What to do if mice get into the house

You should start fighting mice when you spot the first mice.

Why are we so afraid of mice, because they are seemingly cute and harmless creatures, no worse than a kitten? The fact is that mice are a source of spread of various diseases and parasites. For example, the plague epidemic, in part, was the merit of these little gray kids. In addition, mice chew the materials from which the house is built, spoil wiring, clothing and other things that are dear to you. And what can we say about the products! Food that rodents have tasted becomes unfit for consumption. That is why many are interested in the question: “How to get rid of mice?” Today we will try to answer it for you.

Why are mice dangerous in an apartment and how to get rid of them?

Mice are small mammals that can eat an amount of food equal to 30% of their body weight at one time. More than a hundred species of mice live in the territory of the former USSR. The most common are field, house, earthen and forest.

It would seem, what harm can these small creatures cause? In fact, such a neighborhood is very dangerous for human health, as well as for his home and belongings.

The traditional way to get rid of mice is to use mousetraps.

Mice climb everywhere, they can get into the bed and bite a sleeping person. Their squeaks prevent you from sleeping peacefully and can greatly frighten a small child.

In the wild they eat mainly plant foods, but at home they eat absolutely everything. They squeak and damage wires, increasing the risk of a fire in the apartment. They can also chew on a large amount of building materials, which will significantly reduce the lifespan of the house.

Mice in an apartment are also dangerous because they are carriers of a large number of diseases. Their invasion gave rise to epidemics such as typhus and plague.

A mouse can also infect humans and domestic animals with rabies and helminths. And it is not even necessary that you were bitten by a mouse; the fleas that certainly live on these rodents are also sources of infection.

In the kitchen, mice can also cause a lot of trouble. They eat reserves of cereals and flour, most of all they love apples and potatoes. Rodents can crawl into any crevice, so if they are infested, there is no use hiding food and water from them. By the way, everything touched by mouse teeth is considered poisonous and hazardous to health, so such products can no longer be eaten.

Mice are very fertile creatures. Already at the age of 3 months, a female is capable of giving birth to her first offspring. A house mouse can give birth to up to 14 litters per year. 5-7 pieces - that's how many mice there are in one litter!

These small animals love to chew on fabrics. They may live in closets with clothes you don't use. At the same time, things acquire a specific smell, which is very difficult to remove.

Do mice chew polyurethane foam?

There is an opinion that if you seal a mouse hole with foam, the little pests will go away and won’t bother you anymore. One such opinion is far from the truth; in fact, mice even really like it, there is such material.

Mice can easily chew through polyurethane foam, regardless of the thickness of the layer.

Reasons why mice chew polyurethane foam:

1. Mice chew on foam due to the constant growth of their teeth. This soft building material allows rodents to grind down the upper incisors without breaking them.
2. Polyurethane foam and polystyrene sheets are easier to chew than other materials, so if you have areas sealed with this substance, then be sure that mice will make a new move in it.
3. Mouse and rat are very smart animals. There are often cases when they decorate their home with polyurethane foam.

There are materials that are similar in their characteristics to polyurethane foam, but are hazardous to the health of mice. For example, eco-wool contains boric acid and other substances that can cause a suffocation attack in a rodent that swallows it. Mice are also afraid of insulation such as glass wool; you can sprinkle the area where you are going to pour polyurethane foam with broken glass.

In Europe, polyurethane foam is sold that mice cannot chew. It is safe for human health, but it contains bitter impurities that rodents do not like.

What if there are rats?

So, everything is clear with mice, let's move on to rats. The rat is an incredibly smart, cunning, and careful animal. If you are unable to scare it away with loud sounds and unpleasant odors, you will have to take extreme measures, because the rat will not fit into an ordinary bottle. However, if you have a large glass bottle, it's worth a try! I just don’t have such a bottle, so I can’t say anything about whether this method will work with a rat.

In our village, many people keep pets, and their presence, like the place where food is stored, attracts rats like a magnet. In search of reliable information, I went around to all my acquaintances, neighbors, and friends. Unfortunately, no one suggested a humane method for catching rats.

