Winter Mice

Where would you go if a house was 70 degrees and the outdoors was 5 below?

Your house of course, and a house mouse can get through an opening the size of your pinky. So how do you get rid of them and stop them?

It is important to be pro-active. Mice urinate as they move about. This scent trail gives other mice a road to follow when an opening is found under your garage door, vents or foundation cracks. So stopping them before that scent is set is important.

There are a lot of good informational sites on how to make your home more mouse proof that I will list, but the one often forgotten are the house pipes. These pipes serve as highways so as we've discussed before, look under every basin and fill those open gaps.

The other issue that is extremely important is to protect yourself from the Hantavirus.  This is a very serious disease my wife actually had to endure so I am very quick to keep people safe from it. The virus is from the feces of field mice (cousin to the house mouse and often a resident in our homes). The feces is actually a bit different and you can distinguish one from the other as shown in this very good link of information from the University of Nebraska. I strongly suggest reading that entire publication.

Now armed with that information, what really is the best way for the DIY person to get rid of mice. The first step is to start organic, I use a peppermint scent product that has proven pretty effective in discouraging mice from wanting to choose my home versus the neighbors. This is a great start but you will be disappointed if you use it as your only answer. You will need to keep glue boards and traps out to truly be completely effective.

The key to traps is that mice adapt very quickly to different environments, and despite their brain size...are not stupid. As the Nebraska University Study demonstrated, you have to be creative in your bait and the way you set your traps.

Do not get discouraged if a mouse takes your bait and gets away with it. Use the same bait on a different type of trap. In example if you use a snap trap and the bait is stolen, put the same bait on a glue board and this time you'll get them.

Young small mice get away with a lot but they do not stay small for more than a couple of weeks, so the trap they were able to steal from this week might get them next week.

The key is diligence, keep with it and you will get rid of those mice.