Mouse Pest Control

Mouse traps and rodent control

Pests such as fleas and ants are a pain, but mice are bothersome pests, contaminating food, destroying crops and spreading diseases such as salmonella. Disease is spread through mouse feces and through the parasites they carry. Luckily, mice are relatively easy to keep at bay through mouse pest control and mouse extermination.

Mouse Control

The first step to mouse control is to take preventative measures. Mice make themselves known in a home in a fairly obvious way, by leaving droppings or gnaw-marks on moldings. Another sign is a nest made up of paper and fabric shreds. The best way to practice preventative mouse pest control is to keep a sanitary home. A very clean home is free of places for mice to create nests and it will lack an available food source for them. A clean home does not completely prevent an issue with mice, but a dirty home is an invitation for infestation.

If there are only a few mice in your home, trapping is the best option to consider. There are two options when deciding which type of trap to buy. You can use a common and inexpensive snap trap which inevitably kills the mouse. The other option, which is a bit more humane, is a live trap. A live trap does not need to be set and can catch quite a few mice at a time.

Mouse Extermination

If your infestation isn't so small, it may be time to consider mouse extermination as a form of rodent pest control. A common way to do this is through baiting. The mouse is baited with food mixed with a rodenticide. The rodenticide can be an anti-coagulant or a single-dose toxin. The anti-coagulant causes internal bleeding, but takes a few days to actually kill the mouse. It may take several weeks of replacing the bait to solve the problem. Single-dose toxins like zinc-phosphide will kill the mouse within a few hours.

Other Rodent Pest Control

Rat extermination can be achieved in the same manner as mice. Limit their chances at finding food and use traps or bait to exterminate them. Squirrel pest control is a bit different. Make sure to limit their food sources and use gutter guards to prevent them from getting into your attic. A good way to rid your attic of squirrels is to use live traps and relocate them five miles away; they won't be able to find their way back to your home.