We invite you to read: How to get rid of mice in the cellar and basement 2019

The rat is an incredibly smart, cunning, and careful animal.

I chose two - the least terrible, compared to the others, but 100% effective. For the first one you will need part of a rat carcass. Ask the owner of the ratcatcher cat for it. Cats that hunt rats never eat the entire prey; they bring some of it to the doorstep as a trophy. Place this trophy on a shovel, pour alcohol over it (not gasoline, not kerosene - only alcohol!) and set it on fire. Walk with a shovel across the entire area where rats are encroaching. From now on, there won’t be any of them there for at least a year, not one.

Can mice climb walls?

Can mice climb walls? It would seem that this question borders on fantasy. However, these small animals with sharp claws have learned to run on vertical surfaces.

The only material that rodents cannot catch with their claws is glass. They slide off it and fall down. There have been cases where mice climbed onto kitchen shelves and fell from them into uncovered pots of food.

Mice can move on walls without any problems

Mice would have filled the whole world long ago. However, fortunately, these dangerous rodents usually live no more than a year. Also, their high mortality rate protects us from the invasion of these animals. Most predators love to eat these animals.

Mice can climb walls. They feel great in city apartments, in the office, in the greenhouse, in the country house covered with clapboards and in the attic of a private house.

How do rats get into the toilet?

Rodents love to live in warm places where there is safety and plenty of food. In houses, such a place is the basement. When the living conditions of a rat family worsen, they look for a new home.

The following factors cause the migration of rats:

1. Deratization or extermination of rodents by specialized services. Rat poisons force animals to leave their homes en masse. Pests flee from chemicals and enter the apartment through the toilet.
2. Overpopulation. Animals fight for territory and food. Males fight for the favor of the female. Rats that have been expelled from the pack begin to look for a new place to live.
3. The onset of cold weather. Gray rats or pasyuki do not like to live in the cold. With the onset of the first cold weather, they begin to look for a warm shelter and move closer to humans.

Animals prefer to move on land. When it comes to survival, the rat begins to explore the water.

The animal found in the bathroom is a scout. He came through the pipeline to find out how safe and comfortable it was in this apartment. It is necessary to destroy the invader, otherwise he will bring the flock with him.

The animal has tenacious paws and sharp claws. The rodent easily runs along walls and trees. The surface of sewer pipes is also not smooth. It is rough and has irregularities that are easy for tiny claws to grab onto.

The pipe itself is wide enough, which allows adults to move freely along it. The animal will not squeeze through other pipes. He won't be able to get out of the gas water heater either. But the toilet has a fairly wide opening. Therefore, the appearance of a rat in the toilet is not a fairy tale.

How to get mice out of the house: the reason for their appearance

Mice live everywhere. They consider themselves our full neighbors. It is difficult to find a private home where rodents do not visit from time to time. Mice usually enter city apartments through garbage chutes and basements, but for such dwellings, rats are the most common guests.

You may ask: “Why do mice like our houses so much?” The fact is that these small animals in the wild are constantly forced to look for food and escape from predators, but in a human home they can feel calm.

Most mice move from fields and forests to apartments only in the cold season, when they cannot find food on the street, but the laziest mouse will remain in its habitable hole even when spring comes.

Mice are also attracted to homes where food is left uncleaned on tables and dishes left unwashed in sinks. Garbage, dust, lack of grilles on ventilation openings are factors contributing to such a neighborhood.

Where do mice come from? Usually they peek in from their natural habitat - fields and forests. If there is a mouse in your city apartment, do not rush to reproach yourself for being careless; very often rodents come from garbage chutes and basements. If this is really the case, and mice also attack your neighbors, then you won’t be able to drive them away using simple means; you will have to call sanitary services, who will clean not only your apartments, but also basements with garbage chutes.

If you want to get mice out of your house, you can get a cat.

