Fall is here and that means mice will be looking for shelter from the cold. This time of year mice invade an estimated 21 MILLION homes in America, and one of those homes might be yours! Here are some facts about mice that may help you keep these furry intruders out!
1. Mice can fit through VERY small holes
Mice can enter your home through holes and cracks you may not expect, given that they can squeeze through a hole the size of a dime or a 0.6 cm gap. This is why mice are so often found in garages, because most garage doors aren’t sealed very well. You can either try to seal the garage door better or simply have traps waiting for mice in your garage. For other cracks and holes in your home steel wool plus some silicone caulking or an expanding foam will do the trick as mice will not chew through steel wool.
2. Mice will eat cheese, but it’s not their favorite food
The idea that mice prefer cheese above all other foods is a myth, and there is no scientific data to back it up. In times past people would store large cheese wheels in cellars and basements, and mice would gnaw on the wax casing. They would also gnaw through this layer to the cheese and eat the cheese, because mice will eat anything. This lead to the idea that mice love cheese, when in reality it was just stored in a way that was convenient for the mice to access. Peanut butter, chocolate, and even grapes are more appealing to mice than cheese.
3. Mice multiply quickly
A female house mouse can start having young as soon as 2 months of age, and can produce up to a dozen babies every 3 weeks after that! That’s potentially 150 offspring in a year. This is why it’s important to address any mouse issue quickly as the problem can grow exponentially if not addressed.
4. Mice can climb, jump, and even swim
Mice are quite good at climbing and jumping…this means higher up areas in your home that you may imagine are safe from the rodents probably aren’t. This is why it’s important when dealing with mice to transfer your foodstuffs out of cardboard and paper packaging into hard plastic containers that mice will have a much harder time accessing.
5. A little mouse can cause MAJOR DAMAGE
My grandma owns a mobile home that is directly adjacent to her main house. The kitchen floor in the mobile home began to warp, her tenet alerted her to the issue, and so my grandpa crawled underneath to see what the matter was. Turns out that the plastic piping underneath the mobile home had been nibbled by a mouse, and a small, steady jet of water was spewing out and directly hitting the joists and flooring of the kitchen! In the end the ENTIRE kitchen floor had to be torn out and replaced all because of ONE mouse!
Mice can also chew on wiring which can cause major damage as well. It’s incredible the amount of damage such small creatures can cause.
Hopefully learning a bit about these furry invaders helps you defend your home this fall/winter season. However, if you want the easiest and best solution then call in the professionals at Big Tom’s Pest Control. Call us at 435-586-7337 or schedule an appointment today and we’ll use our years of mice-catching expertise to send those rascally rodents packing!