How to know if you have a mouse in your home? What are the signs? How to make a rodent prevention system? Does mouse cause house damage? And finally, how to get rid of them?
I. How to know if you have a mouse in your home (7 Signs)
If you’re lucky, you may see a mouse running to its burrow when you suddenly turn on the light at night.
This will let you know that you have pests in your home.
But in case you haven’t observed the beast running along the walls, some signs will alert you to a rodent invasion.
1) Mouse droppings
If you are sure you have observed droppings, mice may be invading.
It is fairly easy to recognize rodent droppings.
The droppings left by a mouse are 3 to 7 mm in size, shaped like a grain of rice, and usually black.
If the droppings are still shiny and soft the mice should not be far away, if, on the other hand, the droppings are dry, it means that the droppings are relatively old.
If you clean up the dirt and the next day you find it again, it means that this place is regularly frequented by mice.
The places affected are usually the feet of the walls and behind the furniture. In this case, you can choose this place first to set your first trap to catch them.
2) Unusual noises
When mice act, they can make different noises, from scratching to screaming.
This can awaken you to their presence, I describe the two aspects of the noises that are common:
3) Scratching
Although mice are more or less tiny creatures, they can be heard by humans when there is total silence at night.
When they climb from the floor to a higher corner, especially on wooden furniture, the rubbing of the claws can produce a scratching noise that can be heard. This could be a sign that these pests are in your home.
4) Screaming
It may sound absurd to some, but mice indeed squeak with high-pitched, human-audible squeals.
You can hear them when there is total silence in your home.
This helps, in many cases of infestation, to make people aware of the presence of mice in their homes or garage.
5) Mice can leave paw prints
There are two possibilities for mice to leave their footprints: either they have already passed through a soiled area and when they run they leave dirt marks on the ground in the form of paws.
And this is usually when they shave the walls, or by passing through a place that contains a powder like plaster or flour, where they form the shapes of their paws, This is a clue that does not deceive.
6) Gnawing marks
Mice are not equipped with a pair of sharp incisors only for chewing, but also for cutting pieces of different materials to build their nests or even to dig their burrows.
The only materials they can’t handle are glass and iron. But when there are mice in your home, they can gnaw on the different elements that are there, furniture, linen, door…
It is therefore possible to find teeth marks on all the gnawed objects and to see pieces that are missing.
7. other signs of mice in your home
There are other signs of rodents in your home that are more or less significant.
When a mouse finds small pieces of laundry (socks, for example), it may take them all to build its nest.
If you then find it in an unusual corner, it could be a rodent shelter.
When a mouse infestation is severe and has been going on for several days, it is normal for their droppings and urine to accumulate in one area.
If you have a keen sense of smell and you can smell a strange odor, it may be due to the presence of rodents
II. Putting in a mouse prevention system
Putting in a mouse prevention system allows you to both kill or repel the rodent that ventures into your home and signal that these pests are visiting.
Always remember to use a few traps to prevent a mouse invasion.
To do this you can use one or two mouse traps and equip them with an aromatic attractant and then leave them in places that may contain mice.
III. Mouse damage in a house
It is not for nothing that humans have cultivated such a bad reputation towards rodents, especially mice, to which they are phobic.
The threats that these animals pose to humans are many and varied. To build their nests, they gnaw on all the objects they find within their reach, cutting off pieces that they then carry to their burrows.
The objects affected are furniture, linen, doors … which are thus deteriorated.
Mice are also known to harbor parasites such as bed bugs, fleas, and lice which can be transmitted to members of the household which is unpleasant.
Mice are also a reservoir of bacteria that can be a real danger to humans if they catch them, among these diseases are leptospirosis and plague, the latter of which has wreaked havoc in previous centuries.
V. How to immunize your home against mice invasion
To minimize the risk of having pests, especially mice, in your home, it is necessary to set up a natural prevention system against these beasts.
You must start by knowing where they usually enter from, what attracts them, and what their living conditions are.
Rodents are attracted to places that contain food, heat, and moisture.
They build their nests in burrows that they dig in your home. It is important to know that holes of 1cm in diameter can allow them to pass.
Therefore, you must start by plugging all the openings on the walls, roof, and foundations of your home without forgetting to install screens on the air outlets.
Sometimes it is even necessary to caulk the holes near your home.
You are also obliged to clean the surroundings of your house and to remove the garbage cans if there are any because these corners are feasts for these small beasts, which are usually present by tens and can visit you at any time.
It is also advisable to prune the vegetation in your garden and get rid of climbing plants that are gateways to your windows and balconies.
Finally, you should also clean the interior of your home of food scraps, and wash the floor, especially the extremities, with bleach, which is indeed a natural repellent against rodents such as mice and rats.
VI. Mouse traps
The mouse trap is a trap made of a wooden board with an iron bar that is sealed to the wood using a spring. It is also made of a hook that allows to load it.
How to use it:
To use it, you need to have a bait: meat, chocolate, bread, peanut butter, or cereals, to be able to load the fag.
After that, you have to install it in the attic in a corner or place frequented by mice.
Efficiency:
It is a 100% effective mechanical trap for long-term control of mice that disturb and damage houses.
Fags are still one of the most effective methods of getting rid of mice in the house.
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A mousetrap is a specialized type of animal trap designed primarily to catch