Winter is in full swing. (I believe the correctly coined term for this winter in Chicago is Chiberia 2014.) While some pests go into hibernation during frigid temps, there are some that make more appearances because they’re seeking warmth and food just like any other living thing. One of the most commonly encountered creatures during winter months is the house mouse.
Let’s learn a bit about this little guy, shall we? Because you know what they say…in order to defeat the creature, you must become it first. I’m not sure growing a long tail and nesting in walls was your idea of a new year resolution, but I promise that learning about it will give you the upper hand in defeating these boogers!
House Mouse
- Eats seeds and insects, mostly
- Breeds rapidly
- Excellent at climbing
- Can jump up to a foot high
- Color blind
- Can only see up to 6 inches away
- Prefers to nest in dark, secluded areas
- Builds nests out of paper products, cotton, fabric, and wall insulation
- Leaves micro droplets of urine behind as it trails, which causes allergies and asthmatic issues especially in children
- Can bring fleas, ticks, mites, and lice into your home
How many of those things did you already know?? What surprised you? I remember being all “no way they can jump that high” and then I saw (with my own 4 eyes…hehe! Get it? I wear glasses. LOL!) a mouse scale a building at a 90 degree angle as if they had sticky feet. At that point, I believed that mice had superb survival skills. Scary, right?
Signs of Mice in the House
Common signs of mice in the house could include:
- Mouse poop
- Damaged food packaging
- Shredded nesting materials
- Rub marks (mice are greasy)
If you have any one or a combination of the above, you have a mouse in the house. Sorry. :/
Mouse Poison
Rodenticide comes in so many different shapes and colors. There are tons of brands out there in local home improvement stores and even grocery stores. Pellets, blocks, loose meal, place packs, blue, green, yellow, red… So how do you know which one to choose? Which one works the best? How much of it do you need to buy to get rid of these things once and for all??
You’ve probably seen some or most of these brands for years. The sad, but true fact of the matter is most easily explained when making a comparison. If you take a certain medication for so long, it stops working effectively. If you were given antibiotics in excess as a youth, you may have a hard time healing from infection on standard antibiotic prescriptions in your adulthood. Doctors may need to give you stronger medication, or a different variation or class of drug altogether in order to fight the infection. If you have seasonal allergies and Claritin worked last summer and it doesn’t this year, you may need to try Zyrtec. Same concept.
Now, let’s apply that to the mice in the house. Some of the mouse poison available in stores has been around since the 50s. Mice and rats have been fed the same over-the-counter rodenticides for years. This could be one reason why it seems that they’re eating trays and trays of pellets you’ve bought and placed in your basement and you STILL have mice in your house. You’re not crazy. The mice have just become resistant to the poison. It’s not effective anymore.
So, what is?
This guy is!!
Rodent Control Chicago
Our service technicians have been trained to think like mice, become mice (not IRL), and defeat them until they are no more! Seriously. These guys are the “big guns”.
The first key to rodent control Chicago is finding the source of the problem: the dime-sized holes around the foundation or window wells on your house, the bread bag left open on the breakroom counter at work, the bag of bird seed in the garage on the floor, etc. Once that source is identified, we make a plan to correct the conducive conditions. Whether it’s temporarily plugging up holes with copper wire mesh, filling crevices with expandable foam, or suggesting structural remedies you can do yourself. Then we strategically place traps or bait stations based on what we’ve learned their pattern of travel is. There’s a lot more science that goes into it, I assure you, but no one wants to read that so I’m keeping it simple. 🙂
