Mouse Control
There are several mouse species found throughout Florida. In the southwestern portion of the state, in areas such as Cape Coral, Fort Myers, Sanibel Island, Naples and Pine Island, the most likely type of mouse to challenge area residents would be the common house mouse.
When mice get into your home they can leave droppings behind and bring germs and disease in with them. The can also die in your walls creating a terrible odor throughout your home. Mice are food for snakes, and snakes will sometimes follow a mouse inside a home, garage or attic.
There is a right way and a wrong way to do mice removal, for instance, pets and wildlife are often poisoned and killed by secondary poisoning when they eat rodents or other animals that have ingested poison.
We can help you get rid of mice the right way, and can get your mouse control taken care of without having to use poisons.
Getting Rid Of Mice
You don't want mice in your home, or the fleas, feces and urine they leave behind. Mice can carry disease harmful to humans.
Mice love to chew on wires and walls, damaging your property as they go. The scents, urine and feces they leave behind can attract other rodents, snakes and larger, more destructive wildlife such as raccoons.
Since mice attract snakes, it is not uncommon for a snake to follow a mouse or rat inside a home, building, attic or garage - in search of a meal. Snakes have been known to go through weep holes or climb walls to access attics (yes snakes can climb some walls), so you may be surprised where they end up following their hunt. We help clients get rid of mice for good before snakes and other problems get out of hand.
Controlling Mice The Right Way
There are several reasons we discourage using poison to control mice, pets and wildlife will sometimes get a hold of the poison themselves, or may even eat a mouse that has been poisoned leading to secondary poisoning and hazardous consequences. You also don't want mice dying in your walls. The mouse seen in the photo below died inside the walls and created a terrible odor and real problem for the homeowners.
Mice can fit into a hole the size of a pencil and rats through a hole the size of a quarter. Mice are great swimmers, climbers, jumpers and chewers! Decks, porches, brush piles, wood piles, tall grass and leaf piles are attractive to mice and rodents.
Check your windows, doors, vents and garage doors for gaps. Do not feed pets outdoors - if you feed mice, they will come.
The Wildlife Whisperer, Inc. methods for mouse control are designed to be humane and cost effective. We don't use poisons like other traditional pest control companies do because they are hazardous and do not solve the actual problem. If you have a mouse problem, chances are the real problem is a building problem. Poisoning and trapping without fixing the building means repeat trips for the exterminator, they make money, while your problem continues. We do not believe that this is the right way to do business. Our approach to getting rid of mice includes sealing all entry points into the building for long lasting, effective results. We do the job right the first time and solve your rodent problems forever.
Our 3 Step Approach To Mouse Control
Our clients love seeing us come, but love seeing us go - along with their mouse and critter problems. We do not want repeat clients, and you do not want repeat mouse problems. Our poison free approach works.
We do mouse control in 3 phases...
Seal the lower portion of the building from the foundation up to, but not including, the bottom our your house siding, (if applicable), or knee-high. Crawl space doors & vents, addressing erosion on your foundation, wall mounted dryer vent lines, thresholds, garage doors, weep holes... the left and right side of your garage door is the number one entry point for mice, rats, snakes, bugs and scorpions.
We have designed custom rodent-proof garage door seals guaranteed to keep mice and rats from chewing through. They can be painted to blend in with the door or to compliment the exterior. Rubber seals are nice, but our custom seal is invincible. Phase one in itself will typically take care of over 75% of our clients' mouse, rat and snake problems.
Seal the center outside portion of the building from the bottom of your siding up to, but not including, the roofline. The bottom side of many siding types are wonderful, easy access points for mice, rats, snakes, lizards and insects. Every home is different and unique, but they all can be sealed to allow you to be rodent-free.
Seal the top portion of the building from the roofline to the roof top. Mice, rats and snakes in the attic can drive a person batty. Roof rats, mice and snakes love attics. The Wildlife Whisperer, Inc. knows exactly what to do.
