Homeowners have a common misconception about mice: They infest people’s homes during the winter and then disappear during the hot season. This is not entirely true.
Mice in the summer have the natural tendency to forage for seeds and other food out in the fields and yards. But if they find a viable food source in or near your house, they will build a nest inside your home and stick around.
When the cold season comes, they leave their summer burrows and flock to warmer places to survive. With adequate heating, food and water, our homes become a prime target.
The attic is a favorite place for mice to seek refuge in. But as soon as the weather starts to get warmer, attics can become hot and humid, so they transfer to cooler areas in the house like cabinets and the basement.
Summer is the Perfect Time to Mice-Proof Your Home
Because mice tend to be outside during the summer, it’s the perfect time to begin implementing preventative measures. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends four basic strategies to control rodents, including mice.
Eliminate food sources. Mice have voracious appetites, eating around 15 to 20 times per day. They’ll typically consume 3 grams of food daily and can subsist on crumbs. So it’s important to maintain a clean home and practice solid waste management, i.e., proper storage, collection and disposal, to keep these pests at bay.
Remove breeding and nesting places. Being territorial creatures, mice will typically search for food no more than 10 to 50 feet from their nest. So if their food source is in or near your house, this means removing rubbish, including firewood and excess lumber, near your home. You should store these and similar materials 18 inches off the ground because mice can jump as high as 12 inches.
It also helps to leave some space, maybe a couple of feet, between your house and any vegetation, where mice can hide. Remember: A clean yard keeps the mice away.
Mice-proof your home. Mice have small slender bodies that can squeeze through openings slightly more than ¼ inch (6 mm) in diameter. So, it’s important to cover any cracks, holes and openings in doors, windows, gratings and walls. Do an annual perimeter check in late summer or early fall just to make sure you didn’t miss a gap.
Use a mouse trap. You can use either live traps or kill traps, but ensure to place them near runways and burrows and along walls. For maximum effectiveness, monitor the traps and remove any mice it might catch. Otherwise, the rodents may avoid the traps altogether.
Prepare Your Home for the Winter Mice Invasion
These annoying pests can be persistent in invading your home, so consider getting the help of pest control experts. If you have mice in the summer, call the pest control professionals at On The Fly Pest Solutions. Their fully licensed and trained team will take care of the problem in a safe and sustainable manner.
