How To Get Rid Of Mice In The House Fast

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Nobody wants mice roaming around their house since, apart from being annoying, they can be quite destructive.

However, these pesky rodents seek their way into homes for food, shelter, and warmth. Therefore, learning how to get rid of mice in the house fast comes in handy, especially since they reproduce quickly.

It’s never a welcomed sight when you find signs of mice infestation in your house because this is a situation nobody like to deal them.

However, sharing your house with mice isn’t ideal so it’s best to drive them out of your house as soon as possible.

Are you looking for ways of eliminating mice quickly? Keep reading for detailed answers.

What Attracts Mice To Your House?

Mice will not come into your house if it is not conducive for them, meaning if nothing attracts them there, they will try somewhere else or keep living in the wild.

Below are the things that make your house attractive to mice.

1. Human Food

Living things, including mice, need food for survival, and human houses are a great source of food for these rodents.

While they have their favorite foods, they aren’t picky and will eat whatever they find, both meat and plants.

 Mice’s favorite foods include bacon, seeds, grains, fruits, leaves, wood, nuts, cereals, and roots.

Also Read: Are bucket mouse traps effective

2. Pet Food

Pet foods have high grains, fat, and protein amounts which are everything mice need to survive. Different pet foods attract mice. These include dog food, bird food, cat food, duck food, cattle feed, horse feed, granola, pellets, chicken feed, and bird seed.

3. Shelter

Since most mice stay active in winter except for a few varieties, they will seek shelter and warmth in your house if they can find their way inside. You will likely find them near wood stoves, water heaters, and fireplaces.

Related: How to get rid of mice in walls

4. Clutter

While clutter alone will not bring mice into your house, it will cause them to stay longer because it offers the best way of hiding their activity.

For this reason, hundreds of mice can roam freely in a cluttered house like a hoarder’s home. They can also nest in the clutter kept in basements and attics.

Related: Can you kill mice with salt

How Do I Know If I Have A Mouse Infestation?

The presence of mice in your home can go unnoticed for a long time since they are tiny creatures and could be staying in hard-to-reach places most of the time.

The following signs indicate a mouse infestation.

• Mouse droppings. Commonly found behind cabinets, corners, and under sinks. They resemble tiny dark brown or black rice grains.
• Scratch or chew marks around your food packaging, floor trims, shelves, or baseboards.
• Squeaks or scratching noises originating from the walls at night.
• Debris or food crumbs in your pantry, shelves, and unusual places.
• Nests. They are typically manufactured using soft materials such as shredded paper, fabrics, string, and pet hair.
• Your pets may behave oddly, like pawing under or at appliances or scratching and barking.

Also Read: I Accidentally Vacuumed Up Mouse Droppings

Best Ways To Get Rid Of Mice In The House Fast Naturally

So, you suspect or have confirmed the presence of mice in your house and now looking for natural ways to drive them away swiftly.

1. Use Natural Repellents

Use mice’s strong sense of smell against them by using scent to deter them. There are plenty of things that emit scents mice do not like.

Related: Natural mice repellent

These include ammonia, hot pepper, vinegar, peppermint, cloves, bay leaves, and onions.

Strategically place your natural repellents in areas  in areas with the most mice activity, like the entryways, cupboard, and drawers.

Also Read: Does irish spring soap keep mice away

2. Get A Cat

Keeping a cat is among the easiest of keeping  mice away since cats are mice’s natural predators. If you cannot have a cat at home for whatever reason, you can spread cat litter around areas frequented by these rodents instead.

3. Eliminate Food Sources

Storing your food in metal or glass containers makes your home unattractive to mice by depriving them of a food source.

Also, clean spills quickly, seal or cover your food containers, cover your garbage bins, and don’t pet food out too long.

4. Remove Nesting Materials

Keep anything mice can use to make their nests away safely. For instance, store fabrics, blankets, and rugs in heavy-duty storage bins.

Make sure you also quickly discard household recyclings like lightweight plastic, paper, and cardboard because mice can use them to develop their nests.

5. Use Humane Live Traps

Buy humane live traps, strategically position them around your house and use bait to attract mice to them.

You can use peanut butter, popcorn, or cheese as bait. Once the mice are captured, release them far from your property (a minimum of a mile away) to prevent them from returning.

Put on protective gloves before handling the mice. This method is effective and humane but labor-intensive and entails direct contact with the mice.

6. Use Sound repellents for Mice

Get rid of mice in your house fast by using ultrasonic and sonic sounds, which emits high-frequency sounds. Sonic repellents can be plugged into a power outlet or run using batteries, emitting sounds humans cannot perceive, but rodents can. The sounds distress them, thus driving them away.

How To Prevent Mice From Getting In Your House

Once your house is mice-free, you must keep it that way by preventing the entry of mice. You can achieve this through different strategies.

1. Seal Entryways

Inspect your house for areas mice can use to enter, then seal them using metal sheeting, steel wool, or any other material these rodents cannot chew through. You can reinforce the barrier by combining steel wool with caulk.

2. Add Screens

Put long-lasting, quality wire screens over your house’s chimney openings, vents, and other gaps. In addition, repair damaged screens and consider putting door sweeps on your exterior doors.

3. Close Exterior Doors

Mice can just enter your house using exterior doors, so avoid this by closing them.

4. Keep Weather Stripping in Good Condition

Damaged weather stripping invites mice to go into your house, so replace damaged weather stripping around the basement foundation, doors, and windows.

5. Maintain A Neat Landscape

Keep your home clean and clutter-free, thus making it less attractive to mice. Trim trees and shrubs and keep your firewood at a minimum distance of 20 feet from your house.

Keep in mind that mice can enter your house through the tree branches extending towards the building, so trimming them is paramount.

6. Use A Dehumidifier

A well-ventilated, dry basement, crawl spaces, and attic aren’t a conducive mouse habitat. A dehumidifier will make these places well-ventilated and dry.

Conclusion

The methods discussed in this post can help to get rid of mice in the house effectively. However, preventing an infestation is always better, and you can achieve that by making your home unappealing to these rodents.

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