The 5 Best Methods for Eliminating Mice In Calgary

Major Pest Control Calgary | 5 Best Methods for Eliminating Mice

Autumn brings a chill in the air, which mean mice are looking for a warm place for the winter. Your home may be perfect for these pests, causing damage and carrying diseases to your family and pets. The experts at Major Pest Control want to help prevent that scenario! In this article, they go over the best ways to not only get rid of a mouse infestation, but what you can do to prevent that nightmare from happening again!

The experts at Major Pest Control been helping homeowners get rid of mice infestations for years, and they want to share with you all the tips and tricks they learned. While getting rid of a mouse infestation is difficult, with persistence as well as great knowledge, you can wave these pests goodbye!

Article Overview:

1. Safety Precautions You Need to Know
2. Signs of a Mouse Infestation
3. Clean Up Your Home
4. Prevent Re-Entry
5. Find the Right Mouse Trap
6. Watch for Signs of Mouse Activity
7. Rodenticides as a Last Resort
8. Mouse Removal Myths
9. Prevent a Mouse Reinfestation
10. Mouse FAQs
11. Ask Your Local Experts

Key Points

Be familiar with and take all safety precautions when dealing with mice. Wear gloves and goggles, read and follow all instructions thoroughly to keep you and your family safe.

Learn all the signs of a mice infestation in your home. From the most obvious signs: chew marks on baseboards, holes chewed in walls and mouse droppings. To less noticeable signs like food crumbs where they don’t belong, mouse runways and odd pet behavior. This will not only help you find where the mice are in your home, but the signs will tell you if your efforts are working.

Make your home uninviting, and hard to live in for mice by getting rid of their food source, like storing dry goods in metal or glass containers, and getting rid of clutter to remove hiding spots.

Make it impossible for mice to get inside by patching up external gaps and holes. Mice are very small, and adult mice can squeeze through holes that are 3/8”. Seal up any gaps larger than a quarter of an inch and get rid of clutter and overgrown foliage in your yard to make it unattractive to mice.

Find the right mouse trap for your home. There are many different styles, all with pros and cons. The best strategy uses a variety of traps in various locations.

If your mouse problem is larger than you expected, explore chemical options. Be aware that you should exercise caution anytime you work with chemical bait, also called rodenticide, and should only be used when other methods are not effective to get rid of these disease carrying pests.

Misinformation can make getting rid of mice difficult. Learn common myths about getting rid of mice, like ultrasound and mice repelling plants so you know what to do, and what to avoid doing.

Make your home unattractive to mice inside and out. From getting rid of yard clutter and overgrown foliage and patching external holes. To storing dry goods in mouse proof containers and cleaning up any spills quickly, make your home a place mice will avoid.

Contact the experts! Whether you want information, or need help in eradicating these pests, Major Pest Control is here for you, and ready to help in any way they can!

Safety Precautions You Need to Know

Whether you are using rodenticides or not, always exercise caution when getting rid of mice. From learning what attire to wear when dealing with these pests, to safe chemical handling and ensure you read all instructions. Be safe, always.

• Safe handling of pesticides: All pesticides must be clearly marked. Keep them out of reach when not in use, like in a locked cabinet, or on a tall shelf.
• Avoid using rodenticides inside, where they can get found by people and pets, especially if the mouse move the pellets or blocks. Instead, try using a combination of mouse repellants and mouse traps. When you do use chemical bait, put them in a tamper-proof bait containment. This will help prevent pets and people do not come into contact with the rodenticide by mistake.
• Wear PPE (Personal Protection Equipment) like gloves and goggles, and wear long sleeves, long pants and closed toed shoes or boots any time you handle chemical baits or rodenticides, or when handling dead mice for disposal.
• Before you start, read and follow the instructions for rodenticides carefully.

5 Best Methods for Eliminating Mice

Signs of a Mouse Infestation

Mice are not subtle houseguests, and they’re not gracious ones either! They leave a mess everywhere they go! When you learn what the signs of a mouse infestation is, you will be able to confirm that you have these unwanted pests, where they are nesting and feeding and that will help you take action to remove them quickly.

