way back to your yard, and if you have not sealed up entry points into your home, it’s likely the mice will end up back where they started. Relocating the mice to a less inhabited area will likely result in the mice dying from exposure, and live traps are significantly more work! If you do decide to use live traps, check with your municipality, as these traps aren’t legal everywhere.

Snap Traps

The most popular traps, they are affordable and easy to find. These traps can be placed and reset easily, and are price conscious, so they can be disposed of when necessary. The snap provides an instant kill for these pests, making them relatively humane. However, because they need to be baited and set out, these should be used in areas that will not have curious children or pets wanting to investigate. Great areas for snap traps include underneath appliances, attics and crawl spaces.

Automatic Multiple Catch Traps

These traps are great for a large infestation, as they allow for multiple mice to be caught at a time without needing to be reset. They can easily be set in hard-to-reach areas, making them quite attractive for homeowners with large infestations. However, it’s important to note that these styles of traps do not kill the mice, and the mice will then need to be disposed of.

Baiting the Trap

Regardless of the trap you choose, you will want to bait them with foods that mice love, such as seeds or peanut butter. Placement of the traps is also important – put them in areas frequently travelled by mice, where you’ve seen the most evidence of mouse activity. Check your traps often to ensure they are still in working order, and replace your traps as they become used, as mice can smell dead rodents on the traps after a while.

Click here to read our blog on getting rid of mice: https://majorpestcontrol.ca/mice-control-edmonton/

Be Mindful of Decreasing Mice Activity

Once you’ve stopped catching mice in the traps, you will want to verify that your efforts have been effective. Continue to watch for signs of mouse activity in your home. For example, check to you will want to be watching for evidence of less mouse activity in your home. Walk the perimeter of your home to ensure that entry points remain sealed, and there aren’t any new potential entry points.

Continue to have mouse traps in strategic locations. Watch for mouse droppings, and food or crumbs in areas they don’t belong. If you don’t see a decrease in mouse activity, or you are unsure all the mice are gone, your next step should be to call a professional pest control company so they can assess the situation, and help get it under control.

Chemical Mouse Baits for Large Infestations

If you are having difficulty getting rid of your infestation, or if it is particularly large, chemical mouse baits, also called rodenticides can be used, but only as a last resort. Chemical baits contain poisons designed to kill rodents. If you do go this route, always read the instructions thoroughly and take all the precautions. They are fast acting but can be dangerous as mice may move chemical baits throughout the home, where pets, children or wildlife may find the chemical bait. You also have to search your home to find the dead mice. There are two different types to choose from:

Anticoagulants

These chemical baits affect the mouse’s ability to clot blood, who then die of internal bleeding. Chemicals include chlorophacinone, warfarin, and diphacinone, and often come as pellets or blocks. In order for these chemicals to work, the mice must eat them more than once in order for the chemicals to be effective. They aren’t always effective, so if you still have mice after using this type of chemical bait, you will need to get the second-generation anticoagulant.

The second generation will work on mice that are resistant to the first type of anticoagulant bait. If those don’t work, there are also second-generation anticoagulants (designed to kill mice that are resistant to first-generation formulas), such as difethialone and brodifacoum.

Non-Anticoagulants

These chemical baits use zinc phosphide, cholecalciferol and bromethalin. Be aware that some non-anticoagulants are a single dose, while others require multiple doses, so know which kind you have. These work in a variety of ways and are usually sold in grain or seed mixes like corn, oats and wheat. They can be in block, pouch, packet or pellet form, all of which have their own pros and cons:

Pellet and Block Baits

The pros are that blocks and pellets are moisture resistant, and easy for mice to pick up and consume. The cons are that they are easy for mice to carry off and relocate, causing concerns, especially with children or pets in the house.

Loose Meal Baits

The pros are that these types of baits are less susceptible to being relocated. The cons are that they will absorb moisture easily, causing them to spoil, therefore, don’t use in damp areas.

Packet Baits

The pros are that they are sealed in their own package, allowing them to last longer than other types of bait. They also allow you to see if the mice have eaten any of the bait, since they will have to chew through the package to access the bait. The cons are that these packets also attract other wildlife, pets and curious children.

While chemical baits also called rodenticides can be effective, there’s an inherent hazard to them as well. Use them with caution, checking on them often, and keeping them in areas where pets and children are not present.

Baiting Techniques

It’s important to place the bait strategically. Ideally between where you suspect the mouse nest is, and their food source. That way, mice will be more likely to see the bait every day. However, mice can be wary of bait, therefore you can make it more attractive by setting out food without rodenticides, so mice will be more likely to take the bait when you place it. This is called pre-baiting, and you should pre-bait for three or four days before adding the chemical bait.

