How Are Mice Getting into My House?
Written by: Quintin Bentley Crevling
The average mouse can squeeze through a hole the size of a nickel. This talent of fitting through small spaces combined with high intelligence makes them incredibly difficult to keep out of your home. Research has determined that these crafty little creatures never forget a path once they have figured out where it leads. This is very beneficial for them as they avoid detection and always find a route to their food source. To understand how to catch these mice you must first understand how they get into your home. There are many different entry points that a mouse will use to enter your home, including: obvious entrances, small gaps in your home, and through your pipes. Head over to this site to learn more about how to exterminate a mouse in your home.
The most obvious way a mouse can get into your home is through the front door. Chances are you have all opened your front door to air out your home on a sweltering summer day. However, you might not have noticed your new little friend pop in the door and quickly run for cover to avoid detection. Another obvious entrance to your home is open windows, particularly sliding windows. Even if you have a screen on your door or window, a mouse has very strong teeth and jaws that can bite through thin metal wires. And just like that, you now unknowingly share your home an animal that could be carrying harmful diseases. These obvious ways mice get into your home most likely will not lead to an infestation, but can create a headache trying to get the small rodent out of your home.
Mice are nocturnal animals which mean that they most likely will not walk in through your front door, but instead creep in through your vents and other small gaps that you wouldn’t think an animal could fit through. If you have a mouse problem, you may want to consider boarding up all small holes around your home. This means caulking and installing aluminum or wood patches to cover any gap larger than a nickel. This task may take several hours to completely fill each hole, but will be worth it to keep out more pests. Many homes have appliances with various hoses and pipes that connect to a source on the exterior of the home. It is important to fill any gaps between the hose and the hole to ensure a small mouse will not sneak in.
Some rodents find their way into your home through sewer pipes. These rodents are fantastic swimmers that can hold their breath for up to three full minutes and swim for three days straight. They only need sporadic air pockets to stay alive. They are able to fit through narrow maze like turns in the pipes because their ribs are attached like a hinge to their spine, which allows them to easily bend and cram through small spaces. To protect your home from these sewer swimmers you should place drain covers in your sink and shower to prevent them from entering your home.
18 Comments
Kate Sarsfield
Living in the country I’m surrounded by all kinds of animals. Idris the cat, in his opinion, treats all creatures within his territory as ‘his’ and doesn’t kill them. Anything outside his range is fair game!
polly
They are my biggest fear. I just can’t stand them! They just make me shudder!!! EEK!
Karen R
We live in the country and have had mice in the house and the barn. Our indoor cats would play with one and the mouse would play dead. The cats lost interest and the mouse would run. We had the hardest time trapping them.
Veronica Lee
I read somewhere that mice reproduce very quickly and populations may exceed 200 specimens within a matter of months! Shudder!
CJ
My dog, who died last year, used to catch mice and kill them. He never ate them though, but he had a zero tolerance policy for birds and small animals entering the dog pen. If you were an intruder, he got rid of you, forever…
michele
I remember one apartment we lived in where we had mice…. We could actually hear them in the walls.. gotta love NYC…..
Adriane
Since my doggie tried to bury a desiccated field mouse in the sofa cushions, clearly one got in – eek!
Leela
We had a problem for a while. My husband put out traps and it took care of them.
Kate Sarsfield
We’ve always had cats & even though we live in the country we rarely see (live) mice. We do get the occasional present on the doorstep though!
Sarah L
I had a lot of mice a couple of years ago. I got some snap traps and used cheese in a can to bait them.
Rosie
I still am amazed that some people can keep mice as pets! If they get loose, who knows what you have started!! I’d love to have a country place, and that will probably mean a mouse now and then!
Judy Thomas
My cats keep the mice away but I have trouble with a lot of praying mantis that are getting inside the house.
Tamra Phelps
I do not want mice in my house, lol. Sorry, but they are not cute little Disney singing creatures…they are plague transporting rodents!
May Rodriguez
I hate mice there the worst.
Tamra Phelps
We moved to a small town about 3 & a half years ago & there is a big field behind our house. Last year, the guy who owns it mowed it, which sent all small rodents scurrying toward our house, lol. Unfortunately, we had a tiny hole in the bottom of our back door, unbeknownst to us. Yep, for a few weeks we were applying ourselves to getting rid of about 5 mice! Eww. It freaked me out!
CJ
We had a mouse come in once when I was a little kid… And our cat did a number on him. I never saw one again, so if more did come in – my cat must have well… you know. LOL. 😉
Rosie
I used to have a mouse that was coming into an apartment. I would catch it, let it out, then it would come back. Finally, I caught the mouse, took it to a country location, and let it out. Never came back, although I was wondering…!
Veronica Lee
My dad just trapped a 12-inch rat! It got in through the gap between the door and floor!