Common Signs of Mice:

Mice will gnaw and scratch at just about anything. Watch for scratch marks on baseboards, and the more telling holes in walls. They have very sharp teeth, and the holes will look very clean cut, and will be just over one inch in diameter.

Since mice have sharp teeth, they will be able to get into a lot of food packaging in your cupboards. You may see chew marks in the food packaging in your home. And even more telling, crumbs or bits of food that the mice have dropped between where they fed, and their nest.

Mice will leave behind their droppings anywhere they are most active. Search under sinks, behind cabinets, underneath appliances and dark corners of rooms. If it’s hard to see, use a flashlight to inspect these areas for small, dark oblong shaped droppings – a sure sign you have an infestation.

In the same area they frequent, you may notice dark stains on floors and carpets. These are urine stains from mice.

Mice will want soft fabric for their nests, but will use any material they can find, such as chewed cardboard and paper, string and pet hair to name a few. If they can find any soft fabric, they will chew off pieces for their nest. You may find holes in fabrics, like bedding and towels in linen closets.

Mice will tend to smell musty, especially when the infestation grows in size. Let your nose do some investigating, especially in enclosed spaces, like attics and crawl spaces. A musty scent is often an indication of an infestation.

Since mice are nocturnal, you may not notice anything during the day. But at night, when they start to become active, listen carefully, and you may hear rustling or scratching sounds, especially in places they like to hide, like in walls.

If you have pets, they will likely notify you of the problem very early on. They will smell the mice and hear their rustling. Cats and dogs may start acting strangely, like barking or meowing, pawing and scratching at walls, or underneath appliances and cabinets.

The most telling sign of a mouse infestation is if you or a family member actually sees a live mouse in the home.

Clean Up Your Home

Make your home as inhospitable to mice as possible, making food and water scarce. Not only will this help a current infestation, but once you eliminate these pests, your home will be unattractive to other mice looking for a warm place to stay in the winter.

Inside:

Since mice can easily chew through cardboard and plastic, store your food in glass or metal containers. Dry goods like grains, cereals, nuts and dried fruit can easily be moved into these mouse proof containers.

Avoid leaving your pets’ food dishes out all the time. Put your animals on a feeding schedule, then remove and wash their dish to prevent their food being a tasty mouse meal. Clean up any messes or spills immediately, and wash dishes promptly. Limit snacking to the kitchen and dining room. Careless eating can leave crumbs throughout the house that mice will take advantage of.

Keep garbage and recycling in sealed bins and take them out regularly. Mice will eat garbage, and chew up the recycling to make their nests. Staying on top of this chore can help significantly in the fight against mice.

As mice go looking for materials to make their nests, protect your towels and bed sheets by storing them in heavy duty plastic containers. They should be solid plastic with a lid that can be sealed.

Decluttering your home removes the hiding spots that mice will use as they move between their nest and food source. Picking up clutter, putting things on shelves, moving furniture to eliminate hiding spots and even adding lighting to dim corners will make it harder for mice to move freely about your home.

Outside:

Clutter will provide hiding spots for mice to use while looking for entry points into your home. Pick up and move any clutter such as rocks, lumber, recycling or garbage. Put away all equipment like lawn mowers in a shed. Store firewood 18 inches off the ground, and away from the sides of your house.

Clean up the landscaping in your yard. Neatly mowed lawns, trimmed trees and hedges will reduce the cover mice depend on while trying to get inside your house.

Keep your garbage and recycle bins clean and closed. Move them away from your home and empty the them regularly – mice have an incredible sense of smell.

Remove any pets’ food or water dishes outside when they are not in use.

Prevent Re-Entry

Mice are looking for a warm place to spend the winter, which is why they are trying to get inside. As summer turns into autumn, the weather gets cooler, and this is when mice are the most active to try to get inside. Mice are tiny – weighing between half an ounce to one full ounce and can squeeze through openings as small as 3/8”. For this reason, Major Pest Control advises to seal holes, cracks and gaps in your home the size of a quarter or an inch or larger, as these will give mice the portal into your home they are so desperately searching for.