If mice have not visited the bait station, move it five feet in any direction in hopes of attracting mice. Keep your bait fresh, since mice will not be attracted to it if it’s moldy, insect infested or too old.

Safety Concerns with Chemical Bait

When using chemical bait, read all instructions thoroughly and take all outlined precautions, such as gloves, goggles, closed toe shoes and long pants. When using chemical bait indoors, always use a tamper-proof bait station that you place out of reach of pets, children and wildlife you do not want to be affected and avoid placing in areas it could get knocked over.

Mark on each bait station “RODENT BAIT – DO NOT TOUCH”. Store the unused rodent bait out of reach of children and pets and lock it up for additional safety.

Avoid Ineffective Removal Techniques

While there’s a wealth of knowledge on how to get rid of mice all over the internet, be aware of the methods that aren’t effective, and save your time and energy on methods that will generate results. Here are some methods you can disregard:

Cats for mouse control

While a cat may in fact catch a few mice, a cat will not be able to eliminate an infestation. Also, since mice carry diseases that pets can contract, it’s not a good idea to get a cat to control your mouse problem.

Mouse repellant plants

Many people swear that certain plants repel mice, such as onions, mint, lavender, daffodils and even garlic. And that simply planting these varieties in your yard and at the perimeter of your home will keep the pests away. Unfortunately, there simply isn’t any evidence that this works.

Ultrasonic sound devices

These devices emit high frequency sounds in order to drive mice and other pests away. However, while they may initially deter mice from coming into your home, they don’t actually work in the long term. The same can be said for hazing devices, like motion activated sprinklers or imitation hawks. They will scare the mice at first, then the mice will get used to the devices and will not be deterred.

Cheese please

Everyone knows the trope of a mouse loving cheese; however this is just fiction. Mice prefer many other foods, and when baiting your traps, you will want to use high aroma foods. Bacon, chicken, peanut butter just to name a few things. If you don’t have that on hand, nuts or dehydrated fruit works well. Look at what food the mice are getting into in your home and use that instead of cheese.

Fabric softener

The idea behind this one is that mice will not be able to stand the strong scent of it. However, while it might keep the mice away for a day or two when you first place the fabric softener, they will get used to it the same way they got used to the ultrasonic and hazing devices, and within days, they’ll get used to the scent, and return to your property.

How Do I Keep Mice Out of My House?

With diligence, it’s possible to get rid of a mouse infestation. However, it’s easier just to avoid getting mice in the first place. Knowing what to look for will help you mouse-proof your home and keep it that way.

Start with replacing the weather stripping on doors, windows, and screens in your home promptly, as loose weatherstripping leaves space for mice to find their way inside your home. Fix wire screens over any vents leading indoors, like dryer vents, chimney openings and any other gaps. Fix door and window screens promptly and install door sweepers on all external doors. Mice can squeeze into spaces that are a quarter inch in diameter, so fill up those small openings!

Many people have success with mouse repellent. Once they’re cleaned their home and mouse proofed their house and yard, using a mouse repellent can help keep those pests from getting too close. You can buy commercial mouse repellent, but you can also make your own.

Equal parts 1-1 of apple cider vinegar and water and put into a spray bottle. Or mix chili flakes, sliced habaneros peppers, water and dish soap. This will not harm animals or pets that come into contact with it, but to mice, it will irritate the eyes, nose and mouth. Spray your homemade or store-bought repellent around the perimeter of your house and any access points indoors to deter mice. Reapply every month to keep it active.

One of the things that will attract mice, is a plentiful water source. You can make your home less appealing to these pests by keeping your home dry. This means you need your house to be well ventilated, any plumbing leaks need to be addressed right away, and all moisture barriers intact. Keep doors and windows shut during rainy or snowy weather and use a dehumidifier whenever it’s needed will keep your home dry, and less attractive to mice.

While cleaning up food messes and spills right away, doing dishes promptly and not letting pet food sit out will all help prevent mice from being attracted to your home. But also, be mindful of where you are eating. Are kids eating in their rooms, or on the couch watching tv? Food garbage, crumbs, spills and leftovers can be attracting mice without you knowing it. If you make a rule that eating only happens in the kitchen, it makes controlling and cleaning up food scraps, keeping your home safer from mice.

Frequently Asked Questions About Mice

If mice have taken over your Edmonton home – we can help! While mouse infestations are frustrating problems, the good news is that the experts here at Major Pest Control will be help you eliminate your mouse problems—giving you back your home. Our team offers various humane and eco-friendly mouse control services to residential and commercial properties all over Northern Alberta, including Edmonton, Leduc, Sherwood Park, St. Albert, Spruce Grove, Stony Plain and more!