Finding evidence of a mouse in the house is upsetting but also unhealthy. Mice can contaminate your food and bring fleas, ticks, and diseases into your home. Additionally, they can cause serious damage to your house, by gnawing through electrical wires and creating holes in your walls and floors. It's important to take the following actions to remove mice immediately and measures to prevent them from coming back.
![What to Know About Mice in the House](https://www.thespruce.com/thmb/bfaA-oiXEKQ37ceInhvkJo--Q3E=/1500x0/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(webp)/questions-and-answers-about-mice-2656489_final-df103dc83bc44d0c83afc430b8a22730.png)
The Spruce / Kaley McKean
Signs of Mice Living in Your Home
There are many tell-tale signs of mice in the house. The largest sign is mouse droppings, which resemble large, dark grains of rice. Here are additional indicators of a possible mice infestation:
- Holes in cereal boxes and bagged goods in the pantry
- Gnawed holes or scratches in papers and insulation
- Food scraps or bits of food and package wrapping found randomly in your kitchen, inside shoes, or the corners of closets and cabinets
- Small gaps or cracks in your walls, especially along baseboards and around pipes
- Nests or piled nesting materials, such as paper, cardboard, and insulation
- Skittering or scratching sounds coming from wall, ceiling, or floor cavities
- Stale, rank, or musty odors
How Mice Get in Your Home
Mice search for warmth and food during the winter and crawl through cracks in the foundation or gaps under the garage door.
A mouse can slip through holes and gaps as small as 1/4 inch, or roughly the size of a pencil, but even if an opening is too small, a mouse can gnaw it until it is big enough. Mice also can jump 13 inches high and run along branches, wires, cables, and ropes. They are excellent jumpers, swimmers, and climbers and can scale rough and vertical surfaces.
Problems Mice Can Cause in Your Home
- Chewing belongings: Mice chew on building materials, furniture, clothing, books, and insulation, causing irreparable damage.
- Electrical damage: Mice gnaw through electrical wires, damaging the electricity in your home, which can become a major expense to repair.
- Carrying diseases: Mice bring fleas, mites, and all sorts of diseases into your home, including but not limited to salmonella, hantavirus, and lymphocytic choriomeningitis. These illnesses can lead to vomiting, fever, diarrhea, and respiratory issues.
- Contaminating food: Mice crawl into cabinets and pantries, leaving droppings, and contaminating food.
How to Get Rid of Mice in Your Home
Mice are active breeders, so once you have a few, it won't be long until there are more. One female mouse can breed up to eight litters of five to six young a year. Those offspring reproduce in as little as six weeks and live for as many as three years.
Several control methods include traps, baits, and professional pest control. Trapping is generally the best and safest method, which can be used to kill the mice or contain them for relocation. Poisoning, however, is both inhumane and potentially harmful to children and pets.
Address Access Points
Seal openings around pipes, roof vents, and other potential entry points. This helps prevent future mice infestations once the current problem is fixed.
Remember that mice don't need large openings to get indoors. A good rule of thumb: if a pencil can fit, so can a mouse.
Select the Proper Trap and Bait
Basic wooden snap mouse traps are effective and affordable but not humane. If you find snap traps upsetting, there are alternative catch-and-release style traps.
Peanut butter is a more effective bait than cheese at luring out mice. However, mice are attracted to a wide variety of foods, Remember to replace the bait every couple of days to keep it from getting too hard or stale.
Mice are curious and investigate new things. If mice are not caught within the first days of trap placement, the trap (or mouse bait) should be moved.
Set the Trap in the Right Location
Place the traps in areas where you found signs of mice. You should also set a few traps in likely nesting areas or entry points for mice, such as the garage, and where food or water is available.
Securely attach the bait to the trap trigger so the rodent can't simply pluck it off and walk away. This is why peanut butter works well for mouse traps. Mice need to work to get the food out of the bait, setting off the trap.
Tips to Prevent Mice Infestations
Removing mice from your home can be difficult and time-consuming so take precautions to prevent a future infestation.
- Fix any cracks along windows or doors
- Trim branches and bushes away from your home's exterior
- Seal pantry foods and pet foods in airtight containers
- Remove excess paper and cardboard products (nesting materials)
- Upgrade your garbage bin to a metal can or one with an air-tight lid
- Avoid storing food in your garage
- Add weather stripping to your doors, including the garage door
- Adopt a cat
- Use peppermint essential oil to deter mice
-
How serious is a mouse in the house?
Mice are threatening to both your health and home. If you spot a mouse in your home, use traps and bait to address the issue immediately.
-
What attracts mice to your house?
Mice love cereal and other grains, pet food, and sweets, among other items. On the non-food front, they are attracted to books, paper, cloth, toilet paper, insulation, and dryer lint.
-
How do you keep mice out of the house?
Keep food and paper items in plastic storage containers and fix gaps or crevices around doors and windows. Keep your home clean and free of any boxes or clutter, and trim any bushes or trees near the house.
-
What do I do if I have a mouse in the house?
If you spot a mouse in your home, set traps with an enticing bait like peanut butter where the mice are most likely nesting or scavenging. Seal off any entry points, such as cracks in the baseboards or floors, to prevent the problem from escalating.