How to Get Rid of Mice in Your House (2024)

Knowing how to get rid of a mouse in your house will reduce your stress and stop the structural damage and mess that it can cause. But where there's one mouse, there's likely more that are chewing holes, destroying stored goods with their urine and droppings, scattering chewed nesting materials, and potentially creating sanitation issues while spreading diseases. Removing mice is frustrating if you can't figure out where they're coming in from. Read on to find out tell-tale signs you have unwelcome mice in the house and what to do about it.

What Do Mice Look Like?

Mice are small mammals with long tails (which can even be as long as or longer than the mouse's body), large eyes, fur on their bodies, and large ears. When fully grown, they are typically about 7 1/2 inches in length including the tail, though actual size will vary by type of mouse. Many species of mice are common in the United States, including the house mouse (Mus musculus), deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus), the white-footed mouse (Peromyscus leucopus), and various species of field mouse from the Apodemusgenus.

Mice of all species are tiny and can squeeze through holes as small around as a dime. They also do not stray far from their nesting sites, meaning that if you are finding mouse activity inside, they are likely nesting somewhere nearby, either inside or in the yard.

What Attracts Mice in Your Home?

Like it or not, mice and other rodents are an important part of a healthy eco-system, and they will likely be present around your home. If you are seeing evidence of mice, consider what could be attracting them to your home. Do you have bird feeders around that are providing them food? Could they easily find water in your yard? Is there dense vegetation against the foundation of your house that gives them a place to hide against the house?

Mice and other rodents are also incredibly sensitive to air flow, especially in the fall and winter. If mice are running around the perimeter of your house and there is a gap that is allowing air from inside to flow outside, they will follow this airflow because it leads somewhere warmer where food is likely present.

Signs of Mice

When it comes to rodents, there are two primary pieces of evidence you're looking (and listening) for: scratching sounds and droppings.

Scratching Sounds

If you're sitting on the couch reading or lying in bed at night and you hear a scratching or scurrying sound from inside the walls, this could indicate the presence of an animal in your space. Sounds in the walls or attic don't always mean rodents. It could also be squirrels, birds, or even yellow jackets, so you'll need to do some further investigating to figure out what's causing the issue.

Droppings

Finding droppings in your garage, pantry, or other spaces indicate rodents or other animals. If you find droppings that you think belong to a rodent, compare one to a grain of rice. Mouse droppings are significantly smaller than a grain of rice. If the dropping is close to the same size or larger than the grain of rice, you are likely dealing with a rat issue.

Mouse droppings are also commonly confused with bat droppings. Once you've followed the test above to determine the dropping is not a rat's, check to make sure it's also not from a bat. Put on protective gloves and squish one of the droppings between your fingers. If it squishes flat like a pancake but stays intact, it's probably a mouse dropping, but if it crumbles as you crush it, the dropping likely belongs to a bat.

4 Ways to Get Rid of Mice

Seal Entry Points

When rodents are accessing the inside of your space, it is important to find where they are entering and seal those spaces up. While many DIYers would run for a can of spray foam in this instance, this is not ideal. Spray foam may fill the space, but mice and rats can easily chew right through it, making re-entry a breeze. Instead, use some sort of metal sheet or mesh and screw it in place.

Modify Their Habitat

When attempting to get control of a mouse issue, ask yourself what is attracting them to your property in the first place. Do mice have easy access to food, water, and shelter in your yard?

By determining where the mice could be feeding, finding water, and hiding, you can start to change these factors to make the environment around your home less desirable to these unwanted visitors. Do the following:

• Cut back ivy and vegetation near the home where mice could be hiding.
• Make sure that you aren't leaving human or pet food around for them to enjoy.
• Turn off irrigation systems when not in use to reduce water sources.
• Remove bird or squirrel feeders because the ample supply of seeds and nuts attract rodents, especially if the feeders are placed close to your home.
  

Set Snap Traps

Some people do not want to trap rodents themselves but if you're trying to manage a severe mouse infestation on your own, there may be no choice. Snap traps can be used for mice but make sure that the mouse traps you are buying are special mouse snap traps and not rat traps. Rat snap traps are too big for mice.

Try Glue Trays

The other traps to consider when controlling mice are glue trays. These traps are extremely controversial because they are not as quick or humane as snap traps. They can also scare mice that are caught live, causing them to urinate and further expose you to disease. Snap traps only have the ability to catch one animal at a time and require emptying and resetting. When using glue trays to control severe mouse infestations, it is not uncommon to find multiple mice on just one tray, making these very effective traps for mice.

How to Prevent Mice in Your Home

The best prevention against mice is to maintain a well-kept home. Make sure crumbs are swept up and store food in sealed containers. Also pay attention to your home's exterior and promptly seal up holes, cracks, or anything that may allow a mouse into your house. Seal up gaps along the foundation of your home to make sure rodents can't feel air flowing from inside. Be sure to close all doors (including garage doors), especially at night.

Mice vs. Rats

Rats and mice cause similar damage but they look and behave differently, which is important when trying to address rodent issues.

Mice are significantly smaller than rats, and so are the holes and burrows they make. Rats leave holes that range in size from a half dollar to a baseball.

Mice are more likely than rats to come inside the living space but they also nest in larger numbers than rats. Rats are neophobic (fear of new or unfamiliar things) making it difficult to entice them into a trap. Mice are much more curious which makes controlling and trapping them easier and more productive than trapping rats.

When to Call a Professional to Treat a Mouse Infestation

Call a professional for a mouse issue if you have not been successful eradicating the problem. If there is a mouse situation that is so severe it feels like chemical control (poison) is necessary, definitely call an IPM professional.

While mouse and rodent baits are available at the hardware store, there are a number of risks that come with improper use of rodenticides (poisons designed for rodents), especially if entry points around the home have not been sealed adequately. These risks include:

• Pets and children coming in contact and/or ingesting the product
• Neighborhood wildlife and pets being harmed by the product
  
• A rodent feeding on bait, climbing into an open entry point, and dying in a wall void, creating smell and potential fly infestation issues

It is important that mouse poison is used correctly. Professional pest control experts should be putting rodenticide blocks in a locking station that is anchored in place. These stations encourage rodent feeding while keeping bait locked away from people and pets. When poison baits are left in the open where children or other animals can access it, the results can be catastrophic.