You’ve heard scurrying sounds moving across your ceilings. You’ve found droppings in the corners of your rooms. There’s no doubt about it: you’re dealing with a rodent infestation, and a mouse infestation, in particular.
What you’re wondering now is how to get rid of mice. Fortunately, this article can help you with that matter. Without further ado, here’s everything you need to know about getting rid of mice.
How to Get Rid of Mice in Sacramento: Tactics to Utilize
There are a number of different tactics you can utilize in order to drive mice out of your home. Some of the most common of these tactics include the following:
Set Mouse Traps
The most obvious tactic is to set mouse traps. These traps will prevent mice from moving, and therefore provide you with the chance to safely take them out of your home.
You should place these traps in various rooms throughout your home, ideally in the corners, closets, and other dark areas. Bait them with cheese or similar food and the mice are sure to come their way.
Note, when taking the mice out of your home, you should take them far, far away, at least a half mile. This way, they have no legitimate chance of finding your home again.
Wondering where to buy mouse traps? You can find humane ones online and at big box stores like Walmart. You can also build them yourself.
Adopt a Cat
Another way to drive mice out of your home is to buy a cat. Cats are natural predators and will target any moving creatures that make their way into a home. Mice are common targets for cats and so tend to stay out of homes that house them.
Of course, this is a big move to make just for the purpose of keeping mice out of your home. So, if you’re going to do it, you need to make sure that you actually want a cat for a pet. Consider the responsibilities you’ll take on when raising a cat and then weigh the pros and cons.
Employ Essential Oils
There are certain scents that are highly repellant to mice and other rodents. These include a handful of essential oils, including peppermint and clove oil. You can use these oils as a means of driving mice away.
How do you accomplish this exactly? Take a cotton ball and dip it in said oils. Then, place it in a spot where mice might frequent (such as a closet or a drawer or a corner of a room).
Do this all over the house and you’ll almost certainly have some success in staving off mice. No, it probably won’t chase them away for good. However, when used in tandem with other mouse-prevention methods, it will help to keep them at bay.
Plug Up Gaps in Your Home
Mice can squeeze into a home through even the smallest of gaps. Therefore, if you want to keep mice out of your home, you need to locate and plug up these gaps.
Where might you find these gaps? On bannisters, in cupboards, in closets, and around doors and windows.
Now, door and window gaps should be properly repaired with weather seals. The other gaps, however, should be stuffed with steel wool.
See, when a mouse chews on steel wool, it experiences pain. Therefore, if steel wool is blocking a mouse’s entryway, it won’t even attempt to get in through it. It will move on to a different gap or a different home entirely.
Call a Pest Control Company
If you’re having no success, or if the infestation has reached a point that’s impossible for you to combat, you need to call up a pest control company. They’ll come to your home, assess the infestation, and then create a course of action for eradicating the existing mice.
There are many different ways for pest control companies to combat mice problems. Every infestation calls for a different solution.
Regardless, the company you hire will work until the job is done. They’ll employ traps and block entryways to ensure that all of the mice are removed from your home for now and into the future.
What Attracts Mice?
If you truly want to keep mice out of your home, you need to understand what attracts them. Some of their most common attractors include the following:
Loose Food
Mice are always looking for another bite to eat. It doesn’t matter if it’s crumbs or a whole piece of cake; they want to eat it.
Therefore, you need to do everything you can to ensure that there’s no loose food in your home. Sweep up floors regularly, wipe down tables after eating, and be sure to keep everything contained within its packaging.
Do you have to put food out for your dog or cat? Make sure that it doesn’t stay out for any more than a few hours at a time.
In essence, don’t let food go loose. Loose food is accessible food and as long as a mouse can access it, that mouse is going to make its way toward it.
Clutter
Mice are well aware that other creatures are out to get them. As such, they tend to hide as much as they can. One of the primary ways they do this is by seeking out clutter and resting within it.
So, if you have, say, a disorganized closet, you should know that it’s probably a welcome home for mice. So too is a disorganized drawer or cupboard.
Have a lot of wires tangled up behind your computer or TV? Again, this would serve as an excellent hiding place for mice.
This is why you need to do everything you can to keep clutter to a minimum. The more consistently that something is cluttered, the more likely it is to house mice.
Clothes/Linens
Another thing that attracts mice is clothes/linens. They like to burrow into linens and other cloth materials as a means of gaining shelter.
Now, this isn’t to say that you shouldn’t have clothes and linens in your home. You need them, of course. However, you should do your best to keep them off the ground.
Put them in dressers and closets, and ensure that they’re hung up off the ground as much as possible. And fold them! A folded towel is harder for a mouse to burrow into than an unfolded towel.
Paper Products
Paper products are commonly burrowed into as well. These include not only paper but toilet paper, dryer lint, and all other forms of paper. They provide warmth and comfort to mice, and so are highly attractive to them.
What this means is that you need to keep your paper products as contained as possible. Leave toilet paper in its packaging until it’s being used, for instance. And do what you can to keep paper products out of mouse-friendly areas (like closets, drawers, etc.).
Water
Water tends to attract mice as well. Whether it’s collected in a bowl or just dripping from a faucet, it will have mice swarming into your home.
As such, if you do have to put water out in a bowl, you should only do it for a few hours at a time. And if you do have a drippy faucet, you should fix it as soon as possible.
In essence, the drier your home is, the better off you’ll be on the mouse infestation front.
Messiness
In truth, mice are attracted to all forms of messiness. Whether it’s small crumbs of bread on the ground, dust on the shelves, or some miscellaneous residue on the walls, mice will be attracted to it.
Therefore, if you want to keep mice out of your home, you need to keep your home clean at all points in time. This includes not only the frequently seen areas but the areas that are blocked behind furniture as well. In fact, the latter areas are even more inviting to mice.
So, sweep, vacuum, mop, dust, and do whatever else is necessary to keep your house clean. You’ll not only keep mice at bay but will get to enjoy the vibe and atmosphere of a clean and sparkling home.
Dealing With a Rodent Problem in Sacramento?
You now know how to get rid of mice. However, that doesn’t mean that you couldn’t use some help. If you are dealing with a rodent problem in Sacramento, you should seriously consider calling up a pest control company.
Looking for a Sacramento pest control company? Official Pest Prevention has you covered. Contact us now to discuss your pest control needs!
Official Pest Prevention is a family-owned, licensed pest control company celebrating 20 years serving over 100,000 satisfied customers in five area codes throughout Northern and Central California. Starting with a few contacts, and only four full-time employees, our small company has grown into an organization that today employs over 100 people, maintains a fleet of 75 vehicles, and has serviced over 100,000 Northern California households. This tremendous growth has come from loyal customers, who have recommended our work to their friends, family, and neighbors.
We are a full-service pest control company. Whatever your pest problem, we have a solution. Our goal is to make your property pest-free. Guaranteed. Contact us online or by phone (877) 711 2847 – for immediate assistance. Same-day bookings and flexible payment plans available – because pest invasions wait for no one.
