Why Can't I Keep Mice Out Of My Terre Haute Home?
It is very difficult to keep mice out. An adult mouse only needs a hole about the size of a dime to squeeze its way into your Terre Haute home. If it happens upon a hole that is smaller than this, it is likely to be able to make it large enough to fit through. Mice have strong teeth and can chew through a piece of wood. It isn't any trouble at all for a mouse to get past weatherstripping or door sweeps if they are sufficiently motivated. Today, we're going to talk about what motivates mice to get into homes in our Terre Haute area, and why it is hard to get rid of them when they do. Reach out to us today for pest control services in Terre Haute.
The Mind Of A Mouse
When a mouse explores your exterior, it doesn't know that your home has food. So the food in your home won't make it want to chew a hole to gain entry. But it might smell food that you're cooking, or catch the scent of garbage coming from a trash bin inside your garage. These can make a mouse want to get inside.
When a mouse explores your exterior, it is unaware that your home has water resources, such as the droplets in your tub, shower, or sinks. So, the water in your home won't inspire a mouse to do the hard work of chewing its way inside. But damp conditions around your home can lure mice in close, give them a drink, and cause the wood of your home to rot. If you have rotting wood, such as sole plates or window and door frames, mice may chew on them.
When a mouse explores your exterior, it doesn't know that it is springtime inside your home. But on a cold day, it may feel warm air leaking out. This can make it want to chew on your weatherstripping and door sweeps to get in where the temperatures are nice.
Once inside your home, a mouse is likely to become a permanent resident, especially if it is of the species mus musculus. This species of mouse is referred to as the house mouse, and there are currently no known populations of wild house mice in the world. They either live inside man-made structures or near man-made structures. If a house mouse moves into your yard and finds a reason to be in your home, it is likely to become a permanent resident. This is, perhaps, the biggest reason why mice are so hard to get rid of.
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More Reasons House Mice Are Hard To Get Out Of Homes
You're going to have a hard time convincing a mouse to live outside once it has discovered all of the voids inside your home. For a little mouse, it's like living in a giant tree mansion. Even if you're able to remove all the food and every droplet of water, your home is still better than any place a mouse would find outside. So, while we recommend protecting your food and addressing moisture issues to resist mice, the only effective way to get control of mice is to capture and remove them. But this isn't nearly as simple as you might think. When Terre Haute residents attempt to capture mice, they find that mice are more clever than they imagined. Here are a few reasons why it is difficult to capture a mouse:
- While mice are curious, they're also timid. If you place a trap down, a mouse might wonder what that trap is, but it isn't brave enough to go straight for the bait. It will skittishly explore the trap and try to lightly nibble the food. Residents have found unsprung traps with the bait completely moved from the catch. Talk about mysterious.
- The skittish way mice eat food, along with their incredible speed, can allow them to evade the swing of the hammer on a spring trap. Residents in Terre Haute have found traps that have sprung with no mouse under the hammer—not to mention, no food on the catch.
- Mice can smell you on the trap you deploy. If a mouse smells you, it is likely to avoid the trap. It is common for residents to lay traps for a long time with no response.
We could go on and on, but you get the idea. Mice have behaviors and abilities (as well as a high intelligence) that allow them to evade traps. Other DIY mouse control strategies tend to fall short, but not because of the mice.
- Residents who purchase cats to take care of mice quickly discover that cats don't get all the mice, and in most cases, don't get any of the mice.
- Residents who install sonic devices realize that this can only move mice from one location in the home to another.
- Residents who lay down things that smell bad to mice find out that mice can go around or walk right over things that smell bad to them.