Using Mouse Traps
The Wildlife Whisperer, Inc. does not advocate needless trapping. Our humane wildlife control methods work best with wildlife that occasionally exits the home. But, rodents are often inside your home to stay, especially if they have a plentiful food source such as your pet's food. At such times rodent traps are often mandated. We've put together a comprehensive look at some of the different non-lethal live-catch rodent traps available today and how to use them effectively.
The Hazards of Using Rat Poison To Get Rid Of Mice
When poison is used for mouse control somebody will lose. Rat poison can result in a slow and painful death to whatever animal is unfortunate enough to ingest it. Often, the victims of wildlife control poisoning are unintentional targets such as pets. Wildlife that eats a poisoned animal can also die from secondary poisoning. Countless dogs, cats, eagles and other animals are victims of this every year. Mice can die in walls and cause a stink. The hazards of rat poison are numerous.
Mouse Prevention
Anybody can get mice. Trailer houses and million dollar mansions can both become a haven for mice. And no, it does not always have to do with your housekeeping. But there are preventative steps you can take.
Often construction and landscaping leave voids and/or entry points that mice can take advantage of. The picture of the home below is a perfect example of a home with several mouse control issues.
The bird feeder to the right offers mice the food source they need and the gap under the concrete porch offers them a perfect home and shelter right next to their convenient bird feeder food source. The weep holes in the brick that surround the house even offers mice an entry into the inside of the home itself. We can help solve these problems by showing you the proper preventative steps for your property, we can also do the required property renovations for you. We install thousands of custom fit weep hole covers every year... weep holes are designed to let condensation out of brick walls, but, they allow spiders, insects, mice, snakes in... we custom install weep hole covers to close this common mouse entry point.
Making it impossible or very difficult for mice, animals and wildlife to re-enter a structure is called exclusion. This is the cost effective method. Once again, If you have mice in your buildings, you do not have a rodent problem - you have a building problem. We fix this type of problem every day. We can trap rats, mice and other wild critters for you all year long, but that will not solve your problem long term. We do it right the first time.
Sanitation can go a long way when it comes to getting rid of rodents. Do not make your place appealing - pick up any food, close garbage can lids, keep brush piles and debris to a minimum, and keep the lawn mowed. Encourage your neighbors to do the same. If you are feeding pets and birds, please understand that over 80% of our mouse, rat and snake clients were, too. If you feed them, they will come.
A rodent must have a constant, free food source to survive. If you are feeding your pets outside, quit. Ask your neighbors to do the same. Their bad habits can cause you problems.
Humane Mouse Control As A Preventative Step
Prevention is one of the most effective and humane steps you can take to control mice. There are a lot of helpful products on the market today that offer humane wildlife control alternatives to poisons and lethal traps including automatic pet doors, hardware cloth buries to prevent under building burrowing and weep hole covers to prevent entering gaps in the brick. You can learn more about them on our Proof Roof And Home page. The video below offers an example of how helpful a weep hole cover can be when it comes to deterring snakes, mice and other wildlife.
Facts About Mice
Mice mainly breed in the spring and fall but they do have 5-10 litters of young every year with each litter having around 5 babies. After 2 weeks the baby mice start to grow fur and their eyes open and at 3 weeks of age the young are eating solid foods and leaving the nest in search of food. Paper, leaves, insulation and other loose items can all be used by mice as nest building material. At 2 months of age, the babies can have their own babies. Here are some other interesting facts about mice:
- Mice vary in colors from brown to gray to white.
- Mice are mainly nocturnal. Seeing mice during daylight hours does not necessarily mean that there is a high population.
- Mice are herbivores and eat fruit, grain and anything else they find tasty.
- Mice are color blind and have bad vision.
- Mice were accidentally brought here to the United States from Europe and Asia.
- Cats, birds, coyotes and foxes all eat mice.
- Mice typically stay in an area averaging 10 to 30 feet in diameter so if you have a mouse problem, check around in the area where you are seeing them to find their nest and what they are eating.
- Mice eat only a few grams of food each day but destroy 10 times as much.
- Mice can jump 17 inches in the air.
- Mice are great swimmers and climbers.
1242 SW Pine Island Rd., Suite 310
Cape Coral, Florida 33991-2126
help@totalwildlifecontrol.com