Cracks, gaps, or holes can be found in your siding or in the foundation. These can be sealed up very inexpensively with caulking. Also look for potential entry points where utilities enter your home, like water, electricity, or air conditioning. Fill these gaps with a heavy wire screen and metal mesh filler. Avoid using expandable spray foam to fill gaps as mice can easily chew through this material and gain access despite your efforts.

Vents can be covered with a metal mesh, as vents can be an easy entrance into your home. Mice are great climbers, so covering drainpipes with 18 inches of smooth metal will make it hard for these pests to find ways up and in.

Fix windows or doors that are cracked or warped, as these gaps are often large enough for mice to squeeze into. Patch or replace screens in windows and doors, and install door sweepers on the bottom of all external doors to make it even more difficult for mice to sneak in.

Find the Right Mouse Trap

Now that you’ve cleaned up inside and out, as well as sealed up entry points into your home, you can start focusing on getting rid of your mouse infestation with mouse traps. There are many mouse trap styles to consider. Read about all the different types and make the best choice for your property.

1. Automatic Multiple Catch Traps
2. Snap Traps
3. Live Traps
4. Glue Traps
5. Baiting the Traps

Automatic Multiple Catch Traps

As the name suggests, these will catch more than one mouse at a time. Unlike the traps that catch one mouse and are out of commission until the trap is set again, multiple catch traps can keep catching mice until the holding area is full without needing to be reset. They are easy to set in harder to reach areas, making them a favorite for people dealing with a large infestation. And while it is a no kill trap, the mice will then need to be disposed of, which can be difficult for many homeowners.

Snap Traps

This is often what you will think of when you picture a mouse trap. These are inexpensive, easy to use and effective. This trap will kill the mice when they snap, so it is a relatively humane option. Their low cost allows you to use many of them to attract mice. However, caution is needed, as curious pets or children can get hurt if they trigger the snap on the trap.

For this reason, these are best placed where it is hard for children or pets to reach, like underneath appliances, in crawl spaces or in attics. Be aware that these will need to be replaced after a certain number of uses, because mice will be able to smell the dead mice on the trap and will eventually avoid these traps.

Live Traps

For those who do not wish to harm the mice, there are live traps. They will trap and hold the mice until they are released. While catching and releasing mice may seem like the most humane method of getting rid of these pests, if you release them in your neighbourhood, they will likely end up back at your home, or in your neighbour’s home. If you drive them into a more secluded area, the mice will likely die from exposure, as they have become accustomed to living inside a home. If you do want to use live traps, please check with your municipality on whether catch and release is legal in your jurisdiction, as it is not legal everywhere.

Glue Traps

Surfaces coated in a sticky glue will stop mice in their tracks, as they will be unable to escape. These traps are the least effective and are very inhumane. The glue traps must also be adhered to the ground in order to work, making them troublesome to set. Major Pest Control advises against this type of trap.

Baiting the Trap

When you’ve chosen the trap you want to use, you will have to bait them in order to entice mice to draw near. Forget those cartoons about cheese, mice really want seeds, nuts or peanut butter and anything that has a strong smell will attract the attention of mice. Once your traps are baited, place them where mice are frequently travelling, or where the most mouse evidence was seen. Try to put the traps in between their nest and food source, so they are most likely to encounter the traps regularly. Check the traps often and replace the bait when needed.

Click here to learn more on getting rid of mice: https://majorpestcontrolcalgary.ca/mice-control-in-calgary/

Watch for Signs of Mouse Activity

Depending on the size of your mouse infestation, it may take a while to catch all the mice. After you’ve had a few days without catching any mice, don’t stop your efforts! Instead, continue to set the traps, but also continue watching for signs of mouse activity. You will want to ensure there aren’t new signs of mice in your house. Be diligent in cleaning up spills and continue to monitor the perimeter of your house to ensure you don’t see any new points of entry.

If you continue to see activity and are not catching mice in your house seek the advice of a professional pest control company for the best ways to proceed. If you aren’t catching any mice, and you don’t see any signs of mouse activity, getting a professional inspection can put your mind at ease that the infestation is gone.

