A mouse in the house is a problom as old as time. The word mouse comes from the Sanskrit word Musha which means to steal (vary fitting name). Mice are more than just a nuisance, they carry more than 60 diffrent daseses including Lymphocytic Choriomeningitis (LCM), Hentavirus (HPS), Trichinellosis and Hemorrhage Fever to name just a few. That's not to mention they are responsible for bringing fleas and ticks in to your home. Remember the Bubonic plague . Ok i'm done scaring you, now lets fix it.
The first step to tackling a mouse problem it to know your enemy. Trapping may seem easy but to actually clean out the house of all the furry little invaders takes some skill. Most home owners trap on there own and say they have luck but the fact of it is that they catch the young mice how have not learned to avoid the traps yet and it only takes a few survives for your mouse problem to go from a problem to a full blown infestation.
Ok lets talk about mice. Not all mice are the same a mouse in New York City is usually a house mouse. they came from Asia a long time ago and behave completely different than our deer mouse we have here in Upstate New York. Deer mice run a rang of four acres making lasting control difficult. If steps are not taken new mice can enter the structure as fast as you trap them pout. We will talk about exclusion to keep mice out side where they belong in a bit.
The white footed deer mouse lives for a year and a half, its body is small and slender usually brown or gray with a white under belly and feet. a female mouse pup will reach sexual maturity in 35 to 60 days after berth. At that point she will have here first litter. after mating she will give berth in 18 - 21 days delivering any where from 2 to 13 pups but usually 5 per litter. she can have as many as 43 to 45 pups in her short life time. When she becomes a grandmother that's when the infestation really gets going. Not to leave out the males, a male mouse can mate 20 times in 6 hours (wow). So as you can see ignoring a mouse problem for any length of time can get really dirty and not to mention dangerous. Mice spray urine contently every where they go and can poop 100 times a day. They chew on wires and spend most there time in concealed places like your walls (get the point).
Now to the nitty gritty, to start a trapping program you need to know where the mice are. Mice don't frequent the whole house all the time. They are querulous by nature but trapping where they spend most of there time will make for a great mouse clean out. So a thorough inspection is key.
For this you will need a good flash light and a shop vac. the best place to start is in the basement. Mice live where they are protected. They seam to like to be tucked away corners, inside boxes and rolled up carpeting. You will know when you find the places the mice sleep, eat and live when there not out gathering food by the amount of mouse scat. Mice defecate between 50 and 75 times a day leaving a trail. The trails are the places you want to set your traps. More on traps latter.
Another great sign of where mice travel is rub marks. As they squeeze them self threw tight spaces they leave a oil and grim stain behind. a heavy grease mark will look almost red in color. Some times you can smell the mouse urine as you find a aria with several nest. It is best to vacuum up the droppings as you go so latter you can re inspect and know if there is lingering mouse activity. Next move in to the main part of the house. Usaly the kitchen cabnets and paintry aloong with the laundry room. again place your traps where the mice are. The harder it is to get at the better it will work is a good role of thumb. Next is the attic. Mice love the attic. like the basment they are rarly disterbed and have pelenty of fiberglass for building nest. in the isulation you will see mouse holes going threw the fiber glass mostly around the edges. trapping under the fiber glass is hard but some well placed traps work well up there. This is the only blace the sticky board stile traps work better than snap traps. get the ones llabled for rats they work great on mice and you can chech quit few on one, Just don't forget there up there.
now that you know where to trap lets cover how to trap. when it comes to mouse traps there are hundreds of stiles to choose from. from the old fasion snap trap to tubs that cheach the mice alive. they even have ones that electrcut the mice. Me i like the good old reliable snap trap. simple to set and when used properly works every time.
I call this stile of trap old fatful but the stile of trap realy does not matter as long as it humainly does away with the mouse. if you are live trapping fuil up the station wagon and get ready to play uber to your mice because you have to take them at least a mile i would think, so they don't come right back in your home (i'm guessing on that one). When it comes to baiting less is defently more. just a dab will do. I use peanut butter, chocolate, even a cotten ball works well (never had any luck with cheese). Now lets go to the front lines of your mouse problom, out doors.
The hard part is finding all the places mice use to enter the house. the rub marks will help know which hole they are using the most but as soon as you cut off that piont of entry they will find another. Mice can climb a vertacal wall with no efort and can even walk upside down. so sealing the house will take the most time and energy. You will need a ladder some foam a good exclusion material (more about that latter. some times sheet metal comes in to play and hard wear cloth, but every house is difrent. Mice can chew threw just about anything but they usaly only make a hole when there is alread a draft to chech there atenchen. The big places are where the house meets the foundion and the eves. after the holes are located you simply fill them but keep in mind foam alone will not stop a mouse and his teeth. you have to use a more perment solution. There are several on the market from copper meshes to excluders. note that steel wool will work but rusts away fast and re-sealing a hole is messy and befor long you will creat a eye soar. ( Not the foam rapedly exspands and the rate of exspanchen depends on the tempecher. slower in colder temps. its hard to clean off and is easy to make a huge mess.)
There are some siple things you can do to help reduce the chances of getting mice again. Cutting back the vegeatation around your home keeping it 18 inches away helps exspesaly if you use stone instead of malch. The ideal here is to alimante there hiding places keeping them from traveling close to the house where they might be able to find a entry point. Fire wood and stone walls are prime hiding spots for mice. Well i wish you good luck and if you live in Warren or Saratoga Couties in upstate New Your and would like some help or a profenanal opinion gice me a call or text any time.
(518)401-5395
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