A Pest Mice Story

This is a guest post written by one of my good friends Carl from Ohio.

Mice are indeed very troublesome creatures. And the reason why we most often than not call them pests is that they do more damage than good to humans. Even your pet mice or anything of that sort once undomesticated will revert back to its former nature and will gnaw on almost anything is sees. House mice are amongst the top in the league of domestic pests that causes a lot of damages to human properties. And we do try to get rid of them in any way we know possible. However, there are just these times that they prove to be really difficult of a catch that we would have to resort into extreme measures, such as poisoning them. It should be understood that poisoning pest mice should be a last option to anyone as there can be potential harms to us humans if we use poison to catch vermin as we can be victims as well of its deadly affects.

I myself have bear witness to the different ways of dealing pest mice in the house as we do have a lot of mice inhabiting and roaming around the house. Often I could not find myself to sleep because of the noise the foraging mice create on the wall and on the ceilings. I have personally deduced already that there are quite a number of mice infesting my household basing on the amount of noise I do hear each night at bed. Even when I'm watching TV at my couch in the living room, I hear them squeaking as if talking to each other, communicating their locations and signaling the others where the food resources are located. And each morning as I wake up, I often see a lot of pest devastation taking place in anywhere in the house. Gnawing damages in the fridge cables, the wiring behind my TV stand are all torn up, there was even one time that my DVD component ceased to function already because it suffered too much gnawing damage and I then have to buy a new one for replacement. There were times as well when I leave food on the table especially when I can't finish up my dinner I often leave them on the table to finish them up the next morning and I wake up to my surprise finding all the left food were already gone or sometimes, at least most of it are gone. It was then I realized that the vermin problem has been causing too much property damage already and the monetary investments lost on the properties that were damaged are skyrocketing into proportions I never would have expected. And then I thought it is about time I take a counter-measure against this pest mice control issue before things would really go out of control. Of course I don't want end up becoming homeless because my house suddenly dilapidated due to the amount of damage the pests have already inflicted.

So I did take countermeasures and invested on the purchase of many different varieties of pest mice control methods and devices. It was a trial and error stage for me at first because I can’t seem to find the right device or method that would truly answer the pest mice problem inside the house. There were times I thought to myself that I probably have missed on something on the steps on how to effectively catch them. Even though I know that everything would have been probably a lot easier if I go to a professional pest exterminator and hire their services but the vision of the amount of expenses it would cost me to hire them often scares me to hell. I know for a fact that exterminators could charge as much $300 for full package pest extermination and with the quantity of pest problem I have inside my house I could already foresee the scary dollar figure it would entail. So I chose not to hire them and decided to deal with the vermin problem myself. I did my own homework (I know, you should be thinking now that I should have done this a long time before.) and researched on all popular pest mice control methods in the internet.

On my first search, things weren't as easy as it seems. I mean, I thought there was one universally accepted device or method to deal with pest mice for good, however, when I typed-in the keyword "pest mice control" a lot of things were popping already in a “0.008 seconds” span of time. Different websites offering different opinions on varying methods and devices and each of them is saying their ways would totally cure anyone's domestic vermin problem. Having a lot of options made quite oblivious which to pick and uncertain about their effectiveness as they all claim to be effective. I could imagine that some websites would go through great lengths in lying just to prove that they offer the most effective tips in dealing with pest and or have someone buy their items. It's not that I could not purchase a device for me, but I can't be too slipshod in the purchase decision. I can't be wasting any more money after all the repairs and renovations I had and I would have to come-by with what the pests have already caused. So I have to be really careful on pinpointing my next investment otherwise, I might just end up donating instead of investing. Everyone has to or at least wants to have an ROI in all of their investments and so did I.