How to determine the presence of rodents in the house:

1. Pay attention to sounds. If there is something scratching in your closet or on the wall, it will almost certainly be a mouse. If you hear mice squeaking, then most likely you have become the owner of a whole litter of mice.
2. Pay attention to sudden movements. Mice rarely leave their burrows when there is daylight. However, if you often see flickering shadows in corners and near walls, then you may have mice crawling around.
3. The surest sign of the presence of mice in the house is their droppings. It looks like shiny black oblong grains. If you find such traces in corners or in food cabinets, then mice are already in your home.
4. Look for mouse nests. Rodents usually build their homes in warm and quiet places. You can find such a home in a closet with clothes that you don’t wear, in a closet or in the attic, and mice can also make a hole in the wall, in sawdust, in sand or in expanded clay.
5. A specific musty smell may also indicate that there are mice in your home.

Based on all these signs, it will not be difficult to identify the presence of mice in your home. Once the problem is discovered, all that remains is to kick out such neighbors.

How to protect your home from mice

Owners of private buildings are forced to periodically deal with mice that enter their homes from the fields. Rodents are excellent at climbing walls, getting through windows and even through the roof, and running into the door if they forget to close it in time.

What to do to protect your premises from mice:

• Find and repair a hole in the wall of the house.
• Tighten sewer and ventilation holes with mesh.
• Seal all cracks in the floor.
• Block access to pests entering from basements and garbage chutes.
• Store food in places inaccessible to rodents.

It is important to tighten the sewer and ventilation holes with steel mesh. It is advisable to use glass and metal containers for storing food products; do not leave crumbs and pieces on kitchen counters and floors. In order not to attract mice to places where birds and animals are kept, it is necessary to clean them regularly, preventing food residues from accumulating.

People often associate the appearance of mice in the house with some folk signs. For example, it is believed that if there are mice in the house, then one of the owners will have a long trip or the family will move to live in another place. The invasion of a large number of rodents means secret ill-wishers and warns of the need to narrow the circle of friends.

If the owners of the house have a stable financial situation, then mice in the house mean that it will remain unshakable for at least six months. And for people with poor material income, the appearance of mice in the house promises an improvement in the situation. But if rodents scratch only under the threshold, then the owners should expect trouble.

We suggest you read: Fighting mice in the house and apartment. Effective methods (methods) and means of combating mice and rodents

How to get rid of mice in a wooden house using folk methods

If you don’t want to find a dead mouse in your trap in the morning, then you can use humane traps. With their help, you can remove the mouse without killing it.

Humane methods of rodent control are considered effective if you only have one mouse in your house. A large number of animals will have to be dealt with with harsh measures.

Making a humane device against mice:

1. A glass jar or bottle is placed on the table so that its neck is raised up. This position of the can can be achieved by placing a wooden block under it.
2. To lure the mouse, a tasty bait, such as cheese, is placed in the jar.

There are many homemade devices that can be used to quickly and easily catch mice.

The principle of operation of such a trap is that the mouse will crawl into the neck of the jar for a treat, but will not be able to get out of there as it will slide off the glass surface. You should not use a cardboard box, the mouse will chew through it. The next day you will be able to release the captive, but remember that this can be done no closer than 1.5 km from home.

You can also place tansy, chamomile, wormwood, burdock or mint in rodent habitats, or treat the floor with ash. However, such measures do not help everyone.

One of the most effective ways to get rid of rodents that can chew through even concrete is a cat. This beast will quickly catch uninvited guests and will not allow new ones to appear. A cat copes best with squeaking pests, because female predators, in addition to themselves, also need to feed their family, so their hunting instincts are better developed.

Let's catch them...

Part two - catching. We won’t talk about cats, dogs, ferrets, weasels and other animals that hunt mice: everyone knows about them, and if desired, everyone can acquire any of the listed pets.

Mouser

Now I’ll tell you how to catch a mouse without causing it the slightest harm, without much hassle and material costs. I have been using this method for many years now; it has proven itself to be excellent for catching mice anywhere, including in a car.