Rodenticides as a Last Resort

For difficult cases or especially large infestations of mice, rodenticides also called chemical mouse baits can be an option. While this step should be a last resort, mice spread bacteria and disease, and it may be necessary. The poisons in chemical baits are very serious, so exercise extreme caution when using. Read the instructions thoroughly and take every outlined precaution.

There are different types of rodenticides, and different formulas that act quickly, and some require multiple exposure to the chemical bait to work. If you want to know which type is best for your circumstances, reach out to a pest control expert like Major Pest Control.

Rodenticides have two types of chemicals that are used, anticoagulants, and non-anticoagulants. They work in two different ways:

Anticoagulants

Anticoagulants impede the mouse’s ability to produce vitamin K, which interrupts the ability to clot blood, and the mice die from internal bleeding. This type of rodenticide come in the form of blocks, or pellets, depending on the type of trap you are using. Some chemicals used include diphacinone, warfarin and chlorophacinone. This method is not fast acting – the mice often need to eat the chemical bait a number of times for it to work, and in some cases, mice have built up an immunity to it, and a second-generation chemical bait is required, using chemicals such as brodifacoum and diefethialone.

Non-Anticoagulants

Rodenticides that don’t use anticoagulants contain chemicals like: bromethalin, cholecalciferol and zinc phosphide. These poison the mice in a variety of ways, and you can choose between a fast acting poison, or one that requires repeated exposure in order to kill the mice. Be very aware of the kind you choose – fast or slow acting. Chemical baits can be mixed with seeds or grains, like wheat, corn and oats. Alternatively, they can come in pellet, pouch or block form. It will depend on where you plan on placing the bait, what type of rodenticide will work best.

Seed or Grain Mix Baits

The benefit of this type of chemical bait is that it will fit into a variety of traps. Mice will be more likely to eat the bait where it is, rather than carry it off, creating a danger to curious children and pets. The downside is that this form of rodenticide absorbs moisture very easily, causing the feed to spoil quickly. Not only should these not be placed in humid environments, but they should also be replaced often, which will become time consuming.

Pellet and Block Baits

Pellet and block baits are resistant to moisture, so this type is more versatile for many different environments, including in sheds or barns. Be advised, however, that these types of baits are easy for mice to carry and relocate. This is a concern, because the chemical bait may end up in places where pets or children may come into contact with them. This is one of the reasons why rodenticides should only be used as a last resort.

Packet Baits

These baits are sealed in a package, and the mice must chew through the package to get inside. The benefit is you can see very easily if mice have discovered the bait yet. Since the bait is sealed, it also lasts longer than other types of bait. However, these packets are also easy to pick up and investigate by pets, or children in the house.

Baiting Techniques

With your traps and bait chosen, where to place them is the next thing you must decide. Ideally, you will want the bait in between the mouse’s food source and their nest. This makes them more likely to encounter the chemical bait. However, you also don’t want to place chemical bait within reach of pets or children. Once you have a location, pre-bait the area first, by putting regular feed in that location, so mice get used to this new food source, and will be more likely to eat the chemical bait once it appears.

If the bait is not being eaten, moving the station is important. A rule of thumb is to move it five feet in any direction in hopes of getting the attention of the mice. Monitor the bait stations daily, and replace bait that is too old, or if it becomes moldy.

Before you use any rodenticides, be aware of the inherent risks, and learn if it is legal in your Calgary and area municipality, as many places do not allow this type of treatment. Read the packaging thoroughly and follow all precautions, including keeping the package sealed and locked out of reach from children and animals.

Safety Concerns with Chemical Bait

When using chemical bait, read all instructions thoroughly and take all outlined precautions, such as gloves and goggles. Always use a tamper proof bait station whenever you use chemical bait inside. This will keep it out of reach of pets and children. Do not place it where the bait station could get knocked over. Clearly mark: “RODENT BAIT – DO NOT TOUCH”. Unused chemical bait should be stored up and out of reach of children and pets in a locked cabinet.

Mouse Removal Myths

While getting rid of a mouse infestation is a challenge, it’s harder with the amount of misinformation out there. Here are common mouse removal myths to be aware of and ensure you don’t waste any time on these ineffective removal methods.

