All kinds of homes and businesses can find themselves with a rodent problem; it doesn’t take long for their dangerous and destructive ways to cause real issues for your property. Learning how to spot the early signs of an infestation, and how to prevent one in the first place, will help you stay rodent-free.
Spotting Mice & Knowing Their Dangers
Mice are one of the most common home-invading pests in the world, driven to human properties in search of food, water and shelter. They are close in appearance to their rodent cousins, rats, but are considerably smaller than most other rodent pests. With their large, round ears and long, trailing tails, it is possible to tell mice apart from rats. However, you’re not likely to spot these tiny mammals directly, because they are good at staying hidden and thriving off of scraps. Not only can mice thrive in dirty areas like sewers and landfills, they can also find ways inside of homes and businesses. Once they’ve moved in, mice can introduce all of the following problems to your property:
- Damage: With their constantly growing front teeth, rodents must file them down by chewing on hard surfaces. This leads to marks on household items and materials.
- Disease: Mice are known to carry several dangerous diseases, like rabies and plague. Even if they don’t spread disease, rodents can carry ticks and fleas that pose their own harms.
- Proliferation: Mice breed remarkably quickly and can have several litters of pups a year. That all leads to a fast-growing problem for property owners, as a small invasion can quickly grow into a problem population.
What Attracts Mice To Your Property
Mice thrive off of human activity, which is why they are such common invaders of homes and businesses. The garbage we produce and the food we keep stored around call out to pests, as does the shelter from cold weather that our structures provide. It’s these factors that can make a property more or less attractive to rodents, so it pays to know what they’re looking for:
- Food: From stored food in packaging to leftover scraps and crumbs, human food provides mice with an endless trove of stuff to forage.
- Water: Mice need water to survive just like people, though they use up considerably less of it. The slightest drip from a faucet or pool of moisture can provide a rodent with all the water they need in a day, so ample access to water also brings them onto properties.
- Nests: From yard debris to storage spaces, there are dozens of places for rodents to hunker down and start breeding. You may not even have a chance to notice they’ve moved in before a mouse population starts growing.
Protecting Your Property From Mice
Because they are looking for all the things your property provides, it’s important to take steps to protect from a rodent infestation right away. Here are some common-sense tips for how you can prevent mice from getting in or wanting to find a way:
- Trash storage: Poorly lidded trash cans and dumpsters are the easiest places for mice to find food scraps, so properly storing your garbage is important.
- Declutter: Not only should you clear out unnecessary debris or clutter in your yard and indoors, you should also consider downsizing your stuff. The more boxes of stuff you keep lying around, especially in crawl spaces and basements, the more areas you provide for mice to hide.
- Landscaping: Tall grass and overgrown trees or shrubs can provide mice with areas to lie in wait outside. Once an opportunity presents itself to make it inside, they will take it.
Proper Protection From Action Pest Control
Because they are such opportunistic invaders of human properties, mice are extremely common pests to have to deal with. Rather than worry about an infestation growing out of sight, why not be proactive and get started on proper control today? At Action Pest Control, we can provide you with even more tips on how to protect your property from mice. We’ll get started right away on an inspection of your home and, if mice or any other pests are spotted, we’ll eliminate any trouble we find.
Choose proven rodent control over rolling the dice; stay safe from mice and other pests by contacting Action Pest Control today.