Take a glass bottle, 0.5 or 0.7 liters, pour a little sunflower oil inside (2-3 tablespoons), cover the neck with your finger or a napkin and shake the bottle like a shaker to coat its entire inside. You need oil from the market, or rather from an oil mill, so fragrant that a mouse can smell it a mile away.

Bottle trap Mice love the smell of beer, I don’t know why) Place the bottle at an angle, arrange a small step near the neck, and place improvised stoppers on the sides. All.

This angle of inclination is sufficient. If you have mice in the house, in the morning they will definitely be there, in the bottle. Maybe not all at once, but they will definitely get caught! They won’t be able to get out, they will slide on the oiled surface of the glass, this has been checked many times! Once you try this method in practice, you will never want to use poisons, glue or mousetraps!

We suggest you read: Do people have fleas: Why don’t fleas live on people?

A bottle mousetrap does not harm the environment, gives you the opportunity to sleep peacefully until the morning, without jumping up after the next clap of an ordinary trap, you protect your nervous system from the terrible images of victims of poison, glue, mousetraps (and you will also have to clean up dead rodents!). Try a trap bottle, it is reliable protection against mice in your dacha, you will remember my good advice more than once, believe me!

Modern protection against rodents

If you have a large number of mice in your apartment or wooden house, they sleep under the floor, climb on your products, and do not fall into traps, you will have to use more modern methods. There are a lot of such methods, but not all of them are humane and many lead to the death of rodents.

The most effective methods when mice appear:

1. Poisons are the most effective but cruel method for killing mice. If you have children or pets in your home, then this method is not suitable for you.
2. Mousetraps have been used successfully for a very long time. Such a trap instantly kills the mouse it catches. You can use cheese, fruit or red bell pepper as bait.
3. Repellers emit a sound, the frequency of which is not heard by humans, but they are afraid of mice. Such a device can work continuously.

All of these traps are incredibly effective. Reviews of their work are always positive. In this case, neither holes nor fast running skills will save the mice.

You can repel mice using modern technical devices that are sold in specialized stores.

After you destroy the uninvited guests, do not forget to remove their bodies. Animal remains decompose over time and are hazardous to health; they can also cause worms and caterpillars. And just stumbling upon a skull that was left after an invasion of mice is not very pleasant.

Traditional methods of controlling rodents in the ceiling

In addition to universal poisons and ingenious devices, we must not forget the good old “grandmother’s” recipes for fighting mice. They are also suitable for getting rid of rodents from suspended ceilings.

The simplest and most effective are the following:

• Cat hair. You can get rid of pests if you simply scatter a few pieces of fur in the mouse habitats. They will smell the smell and begin to actively run away.
• Scented herbs. A controversial method of pest control, however, sometimes showing good results. Mice do not like the smell of mint or wormwood, which can be used to get rid of them.
• Homemade traps. The least effective method due to the difficulty of installing such structures on the ceiling.

Of course, in order to get rid of a mouse infestation, it is best to combine a variety of methods, rather than focus on just one of them.

Mice in a frame house

Mice are most common in a frame house. The fact is that such designs require the presence of a large number of hollow niches where mice can live especially comfortably and safely.

To protect your home from mice, use protective equipment during construction. Rodents cannot live in reinforced concrete floors, so you can put a concrete and metal structure at the base of the house.

Rodents also really like insulation, which is present in abundance in frame houses. They easily gnaw through it and make warm and cozy burrows in it.

Rodent mesh

To protect a frame house from mice, a fine-mesh metal mesh is used. It is laid during construction and prevents mice from entering the home.

Rodent screens may vary in size and thickness

If the house has already been built, then the mesh can also be used by burying it underground near the concrete base; an earth mouse cannot crawl through the small cell.

Which mesh should I choose? Of course, metal, with small cells. It is necessary to make protection against mice at the construction stage of the building; such a device is laid under the insulation on the floor and on the walls. After installing such protection, you can even decorate your house with plasterboard.