Like I said at first it was awfully difficult for me to take a pick. I couldn't come up with a system yet to narrow down my choices, let alone narrow down the websites to the few credible ones I should refer to. So it was kind of deadlock situation for me at first but it wasn't too long until I finally came up with a way on how to filter the options laid right in front of me. I thought, that all of them could possibly be telling the truth or at least of what they say is truth, considering that there are indeed ways that are more popular than the others and most of the websites I came across would probably have tackled these ways in full or in passing in their contents. So I did a full review on all of the websites that popped on that keyword and read-on each and every one of them and searched for the most commonly mentioned means. And eventually after my extensive assessment was through I end up with three things that were the most common of them all - Traps, Rodenticides, and Pets.

After narrowing down my options, I then checked on the reviews and comments of each website on their products and whichever says more positive stuff is where I would make a purchase. But acquiring the items is not the end of the story, most of all dealing with the mice problem for good. It took me some months to finally effective situate the traps and rodenticides and picking the right pets that would really scare the mice away. But after months of wait I finally was able to get rid of the mice problem. Now I could sleep right away without being bothered by the screeches and scratches on the walls or be worried about the gnawing damages in the morning. Finally, I now have a pest mice free house.

All the best,

Sergiu Zburatoru

How to Get Rid of Mice FOR BEGINNERS

House Mice Infestation (Part III)

Part III of my detailed mice infestation reports.

Setting up traps for pest mice problems may prove to be a very painstaking task on the given time. It may look simple but it’s not as easy as it seems. There are tons of factors to consider first before you can ever successfully come up with a very effective trap that will definitely catch the critter menace that has been plaguing your house for a while now, leaving wholes everywhere, turning-on the bad odor in particular places, and you just can't seem to get enough of them because as the longer it would take you to take action on them, the more of them keep springing out in the open. Then you may just have a pest mice infestation already at your hand and this time, you really need to take action already otherwise you might just wound up watching your entire property dilapidated.

Taking action is a must when this kind of occasion rises.

Well, you may call in the professionals to handle the job for you but that would be unwise unless the entire situation has really gone out of control (probably when your house is already at the verge of falling apart), then you may just direly need their help. However, there are ways wherein you can do things all by yourself with the simple aid of some items that may come in handy as tools of the trade. The key really is preparation. Once you are prepared enough you may even be able to tackle the task alone, and by that it means without any physical aid from anyone.

But first things first, you need to know that "to-know" stuff in the act to ensure that you will be able to efficiently get rid of domestic bubonic plague.

Getting To Know the Pest

Now there are different types of pest mice that may inhabit your household and you must first be able to identify them. Knowing the difference between each mouse type will dictate the kind of method or approach you will use in order to deal with them. Here are some ways on how to identify which mice have been brooding your dwelling:

Common House Mouse

1. They usually have head and feet proportional to their bodies
2. Their tails have the same length with both their head and body combined
3. They have monotonic color characteristics. But sometimes this may not be always true.
4. They have flat upper incisors. If you don’t know what that is, look for up for Bugs Bunny and take close look at his teeth.

Wild Mouse

1. Unlike common house mice, they have disproportional body characteristics. Sewer mice would most likely have larger or smaller head and feet than the body.
2. A meadow mouse, another type of wild mice has hairy tails.
3. If you come across a mouse with a Technicolor tail and a white belly, then you have probably seen a deer mouse.
4. A field mouse, which is perhaps one of the most common wild pest mice that inhabit a household have large ears and protruding eyes. Also they have distinguishable silver bellies.

Knowing if There Really Is a Problem

Well, you can't really address a problem if there really isn't one. There may be times that you have encountered a mouse once that pass by somewhere in your house and you can't just jump into a conclusion that you already have infestation in your place. You need first to investigate if there really is an infestation problem going on before you can move into coming up with the necessary preparations to deal with the problem.

One way to know if there is really a pest mice infestation happening is to take a close look at wirings and walls, as well as food containers and see if there are any gnawing damages. If you can notice unusual punctures everywhere in these mentioned places, then there is a great probability that a mice problem is arising.

Second way to do that is too look for mouse poop. Mice poop or droppings are spherical and are normally 1/4 inch in length (sometimes even 3/4 inch). If you can see these droppings anywhere near secluded remote places or corners in the house, then there is a possibility that mice inhabit somewhere.

