If you think about it, any kind of feral animal living inside your home would be bad. How much concern would it bring if feral dogs frequented your property, or if feral cats found shelter under your home on a regular basis? Our guess is that it would concern you greatly. Now, what if the feral creatures were much smaller? What if a mouse and its friends came to live in your home, staying out of sight during the day and coming out at night? How bad can a few tiny mice inside your home really be? Let’s find out.
How To Tell If You Have A Mouse Infestation
Before we get into the problems mice cause, let’s talk a little bit about how you can know if your home has been invaded by mice.
When mice invade homes, they leave some tell-tale signs behind. For instance, every living creature has to poop, right? Mice are no different. If mice are wandering around the inside of your home while you are sleeping, they are sure to leave droppings behind. Some other signs of a mice infestation include holes chewed through baseboards, lights or outlets not working, and gnaw marks throughout your home.
Can Mice Get You Sick?
If there was a poster child for bacteria, parasites, and disease, it would probably be a mouse. From carrying parasitic pests such as fleas and ticks in their fur to harboring dangerous diseases inside and on their bodies in the form of bacteria and pathogens, mice have a wide variety of ways they can get you sick.
Some of the most common diseases mice can spread include:
- Hantavirus
- Bubonic Plague
- Salmonellosis
- Rat-Bite FeverIn addition to these, here are some diseases that fleas and ticks can transmit.
- Lyme Disease
- Ehrlichiosis
- Anaplasmosis
- Murine Typhus
Long story short, mice are the last creature you want crawling around in your home.
Prevention Tips For Rodents
Mice prevention is done in two ways, by sealing up your home, and by reducing attractants that might draw mice in. Try the following tips.
- Use wire mesh and a caulking gun to seal up any potential entryways in your home’s exterior. Most commonly mice look for holes, gaps, and cracks in your home’s foundation to get inside.
- Install door sweeps on all exterior doors.
Make sure all of your trash cans have tight-fitting lids so that mice cannot get inside them. - Store leftover foods inside airtight plastic containers.
- Store boxed foods such as cereal inside larger plastic containers. (This will minimize your chances of getting sick if mice do get inside.)
- Clean up drink spills and food messes quickly so that mice aren’t given the chance to find them.
- Clear debris from your yard so mice don’t have anywhere to hide if they wander onto your property.
How To Get Mice Out If They Get Inside
Mice can be tricky to deal with once they have gotten into a home. A couple of mice might be eliminated with some carefully placed traps baited with peanut butter. A larger group, however, is nearly impossible to exterminate without professional help. Here at Smith’s Pest Management, we have been providing pest control services for San Jose homes for more than 15 years with great success. If you would like us to share this success with you, give us a call today. We will send one of our qualified pest technicians your way with a solution, ASAP.
