Canada has several types of mice and other rodents who would love to make your home their home too. Most homeowners, however, shudder at the thought of sharing their space with unwanted visitors. And, rightly so! Mice can cause many problems, including those related to health and destruction of property.
While prevention is better than cure when it comes to mouse control, people can still find themselves with unwanted housemates of the critter kind. If this happens, show them the door. Pronto.
Signs You Have a Mouse Problem
While it might not be obvious at first that mice have invaded your space, a number of common signs can indicate you need to start taking mice pest control measures:
- Strange noises often show something is amiss, particularly if you hear scurrying or rustling sounds in your walls or attic.
- Dropping are a huge giveaway that pests are roaming your home. Mouse poop is dark in color and about the same size as a grain of rice, only with pointy ends.
- A strong smell of ammonia, especially when near poop, can indicate mouse pee.
- Food stashes or nests are a big tell-tale sign that something is making itself right at home. Mice make comfy beds from just about anything — strands of hair, shredded paper, chewed up fabrics, insulation materials and so on. They may also create their own little pantry near their nest.
- Teeth marks are a big sign that something has been chewing away inside your home. From walls to furnishings and from food packets to clothing, gnaw marks should never be ignored.
- Greasy trails along floors and baseboards can be marks left behind by a rodent’s oily feet.
- Other pets, particularly cats, may act out of character, such as pacing, trying to get into small spaces, and meowing at seemingly nothing. Cats are often aware of mouse invasions before we are.
What Problems Mice Cause
Mice pest control is vital to prevent a raft of problems that a mouse in the house can cause.
Vermin are detrimental to human health. Mice can trigger allergies, bring parasites into the home and cause a range of diseases, including hantavirus, lymphocytic choriomeningitis, salmonella infection and leptospirosis. It gets worse, though; some of these diseases can be spread through the air, when poop and pee turn to dust. Simply avoiding contact with mouse-infested areas isn’t enough. Sickness can also affect pets as well as people.
Mice can cause plenty of damage to a home — some of it very costly to repair. Chewing holes in walls can allow other pests to easily enter your living space. From clothes and bedding to your kid’s favorite soft toys, mice can ruin many soft household items. They can also gnaw on furniture. These things are annoying. Even more dangerous, however, is a mouse’s love of chewing on wires. Electronics may not only be expensive to repair or replace; you can get electric shocks from appliances with chewed wires. Inside your walls, mice can happily chomp on your electrical cables, unaware that they could, quite literally, spark an electrical fire that could actually burn a house down.
How to Get Rid of Mice – Mice Pest Control
There are several ways you can bid bothersome mice farewell. Mouse pest control includes:
- Removing food sources. This includes pet food as well as human food. Make sure packages are sealed in air-tight containers and that food waste is removed each evening.
- Sealing entry points. If it is obvious where mice are entering your home, bar their entry asap.
- Letting cats roam. If you have a pet cat, allow them free roam at night time to scare off intruders of the mouse kind. As well as being good hunters, cats emit a certain scent that terrifies mice.
- Using traps and baits. There are various rodent traps and baits on the market, including mechanical traps and humane traps. If you opt for the latter, be sure to always release your captives far from your home.
- Hiring a professional pet control company. It can be quicker, easier and, in the long run, less costly to seek out pest control services to rid your home of rodents.
Assassin Pest Solution has more than 30 years of pest control experience. Contact us for a free assessment and leave your mouse pest control needs safely in the hands of the professionals.