Cheese please

Perhaps one of the most common mouse myths is that mice love cheese, so that is naturally what you should bait your mouse traps with, right? Wrong! Cartoons are definitely to blame for this misconception, but the reality is mice prefer many other foods to cheese. Try baiting your traps with seeds, grains, or nuts. Second choices would be high aroma foods like bacon or chicken. Even peanut butter will attract the mice more effectively than cheese.

Cats for mouse control

Cats and mice are enemies if cartoons are to be believed, so bringing a cat to a mouse infestation might seem like a logical step, however this little more than make-believe. While a cat will indeed catch mice, a cat will not put an end to an established infestation, especially as mice usually hide in places cats can’t get into. Steer-clear of this method and enjoy your cat for company instead.

Ultrasonic sound devices

Ultrasonic or hazing devices emit sounds in high frequency or use motion sensors to scare mice away. Bright lights, sounds and sprinkler systems have all been used as a deterrent. While they may scare mice initially, soon enough, they will be likely to run past these deterrents as they enter your property, especially if there’s entrance points to your warm house.

Mouse repellant plants

The internet has a large number of plants that reputedly repel mice, and many homeowners may plant these around the perimeter of their house and yard to deter mice entering. Mint, lavender, daffodils and even onions and garlic are supposed to keep these rodents at bay. However, the evidence just simply isn’t there to prove that these plants work to deter mice.

Fabric softener

The internet is to blame for this myth spreading quickly – the idea is that fabric sheets placed on the perimeter of your home will deter these pests from taking up residence. However, just like the other nuisance devices like ultrasound, hazing devices, mouse repellant plants, this one also doesn’t work. As the mouse gets used to the smell, they’ll come back to your house.

Prevent a Mouse Reinfestation

In order to get rid of a mouse infestation, you must be persistent until they are all gone, which is hard, tiring work. It’s far easier to prevent an infestation in the first place, rather than get rid of one. There are many things you can do on a regular basis in your yard and in your home to ensure these tiny pests don’t become uninvited houseguests!

Start with inspecting all the doors and windows on a regular basis. Replace weatherstripping on all doors, windows and screens. Fix or replace windows, doors and screens as needed, as mice can squeeze into holes that are as small as 3/8”! Placing a door sweep on all external doors makes it even more difficult for mice to squeeze their way in.

Walk the perimeter of your house regularly. Look for cracks in the foundation, or gaps where utilities enter your home. These gaps can be the opportunity mice are looking for to get inside. Fill the spaces with caulking or with sturdy wire mesh. Affix wire mesh to vents and wrap smooth metal around downspouts. Mice are great at climbing and will look for ways in, even higher up on your house.

Reduce the clutter in your yard, putting yard equipment and recreational equipment away. Trim back trees and hedges, so there are no convenient hiding spots for mice as they try to find their way in. Keep garbage and recycle bins away from the house, and ensure the lids are sealed at all times. Mice are sneaky and secretive and will often steer clear of places that don’t offer enough hiding spots on their way to explore.

Once you’ve taken care of the yard, landscaping and eliminated clutter, many people like to spray mouse repellent. It can be one more step preventing these pests from getting too close to your home. Buy mouse repellent or make your own. The simplest formula is equal parts water to apple cider vinegar. Pour into a spray bottle and spray the perimeter of your yard and home. You can even mix chili flakes, water and dish soap. While this will not harm any animals, it will irritate the mouth, nose and eyes of the mice, keeping them away from your home. Spray the repellent every month, or after every rain to keep it active.

Inside your home always clean up food right away. From accidents and spills, to just rinsing or washing your dishes right away. Store all dry goods in mouse proof containers like glass and metal. Limit the rooms of the house where food is allowed, so that crumbs can be minimized.

Mouse FAQs

Ask Your Local Experts

If you have mice in your Calgary area home – there is help out there! Contact Major Pest Control to help you take back control of your house and evict these unwanted house guests once and for all! Their multi step process ensures that they get rid of these disease carriers, protecting you and your family. Whether you live right in Calgary, or any of the surrounding areas, Major Pest Control has got you covered!