If you own a home in Queen Creek, sooner or later, you will come across a little mouse darting across the floor or other signs of a mouse infestation. That's just part and parcel of being a homeowner. House mice are small nocturnal rodents, 2 1/2 to 3 3/4 inches in length, with a short round body and grey fur with a cream-colored underside. What mice lack in size, they make up in millennia of adaptation to the environment around them.
Mice can squeeze through a crack the size of a nickel, climb up a vertical wall, and balance themselves on a phone wire. If these little guys decide that they want to get into your home, stopping them is not a task for the faint-hearted.
For pest control in Queen Creek, let's look at how to identify a mouse infestation in your house, what keeps mice away from it, and answer the pressing question, how do you get rid of mice when DIY fails?
Identifying a Mouse Problem In Your House
Mice are experts at staying out of sight, and by the time you start seeing signs of mice in your house, the colony is relatively numerous, and mice are beginning to venture out farther in search of food.
It's very important to spot the mouse infestation in Queen Creek as early as possible and take control of the situation. Watch for the following signs of an infestation:
- Gnaw marks on furniture legs, books, and cabinetry
- Mouse droppings ranging from 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch in size, soft or dried, and pointed on both ends
- Footprints bearing four-toes from their front feet and five with their rear
- Oily rub marks from mice rubbing on walls where they travel to mark territory
- Nests and burrows built in out-of-the-way areas of the house stuffed with wall insulation or any other soft, fluffy material
- Odors from urine that mice use to communicate
- Gnaw marks and holes in packages of food
- A mouse running across your floor in the daylight indicating a large infestation since they are nocturnal
DIY mouse control is relatively effective as a preventative measure. If you've determined that mice already took up residence in your house, your best bet is a mouse control professional.
Can Mice Make You Sick Without Touching Them?
While the chances of a mouse bite are slim, the chances of being infected by one of the diseases mice carry are significantly higher, and the consequences are much more serious.
Mice carry a number of highly contagious illnesses, such as:
- Leptospirosis
- Lymphocytic choriomeningitis (LCM)\
- Tularemia
- Salmonellosis
You do not have to come in contact with a mouse to become infected. Mice spread bacteria and pathogens everywhere they move.
Mice also ferry fleas and ticks into your home, and they bring another number of contagious diseases with them. Recently it's been discovered that just being exposed to mouse droppings is enough to trigger serious cases of asthma.
Natural Ways To Keep Mice Away From Your Home
Ridding your house of mice already established in your Queen Creek home is pretty close to impossible without professional help so let's take a quick look at a few preventative measures you can take to keep mice away from your house:
- Keep debris and vegetation away from the house walls.
- Seal any cracks larger than a quarter inch and cover vents with metal mesh.
- Keep food in sealed glass or metal containers.
- Keep your garbage in tightly sealed containers
- Don't store pet or bird food in mouse-accessible areas.
To add a little more firepower to your prevention strategy, try a few of the following natural approaches:
- Stuff steel wool in mice passageways and potential burrows.
- Spray tea tree oil in the areas you suspect mice congregate.
- Sprinkle a bit of cayenne pepper as a barrier
- Use chunks of onion or garlic around the perimeter of the house to stop mice from coming in.
If regardless of your determined preventative strategy, you've discovered that mice got into your house, it's time to get a professional involved!
Professional House Mouse Control For Queen Creek Homes
One call to Canopy Pest Control will have a well-trained pest control professional rid your house of mice and develop an approach to prevent a reinfestation of mice.
If you're struggling with mice in your Queen creek, give Canopy Pest Control a call today to get started and to learn more about our residential and commercial pest control services in Queen Creek.