Mice can be difficult to control when they infest the spaces in between the walls. When you hear gnawing and movement sounds, then it’s likely that you’re dealing with an infestation problem. The trickiest part of handling mice in this particular region is the fact that when they die, it may become difficult to remove the dead mice which eventually produces stinking smell inside your house. This article will provide excellent tips on the ideal methods that you can apply to get rid of the problem successfully. If you’ve tried to eliminate the mice in vain, then you should go through this well-detailed guide to achieve a relaxed, mouse-free home!
I think I have mice in walls: How do they get in there?
Mice can easily access your walls due to their unique features including:
- Size. Mice are small creatures which makes it easy for them to squeeze through very small openings that you may not be aware of! Any crack or hole that’s the size of a dime is an ideal entry point for these rodents.
- Climbing ability. Mice have an unmatched agility even when climbing up and down vertical surfaces. This feature enables them to access openings that are above the ground making it easy for them to access the walls. Can mice climb? Click this to know.
- Creativity. While these rodents are scared off easily, they are creative and develop unique methods to infest your house. They can chew through surfaces to make openings that enable them to access and infest the walls.
The walls of your house offer a dark, cool and secure place for the mice to live. As such, they utilize every opportunity at their exposure to access the area.
Some of the common routes that they use to get into the walls include:
- The entries of utility pipes. Due to their small size, the rodents can squeeze themselves into your walls through spaces left during the installation of wires and utility pipes. It’s paramount that you seal these entries using hard and rust-resistant material to ensure that they do not chew their way into the walls.
- Roof vents. The mice use these vents to access your walls. Their curiosity allows them to discover other critical avenues including the vents and chimney pipes.
- Spaces on door and window frames. If your doors were poorly sealed during the construction, it is likely that you’ll experience mice infestation. You should perform a thorough check to ensure that all these spaces are sealed before they wreak havoc in your house.
- Cracks in the foundation. The foundation of your house offers a conducive environment for the mice to penetrate into the interior of your house. The ease of infestation is occasioned by the dark and isolated environment of your foundation which allows the rodents to infest at will. Get useful tips on how to get rid of mice in basement and ceiling here.
- Weep vents. During construction, the contractor may decide to leave structural holes in the walls to enhance the escape of built-up water. If necessary sealing isn’t done in time, these holes act as an ideal site for mice entrance into your walls.
Signs of mice in the walls
Mice infestation in the wall presents one of the most challenging situations for homeowners. It is relatively harder to detect and eliminate these rodents when they hide in the dark spaces within the walls. One of the commonest methods to tell that you could be facing a possible mice infestation is frequent scratching sounds and squeaks originating from the wall. Visit why do mice squeak to learn more about these noises.
The noise may be of small creatures running up and down the wall or even gnawing sounds. However, the noises aren’t an absolute proof that you have mice in your house.
You should check out for more confirmatory signs including:
Evidence of Mice in Your Home
Mouse droppings and urine. This is one of the surest methods that show the presence of mice in your house. Even when the mice are within the walls, they come out at night in search of food and water. As a result, you’re likely to spot oval-shaped droppings in food-rich regions including the kitchen and the cabinets. The urine may be detected by leaving white traces after it dries up.- Nests. You’ll likely to spot nests made of shredded papers, grass, and leaves. This is, however, not conclusive since birds can also form such nests inside your house. To learn how to get rid of mouse nest, click here.
- Chewed ducts and insulation. This can be particularly dangerous if you do not amend it. The mice gnaw the pipes and electrical wires which may expose you to electricity-related hazards.
Once you detect these signs, you should immediately initiate measures to eliminate the mice before they multiply and transform into a full-blown problem.
Mice Out of Walls
Getting mice out of the walls is a tricky affair that requires creativity and consistency. While many people rush into using the best mouse poison, they end being frustrated by the eventual smell that may result from the dead mouse. The stink occurs when the mice take the poison and immediately retreat to die in their hiding zones. If you want to learn how to get rid of dead mouse smell, click here.
Are there any home remedies for mice in walls? There are several DIY methods that you can apply to chase away mice out of your house. The creatures hate strong, irritating smells. As such, you can prepare repellents at home which will entirely keep away the mice.
Some of the commonest home remedies include:
- Use of peppermint oil. Dip several cotton balls into the peppermint oil and place them in strategic regions along the walls. Read more here.
- Kitty litter. The mice fear cat. If you place the kitty litter in strategic areas inside your house, they will leave your house!
- Use of electronic ultrasound devices. They are designed to produce high-intensity waves that make the mice uncomfortable thus driving them away. Please see detailed descriptions here.
- Onions. These substances produce a pungent smell that mice hate. Place them in strategic places where the rodents can access but limit access to your pets.
When applying the home remedies, you should be keen to avoid methods that do not kill the mice instantly such as instant potatoes, plaster of Paris and cocoa powder.
If they consume the poison, they’re likely to go back to the walls which can lead to a larger problem of pungent smells in the house.
Naturally ways
The surest natural strategy to eliminate mice from your house is by denying them the primary attractants into your house. The creatures are attracted into your house by the warmth, food, and water. If you make your house hostile to them, you’ll be sure that they will leave your house for friendlier areas.
To achieve this, ensure that you do the following:
- Keep away all food sources. Ensure that the mice cannot access any food materials or water sources. Clean all the dishes and empty the sink to achieve a clutter-free house.
