Do It Your Damn Self Mice Control

Do It Your Damn Self Mice Control
Keep Your House Clean by Keeping Out Rodents!

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Keeping Mice Under Control Is Serious Business.


House Mice
House mice can be a serious problem. Mice adapt easily to human dwellings and can thrive with all types of climates, habitats, and off most human foods. House mice are fast breeders, growing from 2 to 60 faster than you might believe possible. Found throughout America both in human habits and in the wild, mice are one of the most troublesome and costly rodents to deal with in terms of food & fiber storage and damage to property of both businesses and homeowners.

Inspect Your House
Look for signs of mice. Listen for sounds squeaking, scrambling, and gnawing, especially at night when the house is quiet. Examine corners, crawlspaces, behind and underneath furniture and appliances for urine, droppings, grease marks, and tracks like footprints and tail marks. Blacklight and non-toxic tracking powders can aid in the detection of mice signs. Visual sightings are common due to mice being active during the day. Scour common nesting places, such as garages, attics, basements, closets, and other storage places, for finely shredded paper and other fibrous materials. If you have pets, pay attention to any unusual excited behavior directed at kitchen cabinets, base of refrigerator or wall, and behind or under furniture. Sniff around nesting areas for the musky odor mice leave behind.

Three Aspects of Mice Control

Sanitation
Proper sanitation is a preventive measure in mice control. Good sanitation will make detecting the presence of mice much easier and add to trap and bait effectiveness by reducing rodent food supplies. Use mouse proof containers and rooms for food storage. Food stores should be arranged for easy inspection in restaurants, warehouses, processing plants, and any storage space in found in homes. A single pallet of food can contain a family of mice that never leaves the area.

Mouse-Proofing Human Dwellings
Mouse-proofing is another important preventive measure. Seal large holes to control rodent movement through human habitats. Use copper mesh or steel wool to plug smaller holes in walls. Caulk the spaces between doors and windows. Confine mice to smaller spaces by sealing around pipes, utility lines, and vents.

Reduce Mouse Populations With Traps and Poisons
Snap Traps
Properly used one shot snap traps and multi-catch mousetraps can be quite effect. Traps must be set in any area where signs of mice have been discovered as the territory of these rodents will rarely reach beyond 30 feet from the nest. Also, place traps in a spherical radius of 3 feet around any place where rodent signs have been discovered. Good bait selection is essential. Fresh peanut butter, nuts, cereals, and also cotton balls, which mice use for nesting material, make for excellent bait. Be sure to fix all bait securely to the trigger. Take proper care as injures can result from improper handling of traps. Place traps along the wall or other vertical structure to force rodents to walk over the trigger. Pairing up traps eliminates the ability of mice to leap over traps to avoid getting hit. Use more numerous traps to shorten amount of time of trapping. Check frequently. Move traps and change baits if no mice are captured within 3 days.

Glue Boards
Almost any location that is good for snap traps will also work for this type of mousetrap. DO NOT place glue boards directly above food products or where food is prepared. Place boards flush against the wall or other structure in the infested area with a bait in the center of the board. Space boards 5 to 10 feet apart or closer in highly infested areas. Check frequently. Move traps and change baits if no mice are captured within 3 days.

Rodenticides
Poisons must be applied with the proper care. NEVER place poisons in food preparation areas or around unsealed food stores. Use only poison baits labeled for mouse control. Place poison baits in the same areas that you would place traps. Use numerous small baits in favor of large placements. Keep baits 10 feet apart or closer in more infested areas. Keep bait stations small, which mice will find more attractive than larger stations. Place secure tamper-resistant bait stations near doors or other mice entrant points. Areas without a ready water supply may make better targets for liquid baits. Observe the same rules for applying solid baits.

Mice Control Summary
Hands down, the house mouse is the most successfully adapted rodent commonly found in human dwellings. Everywhere you find people you also find house mice feeding on human food, infesting human habitats, and breeding with ridiculous speed. Untold millions of dollars result from food contamination and property damage caused by nesting habits and electrical fires from their continuous gnawing. Failure to control mice is often due to the applicators understanding of the life cycle and habits of mice. Mice reproduce quickly. A single pair of mice can breed up to 50 mice in a year. Tight inspections, proper sanitation, mouse-proofing, and well places traps and poisons remain highly effective control measures for mice infestation. Mice control measures can work quickly when done right and are most effective when all control aspects are tightly adhered to.