Did you know that mice make nests? Well, they do, and they are bad news. These rodents don’t live in burrows or tunnels – they make their home in nests that they use to sleep and reproduce in. And the materials they gather for them are likely to come from destruction of your belongings. In other words, it’s in your best interest to make sure you get rid of any mice in your home, along with their nest. But if you can’t see the nest, how do you know where it is? If you find one, what should you do with it? Find your answers here.
What Does a Mouse Nest Look Like?
Mice don’t make a nest similar to birds that are created out of twigs. They might use some materials from the outdoors, but if they’re in your home, they’re sure to use household materials.
Things that a mouse may use to create their nest include:
- Padding and insulation: The inside of your couch, armchair, or mattress provide great padding for a mouse nest. They’ll gnaw on it, tearing pieces off that they’ll bring back to the nest and shred up until suitable for use. Insulation in your walls is also a common ingredient for a mouse nest.
- Paper: Newspaper, wrapping paper, wrappers, etc. are all used by mice to construct a nest.
- String: If you’ve got string lying around, or as part of a toy that can be chewed off, a mouse could use it for a nest.
- Fiberglass: This sounds a little crazy to be included in this list, but it’s true – mice like gnawing off pieces of fiberglass to use as part of their creation.
Tips and tricks to recognize it
A mouse nest won’t look like a bird’s. Instead, it’s disheveled, messy, and looks like a giant ball a foot or so wide. Mice will take their nest ingredients and wind them together in no particular order besides making it the most comfortable and insulated. There should be a small opening in the nest that allows the mice to come in and out.
Something else that can tip you off to the presence of a mouse nest is droppings. Since mice are fairly dirty creatures, they will defecate in the same area as their nest. And if they’re continuously going back to a nest, they’ll probably be a good amount of droppings near it.
Where Do Mice Like to Make Their Nests?
The spots you’ll find a mouse nest vary throughout the house, but there are some basics that mice will stick to.
They want to be hidden, near a food source, and near warmth:
- Behind appliances like the fridge, dishwasher, and even your oven.
- Behind the hot water heater in the garage.
- Inside your walls (look for holes in your drywall or baseboards where they can get through).
- In your kitchen cabinets or pantry, especially ones low to the ground and not as frequently used.
- On your car’s engine.
You could think your house is locked up tight, yet still, you find mice. They’re obviously getting in somewhere. How do mice get in the house? Go here to find out.
They don’t come in small numbers
If you notice a mouse in your home, you can be assured they aren’t the only one there. Mice reproduce quickly and in large numbers, meaning that your mouse problem can go from a couple of mice to many in only a matter of a month or two. Usually, you don’t know there’s a problem until they’ve multiplied.
In a single nest, you could find anywhere from a couple of mice to over a dozen. For the most part, nests are used to breed and house the babies, so there will most likely be many mice in there at all times.
So I’ve Found a Mouse Nest. What Do I Do Next?
If you happen to come across the nest, be happy – you’ve found it! Now is the important part: don’t leave it there.
Because mice are notorious for carrying dangerous diseases like Hantavirus, use gloves to pick the nest up and put it inside a bucket. Do it quickly, just in case any mice are still inside the nest. If there are and you can’t get yourself to kill the mice, drive them far away from your home and let them go. Once the nest is empty, either burn it or dispose of it in biohazard waste (counts as hazardous since mice carry disease). Also, you’ll need to clean up any mouse droppings and scrub the area with bleach to kill all viruses and bacteria. Dispose of the droppings the same way you get rid of the nest. More information about cleaning up mouse dropping you can find out here.
But just because you got the nest, it doesn’t mean that all the mice will now be gone. There will most likely be some mice roaming the house when you dispose of their nest. The next step is to kill them.
Here are some ways you can eliminate the rest of the mice still left:
- The best mouse traps.
- Sticky traps.
- Catch and release traps.
- The best mouse poison products.
Don’t wait to take control of the mice running around your house – get them out now. What exactly should you do to get rid of your mice infestation? Find out here.
Prevent them from happening again
What’s the most effective way to keep your house free of mice? Well, make it so they’ll never want to invade it in the first place.
Find entry points that mice could get in through. On the exterior of your house, look for holes and cracks in the walls and foundation. Even small gaps in door frames can be big enough for a mouse to get through. Once you find them, use foam or caulk to seal them up. Read more here. Also, put out traps or poison for a while, and maybe even at regular intervals, just to make sure the rodents stay away.
The very best way to get rid of a mouse nest
If you don’t want to get your hands dirty, or just want to get rid of the nest as quickly as possible, consider calling a professional exterminator. They are trained to look for entry points and signs of nests, plus they have all the equipment necessary for such a job, like scope cameras that can peer behind walls to identify mouse activity. 
With mice, it’s important to get rid of them as soon as possible, since they cause so much damage and carry diseases, and you don’t want to risk missing any and having the problem continue.
But if you can’t afford a professional or are just determined to do it yourself, the best way to get rid of a nest once you find it is going to be to burn it. Put it in a metal bucket or garbage can, or onto dirt where there is nothing flammable in the vicinity, and set it on fire. Lighter fluid can help to speed it along and ensure a quick blaze.
If you decide on an exterminator for your infestation, call one quick before the problem gets out of control. More details on mouse exterminator can be found by clicking here.
Let this be a lesson that mice aren’t a small matter. If you locate one, there’s sure to be many more you just can’t see, and who knows how many nests. Keep your property intact and your health in a good state and get rid of your mice today.
