How To Frugally Deal With A Mouse In The House

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If you have ever seen a mouse in your home, you will know that it gives you the fright of your life. Even if you aren’t naturally frightened of mice and rats, the shock of seeing one shoot across your floor is enough to give even the hardiest person heart palpitations! If you have ever seen a mouse in your home, now is the time to act. The longer you wait, the harder it is to get rid of the mouse, or more likely, mice, that are living rent free in your house! 

Getting rid of mice can be a long, arduous process, but it must be done. Mice breed very fast and if you don’t act, before long you’ll be hosting a whole family. Here are four steps to dealing with a mouse in the house without busting your bank account!

Step #1: Clean Your House And Seal Away All Food

The most crucial thing to do if you see a mouse is to clean, and keep on cleaning throughout the whole process of getting rid of the mouse. Mice will eat just about anything; if there are little crumbs or larger pieces of food lying around, you are inviting them in further. Make sure to keep on top of your cleaning schedule and use harsh chemicals to kill any bacteria the mice might have left on your surfaces. 

Step #2: Locate & Seal The Point Of Entry

The next step is to locate where the mice are entering your home from. This is likely to be through cracks or gaps in your walls or floor. Mice can fit through a hole the size of a pencil, so any crack, even a very small one, would be accessible to a mouse! Plus, they are very crafty and can chew their way through drywall, wires and insulation to get where they are determined to go. 

How can you locate their point of entry? Mice typically leave droppings as they make their way around your home, so if you find droppings located around a particular spot, that’s where it is coming in from. Locating the mice’s point of entry is highly important because you need to subsequently seal the point of entry. There could be multiple entryways, so make sure you exhaust all options.

Step #3: Humanely Deter and/or Trap The Mouse

In addition to locating and sealing the mouse’s entryways, you can take steps to further deter any rodents from entering and nesting in your house. This includes: 

• Overwhelming their sense of smell. Mice and rats have very sensitive noses and if faced with a powerful smell, they will be unlikely to be able to overcome it. Overwhelming their sense of smell with a strong smelling essential oil like mint or citronella, soaked into fabric or cotton pads and placed around the entryways, will deter them from entering. 
• Humane traps. If you aren’t thrilled by the idea of killing a mouse in your home and disposing of it, you can find humane box traps which shut when a mouse wanders in. These traps are not expensive and can be bought in most hardware stores. Once you find the mouse alive and trapped in the box, you can release it outdoors. If you use this method, you must release the mouse far away from your home – at least half a mile away. If you release it in the garden or down the street it will find its way back. 

Step #4: Call A Professional

If none of these steps manage to catch or block out the pesky mouse, it’s time to call for backup. Mice are highly evasive and are sometimes immune to all the domestic tricks of the trade you may have tried already. A professional Pest Control Company will assess your home, estimate the number of mice you have living there, and provide solutions to your problem. Pest control can be expensive, but if you have tried cost-effective options, it might be the only choice you have left. 

A pest control officer might use professional grade expanding foam to more effectively seal up the gaps in your house. Additionally, they may set box traps that they can return and dispose of once a mouse is caught. A pest control officer might recommend exterminating the mice, if you are not ethically opposed to the idea. 

All in all, having a mouse in the house can be stressful – but with these tips, you will be on your way to a mouse-free home once again.