Mice are pests that can cause a lot of damage once in your home. To keep these pests out of and around your home, certain preventive techniques can be put in place.
Whether it’s identifying and sealing entry points, repelling odors or using ultrasonic devices, there are a number of ways to get rid of mice once and for all. Elite Pest Control’s mouse exterminators explain how to keep them out of your home.
How to identify a mouse
The mouse is a small creature with a delicate silhouette and a slender tail. With its large black eyes and rounded ears, it often embodies the image of cuteness, but don’t let its innocent appearance fool you. Mice are skilful and opportunistic, sneaking into the smallest nooks and crannies in search of food and shelter. Their chewing obsession and the diseases they transmit make mice a danger to your home.
The first difference between rats and mice, which are often confused, lies in their size. Compared to their larger cousins, mice are considerably smaller, generally between 5 and 10 centimetres in body length, not including tail length. Unlike rats, which can reach more impressive sizes and are often associated with a more serious nuisance, mice are more discreet but can reproduce quickly if they find the right environment.
The field mouse, on the other hand, although often confused with our target because of their similar size, has a few distinctive differences. Field mice tend to have a shorter tail and a darker coat color. What’s more, field mice generally prefer outdoor areas, while our target thrives inside dwellings, as what mice eat most is found there.
How to recognize the signs of a siege
To identify the presence of a mouse in your home, here are a few signs to look out for:
- Droppings: Mouse droppings look like small rice seeds and are often found along walls, in cupboards, under sinks, etc.
- Nibbling marks: Mice often leave nibbling marks on plastic or cardboard food packaging, as well as on wooden furniture.
- Nests or nesting marks: Mice often build nests in dark, isolated places, such as behind household appliances or in attics.
- Urine smell: A strong smell of urine can be a sign of the presence of mice, especially in poorly ventilated areas.
- Nocturnal noises: Mice are active at night, so if you hear scratching or running noises in the walls or ceiling, this could indicate their presence.
- Damaged objects: Mice can damage household wiring, clothing, papers and other materials to build their nests or search for food.
How to keep mice away from home
Because mice feed on everything they can find in a house, it’s important first to work on prevention by considering everything that attracts them and limiting their access to it. To take the necessary steps, here are some initial tips.
Fill holes to keep mice out
The first thing to do is to leave no access areas for these little rodents, as they are very agile. Mice can squeeze through a space as small as a dime – the smallest openings there are.
Seal all cracks in your foundations and joints around your pipes. Installing wire mesh screens can also help block entry points for mice and rats.
If you don’t think you can do it perfectly, we offer an effective anti-mouse and rodent caulking service, using the best sealants on the market. Our team can move in quickly to help you scare mice away naturally.
Keep food sealed and inaccessible to rodents
But, these small rodents also enter your home to find food. To alleviate this problem, keep your kitchen clean. You can do this by regularly wiping down countertops to remove residues, and by storing dry food in metal or glass containers.
If you leave garbage cans with food waste lying around on the balcony, if there’s food on the back of your stove, and if cereal boxes are always open in your cupboards, then mice will smell it and be likely to come to your home. The best way to keep mice away and not attract them.
Seal your garbage to limit the attractiveness of odours
Without a proper lid, garbage cans near your house or garage are a siren song for mice and other pests like rats and raccoons. You can secure the lids with straps or heavy rocks to keep critters out.
If possible, keep garbage cans several dozen metres away from your home and elevate them slightly off the ground for optimal pest prevention.
Maintain your garden to keep mice away
In order to keep mice away effectively, it’s not just the inside of your house that needs attention, but the outside as well. Here are a few steps you can take around your garden to keep mice from being drawn to your home:
- Keep your grass short to prevent mice from making a nest near your home.
- Dispose of garden waste. Pests love easily accessible yard waste. It provides them with a great place to hide and reproduce, but given the prodigious mice reproduction rate, you don’t want to give them the opportunity to breed in your garden.
What are mice scared of?
