Discovering mice at home can be a daunting and troubling experience.

It can limit your movement in the house. You may feel nervous about opening a cupboard in case a mouse jumps out at you.

If you have a pet cat at home, you would rather not have it bring you a dead mouse back as a present (though this would probably solve your problem).

But even if you are not scared of the rodent or do not think it is icky to live with a rodent crawling through your vents, it is important to get rid of mice from your home as there is a good chance they will nibble through electrical wiring.

They may also get into your pantry and kitchen cupboards foraging for food and make a huge mess!

The worst fallout of having mice in your home is their droppings. It could invite a host of unsanitary diseases if not cleaned properly. There are several problems that you could be faced with if the mice are not exterminated.

The following is a brief guide to how exterminators get rid of mice. You can follow these steps on your own too if you do not think the problem is significant enough to hire help.

Notice Their Travel Patterns

The first thing exterminators do is make a note of the rodent’s travel patterns.

There may be hints and clues the mice leave behind that are bound to make it easier to recognize a pattern – buying wholesale mouse traps from china are only effective if you know where to place them.

Look for nooks, crannies and crawl spaces where the mice might be comfortable. The mice will typically like to crawl into spaces it can travel through and get to food and tidbits with ease. Think corners, crevices and quiet places. Once you recognize the pattern of their travel, it will give you a better idea of where to place the humane mouse traps. This also means you do not need to work blindly. You do not need to place the mouse traps randomly and hope that it will catch the mice. This would be an informed move that allows you to be more strategic.

Strategically Placed Mouse Traps

Once you have a sense of the rodent’s travel patterns, you can work fast and smart.

Place the live rodent trap strategically, in spots where the mouse may be comfortable enough to sleep. These are typically the basement, crawl spaces and quiet corners.

This also allows you to continue living in the house even as extermination is being carried out as there is no danger that your finger will accidentally get caught in the traps.

The places the mice choose to sleep are typically not the areas that you use frequently. So it will not be your kitchen counter, your cupboard or anywhere where there is frequent movement.

This is also great for households with children or pets as you can be sure that they will not get accidentally caught in the traps – especially when you are dealing with the best electronic mouse killer traps.

A handy trick you can try is to ease the mice out of their comfort zones. There is a good chance that the mice might be suspicious of the trap so it might help to keep the food bait near the trap or above the trap and not inside it.

Once you notice that the mice have come out to eat the bait, you can start setting the food bait inside the trap as you know for sure the mice will feel confident enough to go into the electric mouse trap for the food. You may be required to do a few trial traps before setting the final trap in order to lure the mice into the trap.

Poison Packets

Most exterminators will agree that the mousetrap is only an added measure.

Their main method of extermination is to use poison packets.

This ensures that the pests are exterminated and the population is curbed immediately. Of course, there are more humane ways of handling the situation so you can simply trap the mouse and let it free outside, but there is a good chance they will find their way back unless they are left far away from your home.

Based on how you would like to handle the situation, you can either trap the mice and then release them outside or you can employ poison packets to tackle the problem more swiftly.

There are a variety of different mouse traps and poisons that you can use to get rid of pests and rodents.

But as always, make sure to be careful to keep the traps away from the reach of children and pets, especially if you are storing the poison packets in your home for future use.

Mouse Proofing

Once you have carried out successful extermination, it is important to also mouse-proof your home so you can ensure that the mice cannot get back in.

You may have to spend some extra money on mouse-proofing your home, also to keep mice out of cars, but it sure is worth it to invest some extra money for a long-term solution to the problem.

Mouse proofing includes sealing all the crevices and gaps through which mice can potentially enter. Some of the common entry points mice might use include:

• Poorly sealed doors and window frames
• A weak foundation
• The gap between materials in the foundation
• Tree branches outside the window
• Eaves
• Air conditioning vents, heating units, roof vents, etc
• Plumbing
• Fence railings
• Electric wires
• Window sills and door ledges

Creating an Inhospitable Habitat

Remember that mice can crawl through extremely small gaps so any opening, no matter how small, needs to be sealed.

They can also easily climb walls so even if you do not have a tree outside your window, a mouse will make its way up even a multiple-story building.

To avoid this, you also need to make sure the area outside your home is not a habitat that can foster mice.

Make the area around your house as inhospitable for rodents as possible. Keep the grass trimmed and ensure there is no debris or garbage lying around.

Most importantly, you need to ensure that there is no source of food for rats or mice in the radius around your house. So keep checking the birdfeeders, remove wheelbarrows or any empty pots and vessels that may collect water.

If you live in an independent house, it may be a good idea to construct a cement boundary wall around your home or at least a barrier that will make the mice feel less secure to cross an open space.

Keep Setting the Traps

Getting the mice trapped and exterminated once does not mean that the issue has been resolved.

There is a good chance that the mice will come back unless you have completely mouse proofed your home from the inside and outside, so it’s worth checking our top 7 rodent trapping mistakes people make to ensure you’ve covered all your bases.

This also means being consistent with your mouse proofing regime. Keep laying out traps in the areas of your home that are prone to rodent movement. Make sure you keep checking and emptying the traps every now and then. This will ensure you are ahead of the problem at all times and never have to be stuck with a mouse wreaking havoc in your pantry.

Being consistent with setting the traps also ensures that you can act as soon as you see the first sign of a mouse in your home.

It is important to act as soon as it is physically possible for you because the longer you wait, the greater the chance that the mice population might multiply. You do not know how many mice there are and if there is a chance that they might reproduce.

So it is best to take matters into your own hands instead of allowing your home to turn into a safe haven for mice babies!

When Should You Ask for Professional Help?

Getting rid of mice from your home can be a tricky and frustrating job.

But it does not necessarily need professional intervention. If it is just a single mouse, you can easily catch it if you act intelligently and with care.

Follow all the steps above and leave nothing to chance. Mice are swift and can also pick up on the patterns you are following to trap them so if you do not find success after a few attempts, there is a good chance the mice learned to sidestep the traps and go about their day!

If you have been working with traps and trying to catch the mice for over a month, it may be a good idea to call the exterminators and get some professional help.