Third, try to develop a good hearing for scampering and rustlings that go around the place. These are indicators to mice waypoints and if you pay close attention to the noises they make, you may be able to distinguish their point of exit and entry thus, you will be able to identify their hiding places.

After executing all the steps said above and you're still not sure if there is really a mice infestation in your house, you may opt to avail other conventional and unconventional means to detect their existence. One would be making use of UV light or ultraviolet bulbs to detect urine traces coming from mice that roam around the place. That way you will be able to detect waypoints even after they left going back to their hideouts. Another way is to sprinkle powder on the suspected infested areas and monitor it for a few days. If tracks appear, then there should be an infestation going on under your nose.

Cleaning-Up after You Eat

This is something that you really have to routinely do. This way you will cut off the food supply of the pest mice in the area. Food residues and morsels that fall on the floor are invitation cards to pest mice and they will most likely swarm over those places thus making your dwelling a highly conducive place for mice breeding ground. Make sure that after eating meals upon the table or any place inside the house a clean-up follows after. Get rid of bread crumbs on the floor. Check on secluded remote places in the house for morsels of food and clean them up right away. If you or any members of the household eats on the sofa while watching TV make sure that you check on the sofa corners and under the couch for food leftovers. If you cut off their food supply, they will be most likely be deterred to swarm all over the place.

In this way you also prevent the probable communication of parasites and diseases as mice are known carriers of some of the most dangerous diseases to humans. Leptosfirosis is just one of the many fatal diseases that are communicated to humans through rodent urine. Mice as rodents are potentially carriers as well of the disease. Also, avoid stagnating water deposits anywhere in the house as it might be contaminated with mice urine and therefore communicate diseases like Leptospirosis.

The Use of Poison

This option however should be your last resort when addressing the pest mice problem in your house. As much as they are very effective in killing the pests they also pose the threat of inviting other more pests. As poison will take time to toll on their victims, mice that have eaten the poison will most likely do on random places in your house, and it's possible they will die in places where it is remotely visible. Dead mice bodies decay and will eventually cause bacteria visitation.

Pest mice control should be a routine maintenance in any household. Not only will it save your house from destruction and some other properties from damaging, it will also help save the very lives of the people inside the house.

All the best,

Sergiu Zburatoru

How to Get Rid of Mice FOR BEGINNERS

House Mouse Infestation Prevention and Control

NB! - This is another post from the series of my articles about mice infestation. More coming up next, so stay tuned. I decided to address this issue as detailed as possible due to the high volume of requests I get via email lately.

Why Prevent Mouse Infestation?

One thing very remarkable about house mice, considering their size, is the fact that they are considered to be one of the most economically significant pests in most parts of the world. House mice infestation can lead to damage and contamination of agricultural and processed goods. Most of the damage that they cause is not due to how much of these products they have consumed but of the magnitude of the goods that have to be thrown away because of their contamination.

In localized home settings, house mice are equally disturbing because many people consider rats more detestable thus making homeowners more lenient to the presence of one or two house mice (rather than rats) in their homes. Nonetheless, because house mice are very prolific breeders, they can multiply in number by up to tenfold in just one year, resulting to severe mouse infestation. They can damage properties by gnawing at almost anything that they come in contact with. They would gnaw through house wirings and cause electrical failures. They would also gnaw through books, clothing, furniture and all sorts of human and pet food. Apart from all these troubles, they also spread diseases like salmonellosis (food poisoning due to bacteria) through urine and feces contamination.

Understanding the Mouse Psyche

Mice are rarely seen during daytime because they nocturnal creatures by nature. Obvious indicators of the presence of mice at home includes:

(1) Nibbled food containers like boxes and packets
(2) Gnawed pieces of papers and/or of other materials
(3) Squeaking or gnawing sound, including the sound of them running through and fro
(4) Presence of mouse droppings and the most obvious of all
(5) The actual sighting of a mouse.