- Seal all the entrance points. You should perform a thorough analysis of your house to identify their entry points. Once you’ve identified these areas, seal them off using a hard material that can’t be chewed by the rodents.
- Rid your house of nest-forming materials. You should not allow a cozy environment for the rodents.
How to scare mice out
The easiest method that you can apply to scare mice away from your home is by introducing their predators. This may include cats, dogs, owl, and snakes. Once the rodents detect the presence of these predators, they’ll use every opportunity to escape from your house. The most commonly used pets include the cats and the dogs. Read more on how to scare mice away here.
Mice can detect the presence of a predator that’s more than fifty meters away! They have a strong sense of smell resulting from their nose and vomeronasal organ. Even a mouse that has never met a predator detects danger by smelling the predators’ urine. Immediately they detect the danger, they turn away from the site.
If you’ve tried every other method in vain, you should use natural predators. It could be just the best trick you’ve been looking for!
Catching a mouse
Catching a mice is one of the best methods to get rid of mice in walls. Apart from scaring away the rodents, predators act a vital role in catching mice once they spot them inside the house. The cat, owls, and dogs feed on the rodents thus eliminating the chances of dead-mouse smell.
Also, you can use traps to catch the mice. Some devices catch the rodent alive while others kill the rodents. You can choose the trap depending on your preference. You should visit this link to get more tips on the different types of traps available for mice elimination.
Mice Inside Walls
Getting rid of mice inside the walls is a tricky process due to the accessibility challenge.
Follow the following procedure to eliminate mice from your walls:
- Make a nickel-sized hole in your cavity wall. You should ensure that it’s a few inches above the floor.
- Drill a corresponding hole on the side of a cardboard box. Place a food-scented trap and cover it with a transparent cellophane.
- Keep checking over the cellophane to see whether a mouse has taken a bite. Repeat the process until you no longer catch any mouse.
- Once you’ve completed the process, use a sealant to patch the holes.
How do exterminators do it?
The mouse exterminators intend to get rid of the mice and create a mouse-proof house. They achieve this by the use of glue traps, snap traps, ultrasonic devices among other methods effective in eliminating the mice. If you have dead mice in the walls, the exterminator uses an electronic borescope to identify its location. Once that’s done, they drill a small hole to remove it and later seal the hole.
For live mouse elimination, the exterminators prefer using both the traps and repellents. While the repellents drive away the mice, the traps catch all the remaining mice. Immediately they are sure of a mouse-free house, they will seal all the entry points to eliminate the chance of re-infestation.
The Best Way
The best way to get rid of pesky mice is by ensuring that your house is free from all mice attractants. Rid your house of food sources and water. Once you achieve this, ensure that you use repellents and natural predators inside your house.
The mice infestation is a primary problem for many homeowners. It’s worse when the rodents infest regions with limited accessibility. If you’ve found yourself in such a tricky situation, you shouldn’t worry. Instead read through the tips discussed herein.
I have Rats in my apt, there badly infected ,my sister got bit by one,the manager acts like doesn’t care , he’s a African or Nigerian we have section8 we were only here about a week and discovered the Rats,so we told section 8 so they gave African a30 dayNotice for us to move out ,but we tried and tried to find another place.so our 30dahs is up now and we still haven’t found another place, now African wants to evict us for not paying rent,,1195.00 And section 8 stopped paying when 30 day notice was given, trust me we don’t want to be here, but we don’t have any other place to go,if we get evicted we will loose our section 8…..does anyone have any ideas to help us with this situation?????
I hate that i just saw this. I don’t know what state your in but in the future some states have laws where if the living conditions are inhabitable e.g. bedbugs roaches mice etc… the tenant can withhold rent and the landlord is responsible for fixing problem. Tenant can move without notice also. For example we can’t stay 90 days after hour eviction notice in California. I mean you’ll get an eviction on your record but if your landlord is shady and you don’t care because you don’t have any other choice, you have to do what you have to do. I think I’ve had at least two places in my lifetime like that where I stayed the whole 90 days just to stack my money for those three months rent-free and save it to move to a better place now I’m repairing my credit but at the time I had to do what I had to do for my children for myself. This is so unfortunate. I hope your figured it out by now. I have a slumlord too so I get it but now I use the law against her. It’s either pay to fix the issue or you can sit with an empty house/apt for however long till you get new tenants but in the meantime you’ll be losing out on all those months worth of money instead of the couple ex:100-1k you would have paid to just fix it. I’m sorry this response was so long no one else responded so I felt like I could just babble lol. I wish you the best of luck and God bless
Great articles, Inga…everyone with a house meets a mouse sooner or later!
Modern homes? It’s the foam board for wall & ceiling mice. They climb into the lower course of vinyl siding, crawl past corner plywood, then chew right through the oh-so- common foamboard. Most subdivisions are actually foamboard (not plywood) over much of the wall. Couldn’t be easier for a mouse.
I pry-up lower course of siding, foam fill and/or steelwool the holes, and trap the ground on all corners of the house. Works well, almost a necessity for modern energy efficient home builds which skimp on wood.
thats so cool
Sealing entry is all fine and good, but my house is 160 years old and the basement attaches to the dirt. There are so many ways in for a little rodent, I don’t see the point in trying to seal them all! I have mice crawling and chewing in the space between my ceiling tiles. They are interlocking, very hard to move. I want to drill a hole and insert D-con, which should send them out for water as they feel thirsty from the poison. I keep a very clean house (sealed garbage can in my kitchen) and there is no food available to them, and yet they have moved in!