Mice are afraid of noise and too much light, as they are nocturnal animals, but also of sudden, unpredictable movements. This is important information to take into consideration, as it will help you understand how to get rid of mice and chase them out of your home.
How to get rid of mice in the house
What to do if you see a mouse in the house? Whether through natural or more drastic solutions, you can get rid of mice, including without killing them, if you combine these steps with the prevention tips seen above. Here are a few ways to repel them:
- Mouse traps
- Repellent scents
- Cat litter
Let’s look at them in more detail together.
Scare mice away with noise
You may want to avoid the use of lethal traps or poison, which is completely understandable. Mouse traps such as ultrasonic devices are among the effective methods of catching a mouse.
Ultrasonic devices are an effective method for keeping mice out of your house. Instead of catching mice, like mouse traps do, ultrasonic devices emit sound waves at a frequency that mice find absolutely unbearable. Ultrasonic devices with a sound frequency of 10,000 Hz are most effective at keeping mice away.
It’s best to buy several of these devices and replace them every 3 weeks.
Repellent scents
Mice have poor eyesight. On the other hand, their sense of smell is exceptional. So to scare mice away naturally, certain repellent smells are very effective, especially anything that smells strong.
What smells keep mice away?
These include peppermint, vinegar, black pepper and garlic, which are particularly strong smells.
That said, using essential oils is an excellent solution. Here are the most effective essential oils for keeping mice away:
- Peppermint essential oil;
- Sage essential oil;
- Lavandin essential oil;
- Eucalyptus essential oil;
- Laurel essential oil;
- Clove essential oil.
Create repellents by soaking cotton balls in essential oil and placing them in closets, passageways and potential entry points. Place them in closets, passageways or entrances likely to let rodents through.
Alternatively, make cheesecloth sachets from dried cayenne, mint and whole cloves and leave them in places where mice tend to hide, such as under kitchen appliances and in walls.
Baking soda to get rid of mice
Among grandmother’s remedies for getting rid of mice, baking soda is another commonly used product. To get rid of mice with bicarbonate of soda, you need to sprinkle the bicarbonate in areas frequented by mice. Concentrate your efforts in the places where they pass.
Alternatively, you can mix baking soda with mouse best baits such as cereal, dried fruit or pea butter. However, avoid using this method if you have children or pets. Children and pets could be tempted to eat the bait mixed with baking soda.
Will a cat keep mice away?
One of the most enduring clichés about cats is the idea that they are expert mouse hunters. While their presence can help deter mice, the hunter stereotype is a common misconception.
It’s not a given that cats will help you get rid of mice in your home. Most domestic cats don’t have a well-honed hunting instinct, and they tend to be well-fed enough that they aren’t motivated to hunt down every mouse in the area.
However, the presence of a cat can scare mice, whether the cat is lazy or not. So having a cat in your home will go some way to keeping mice away, but don’t rely solely on their presence.
Use your cat’s litter to scare away mice
On the other hand, an effective way to use your cat to scare mice away from your home is to use its litter box. Strange, you may think. Not really! As we’ve seen, mice have a very good sense of smell and can therefore sense the presence of one of their predators, the cat. Cat litter tainted with the scent of a feline is a natural mouse repellent.
To repel a mouse with cat litter, sprinkle a little along the walls where the rodent usually passes. The more fragrant or scented the cat litter, the more effective it will be at repelling mice. To make cat litter even more fragrant, you can mix in a few drops of white vinegar.
Call an exterminator to chase mice away
Keeping mice out of your home is essential for your peace of mind and safety. There are many tips for keeping them away. Our Montreal exterminators recommend early action to prevent major infestations, but if it’s too late, extermination is the way to go.
The best way to exterminate this pest is through a professional. Their experience will enable them to identify access points, seal them off and ensure that no more invaders are left in the house. Contact Elite Pest Control right away if you need help. We work discreetly to ensure that your privacy remains intact, and our experience in the industry will ensure fast, satisfactory results.