If you are not familiar with mouse droppings, they look like black rice grains having a length that ranges from half of a quarter of an inch to a full one half inch. These droppings are usually found in areas where they nib the food that they eat. A good point to remember is that house mice do not forage far from their nesting place. The farthest that mice can get is about 25 feet away from their nest, but in cases when there is an adequate supply of food close to their nest, they would only forage to as far as a couple of feet. Thus, mouse traps and other mouse control devices and materials are most effective if placed in areas where most of the mouse activities happen.

Moreover, mice also tend to familiarize their territory within this range, thus they would identify if something has been altered or changed around their forage areas. For this reason, if the mouse seems to be avoiding a trap that has been placed in a specific area, move the trap to another area (still proximate to the mouse activity).

Wall edges and room corners are very strategic locations to place traps too because mice are most comfortable with traversing their foraging area through these passages.

Mice don't feed and fill themselves before they leave their food alone so they scurry back to their nests after nibbling a small portion of the food. On average, a mouse visits around thirty food sites in a single night. They love feeding on grains and seeds but they also very fond of anything that is high in fats, sugar and protein. Keep this food preference in mind when choosing appropriate bait for your trap.

Preventing Infestation

The same familiar saying "When in Rome, think like a Roman"  also applies to mouse control -- you have to think like a mouse in order to eradicate them for good. 

Use your knowledge about their behavior and characteristics as a weapon against them. For example, you know that a mouse would not enter your house through your front door (possible, but very unlikely) so you look for cracks around your house which might serve as an entry point for mice and other small animals or pests. Mice are especially skillful in fitting through holes that are smaller the barrel of their bodies. Any hole with a size a quarter of an inch or larger should be covered and sealed.

Another very effective way to control mice infestation is to store food properly. Food foods in plastic containers; seal and sanitize cabinets where you put food that are kept in boxes and papers bags. Be wary about the fact that mice can survive even with very little amount of food, so you should allow them to have at least that little food that they need for survival.

Handling Present Mouse Infestation

After doing everything that is necessary to prevent mice infestation, of course, you also have to take care of the mice that are already residents of your house. When mice become established in their habitat, they tend to be very difficult to throw away (like a tenant who's been renting for years). You can just scare them away or starve them to death. Sometimes, it is faster to eradicate their presence in your home if you hire a professional mouse-buster. But if you are not ready for such expenditure, there are three control options that you can use and perform by yourself. Here are these three:

1. Glue boards

Glueboards are often used to catch flies and mosquitoes when one stays outdoors but there are glueboards too that are especially developed for catching mice. They are very effective against mice and make a very good addition to mouse traps. You can place food baits on the glueboard and attract mice to step on it. Once caught by the very sticky substance used in the board, the mouse can die of starvation or suffocation (or because of you killing them -- acting so brave because they are entangled in the glue). Glue boards make an excellent mouse control option for homes where children and toddlers live since mouse traps and toxic mouse poison pose a danger to them.

2. Mouse Traps

You might have seen Jerry (the mouse) easily snapping the mouse traps intended for him to Tom (the cat). You should know that the cartoon made a shrewdly depiction of the effectiveness of mouse traps. The use of mouse traps is actually very effective in mouse control, most especially if proper baits are used. Mouse traps are cheap and they come in many different designs too. Some traps have expanded trigger levers to snap even with very little mouse disturbance while some are designed to catch up to twelve mice. Mouse traps are most effective when placed against walls, in corners and other dark, secluded places around the foraging areas of the mouse. When placed against walls, the trigger of the trap should be places against the vertical surface.

Check mouse traps (and glueboards) often in order to dispose the mouse as soon as it is caught. Don't forget to use rubber gloves when disposing mice -- carcass of dead mouse or the bite of a living mouse can both cause diseases.

3. Rodenticides

The use of rodenticides is very effective in mouse control; in fact, food-bait mixed with rodenticides can kill a lot of mice in an instant. However, because rodenticides are toxic, it can be dangerous when used in homes where children and pets also live. Rodenticides are only advisable for use when there is severe infestation or when traps and glueboards do not work.

All the best,

Sergiu Zburatoru

How to Get Rid of Mice FOR BEGINNERS