Rodent control is an important thing to keep on top of, especially when it comes to mice. Here is what you need to know about these critters if you want to prevent them from spreading disease and causing damage to your property.
Types of mice to look out for
The mouse you’re most likely to come across is sadly, not as cute as Disney’s famous Mickey. The common “house mouse” is very tiny, typically weighing no more than 30 grams. Another common type of mouse is the deer mouse – they’re real lightweights, tending to weigh in at anywhere from 20-25 grams.
Mice are often a light grey colour, although can also be found in light brown or even black.
Diseases carried by mice
First, don’t panic at the mention of the word “disease”. If you see mice in your home, odds are you won’t need a hazmat team to isolate the area, okay?
That being said, since they have been known to carry diseases that are sometimes easily spread to humans, it’s best to get rid of them sooner rather than later. Getting rid of one or two mice is much easier than getting rid of a few dozen. Plus, the more of them there are, the higher the odds of them spreading disease.
Some of the diseases they’ve been known to carry include the following:
- Salmonellosis (spread via food/water that’s been exposed to contaminated feces)
- Leptospirosis (spread via soil, food, or drinking water that’s been contaminated by the urine of infected mice)
- Lymphocytic Chorio-Meningitis (spread via their urine, and rarely, via bites)
- Tularemia (spread via bites, contaminated food/water, and touching the carcasses of infected mice)
- Hantavirus (spread by their droppings or urine, and sometimes via bites)
- Rat-Bite Fever (usually spread by rats, but scientists think mouse feces, bites, and scratches might also be culprits)
Damage caused by mice
Mice are mischievous and resourceful creatures, which is bad news for your home if you let them live there in peace. They can chew your wiring (putting your home at risk for fire), munch on the food in your pantry (chewing through your cereal boxes to get at the food inside is an easy task for them), poop all over the place (which is not exactly fun to clean up), plus, they can literally chew holes in your walls, furniture, and floors.
How to get rid of mice and effective rodent control measures
First, you need to seal up any holes or cracks that they’ve used to gain entry to your home. Because the last thing you want is to trap the existing mice only to let a steady stream of newcomers come in to pick up where they left off. This is a big task, but needs to be done, so make sure you do a thorough job of it. Keep in mind that they can squish their bodies through holes as small as a dime, so even those need to be sealed up tight.
Next, you need to evict them. You can do this via trapping them, installing one-way doors, or using powders specially formulated to help get rid of mice.
Rodent control is an important part of home maintenance
This important part of your home maintenance routine can be done yourself, or, you can save a lot of time and trouble by having a pro do it for you. Either way, be sure to budget the time and money to take care of this kind of thing since it’s much easier to control mice problems when you deal with them early on, compared to waiting.
If you’re in Burlington, Oakville or anywhere in the Halton / Hamilton areas feel free to contact us – we’re your pest control experts and ready to rid you of nuisance rodents!
