Have Mice in Your House? Here's How to Get Rid of Them and Keep Them Out (2024)

Spotting mice or evidence of mice in your home is upsetting, but it's also unhealthy. Mice can contaminate your food and bring fleas, ticks, and even 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.

If you've spotted some a mouse or evidence of mice, it's important to take action and make a plan to remove them immediately. You should also follow preventative measures to keep them from coming back.

Signs of Mice Living in Your Home

If you haven't seen a live or dead mouse in your home but are still concerned that they may be present, there are many tell-tale signs including droppings, which resemble large, dark grains of rice. You might also notice signs of their stay in the kitchen, such as holes in cereal boxes and bagged goods in the pantry.

Here are some additional indicators of a possible mice infestation to search for in your home:

• Gnawed holes or scratches in papers, insulation, etc.
• Food scraps or wrappings 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

Especially during the winter months, mice are searching for warmth and food. If they find a crack in the foundation or a gap under the garage door, they'll take their chances.

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, the 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

Mice can pose numerous health risks when they come into your house, and cause structural damage as well.

• Damage to your home and belongings. Mice can chew on building materials, furniture, clothing, books, and insulation, causing irreparable damage.
• Cause electrical damage: Mice can also gnaw through electrical wires, damaging the electricity in your home, which can become a huge expense if you need to rewire the house.
• They can carry disease. Mice can bring with them fleas, mites, and all sorts of diseases including but not limited to salmonella, hantavirus, and lymphocytic choriomeningitis. Such illnesses can lead to vomiting, fever, diarrhea, and respiratory issues.
• Contaminate food. Mice can get into your cabinets and pantry and leave droppings, which can contaminate food, especially if they have already been snacking on your groceries.

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. In one year, one female mouse can breed up to eight litters of five to six young. Those offspring can begin to reproduce themselves in as little as six weeks and live for as many as three years.

Fortunately, there are a number of methods of control, including 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

In addition to trapping, it's a good idea to seal openings around pipes, roof vents, and other potential entry points. This will also help prevent future mice infestations, once the current problem is fixed.

Keep in mind, that mice don't need a very large opening to get inside. A good rule of thumb is if a pencil can fit, so can a mouse.

Select the Proper Trap and Bait

When it comes to mouse traps, the default choice for most consumers is a basic wooden snap trap. These are effective and affordable, but not humane. If you find snap traps upsetting, there are alternative catch-and-release style traps as well.

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 very curious and will investigate new things. So 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

If you have found any signs of mice—shredded paper or cloth, droppings, urine stains, and gnawed items—place the traps in those areas. You should also set a few traps in likely nesting areas or entry points for mice, such as the garage, as well as where food or water is available.

Make sure you securely attach the bait to the trap trigger,so the rodent can't simply pluck it off and walk away. This is one of the many reasons peanut butter is so ideal for mouse traps. Mice will have 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 a difficult and time-consuming ordeal, so make sure you 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