How Mice Enter Homes

Mice are good at sneaking into places you may not expect, and unfortunately, they can cause substantial damage to your home if they go undetected. They can get into basements, pantries, and attics with ease due to their small size, acrobatic tendencies, and ability to squeeze through tight spaces. Here’s what you need to know about how a mouse infestation can start.

Why Mice Enter Homes

Typically, mice live outside — but like all living things, mice need food, water, and shelter to survive. If they’re not able to meet those basic needs roaming the outdoors, they will make their way inside. There are two primary reasons wild mice migrate indoors:

1. They’ve found food. If you aren’t properly storing food in airtight containers, mice may be attracted to goodies in your pantry. Open boxes of cereal, jars of peanut butter, and even packages of pet food can be prime food sources for mice.
2. They’ve found shelter. Rodent infestations are more common in the winter months as mice tend to make their way inside to avoid freezing climates. The cold weather drives rodents inside, and when they’re comfortable they will start nesting to raise young.

How Do Mice Enter Your Home?

Mice usually live outside, but when they need to, they’ll scope out access points to structures so they can make their way inside. If you have a shed or garage on your property, it’s not uncommon for mice to target those areas first. Typically, those structures aren’t as secured, and if they’re being used primarily for storage, they’re likely full of nesting materials and potential food sources.

Mice can fit through entry points the size of a dime, and once one mouse has made your house their home, more usually follow. They can squeeze through cracks in cement, holes in brick and wood walls, gaps between pipes and walls, and even through water and sewer pipes themselves. Once mice get in, they quickly start finding food, building nests, and having offspring, multiplying your rodent problem. They will often enter at the start of the cold season to seek shelter from the cold, and stay put for months until the weather warms up again. Mice may also enter other places in your home, such as a vehicle or indoor storage area.

Signs of Mice in Your Home

Mice can pose major problems for homeowners. Not only do they pose a risk of damaging electrical wires, gas lines, they can also spread diseases. Mice use scraps of various materials to build nests, and as they scavenge for food and resources, they’ll likely leave behind signs of their presence. Some common signs mice have made their way inside include:

• Unexplained scratching noises, especially at night. Mice can live in your walls, and as they rummage around, they can get quite loud.
• Mice droppings. Mouse poop resembles grains of rice with tapered ends and it’s commonly found by food sources.
• Chew marks. Mice are notorious for gnawing. They’ll chew through wiring, bags and containers that hold food, and even walls. Their tiny teeth marks can be visible evidence of mice inside your home.

How To Prevent Mice From Entering Your Home

You can take some basic preventative measures to keep mice from entering your home. These include:

• Seal any and all gaps around your home, including around windows and doors, with a silicone caulking gun. Mice don’t need much space to turn small holes and tiny cracks into potential entry points to invade your home.
• Trim back branches and vegetation from exterior walls. Mice (and other pests!) will use these materials as makeshift shelters.
• Keep yard waste, mulch, and wood piles away from the walls of your home. Before making their way inside, mice may reside in your yard. This kind of debris is the perfect breeding ground for mice.
• Store food, including pet food, in glass or metal containers. Mice will chew through plastic in search of food, so glass or metal is your best bet to keep mice from rummaging through your food.
• Secure your trash cans. Oftentimes, mice are drawn to food waste, and once they’ve exhausted that, they’ll start invading living spaces in search of more food.

By keeping your house and yard tidy, you can do a lot to prevent future infestations.

How To Get Rid of Mice

Many people use mouse traps to get rid of their rodent problems. Some of these include traditional snap traps, glue traps, or humane traps that catch them in a box for outdoor release. While these DIY pest solutions do work in many cases, they may not work as thoroughly as you hope. A mouse infestation can quickly get out of hand, so even if you catch one or two mice with a mouse trap, there are likely more where those came from, quickly causing a major problem.