Are you confused as to why your cat keeps staring along the bottom of the wall? News flash: It has most likely discovered a mouse. These rodents like hiding in walls because they’re a dark, hidden, and warm environment suitable for nests and raising pups. You can hire mouse control experts to rid your walls from the critters, or set up your own traps on a DIY mission. Stick around to learn how to get rid of mice in your walls, and keep them from entering again.
How to Get Rid of Mice in Your Walls
Getting rid of mice in your walls can be tricky. One of the biggest challenges is pinpointing their exact location in the walls, and where they’re nesting. You can contact a local rodent control specialist to get rid of the infestation, or make it a DIY mission by setting up traps to coax mice out of your walls.
DIY Route: Setting Up Traps
Step 1: Locate the Infested Area
Your first step should be finding which areas of your interior walls they’re infesting. To narrow down their hiding spots, you must identify holes, cracks, and small openings mice are using to enter and exit the walls. You may even hear them pitter-patter up and down the walls, which could indicate a mouse nest nearby. If you tend to be forgetful, use sticky notes to mark any openings that are hard to relocate.
Step 2: Choose Your Trap
There are three main types of traps you can choose from:
- Live traps: Considered the most humane option in getting rid of mice. They won’t suffer any harm and will remain alive. Once the bait tricks the mouse into entering the trap, a hatch will automatically trip and seal the mouse inside. A tasty food substance like Nutella is all that’s needed to attract the mouse. Once the mouse is caught in the trap, be sure to release it far enough from your home (at least 2 miles).
- Sticky traps: Also called glue traps, they capture any mouse that walks onto them while searching for water and food. One major drawback is that sticky traps are an inhumane way to get rid of mice. When attempting to escape or set itself free, the mouse might begin to chew its own paws off. In other cases, the captured mouse will starve to death. Live traps and snap traps are alternatives that prevent mice from suffering.
- Spring traps: The classic model which Tom constantly uses to try and capture Jerry. Spring traps are the most conventional method to capture mice. Similar to live traps, you’ll need to use a food substance as bait to attract the mouse. You have the option to choose between various foods, but fatty ones like peanut butter seem to work best. Spring traps have a triggering bait tab that snaps down on the invading mouse.
Safety tip: The Center for Disease Control warns that live traps and glue traps can increase the risk of contracting disease from mice, particularly via the urine.
Step 3: Select Your Bait
The next step is to select a food substance as bait to lure the mouse towards the trap. It’s best to choose a fatty food substance like peanut butter, which is just as (if not more) effective than cheese. Other bait options include:
- Bacon
- Hot dog
- Pet food
- Chocolate
- Beef jerky
Caution: Do not use poison (rodenticide) as bait. A mouse that’s been poisoned may retreat to your wall and die inside, which will cause a terrible smell that’s hard to ignore. Additionally, you risk harming kids and pets.
Step 4: Set the Trap
Following this, place the mousetrap perpendicular to the bottom edges of the walls that have entry points and high mouse activity. Mice use the edges of the walls to travel around, so be sure the bait is pointed towards the base of the wall.
Pro Tip: Consider leaving out baited, unset traps for a few days. Once the mice have taken and grown comfortable with the bait, set the trap.
Hire Rodent Control Specialists
If you’re struggling to find the entry points or set the mouse traps effectively, you can hire experienced professionals to deal with the infestation. Mouse control experts possess the skills in locating holes and entry points used by mice. They may also use specialized equipment such as borescopes to pinpoint their exact location within your walls, and find their nests. Once the pros have completed their task, it’s up to you to keep mice from returning to your walls.
How to Keep Mice Out of Your Walls
Attack may be the best form of defense, but it doesn’t necessarily apply to mouse control. In this case, defense is keeping mice out of your walls so you won’t have to set up traps in the future (attack). If you don’t actively work in keeping them away, then dealing with an infestation will be inevitable.
Let’s uncover the effective measures in keeping mice out of your walls:
Keep Away Attractive Food Sources
Arguably the most important measure in keeping your house mouse-free. After hosting a large dinner party, you should immediately get rid of any food materials left uneaten, and properly seal leftover food in containers.
Overall, you should always clean the dishes to remove the tiniest of crumbs, empty the sink, and avoid keeping food out. As long as you keep this up, mice won’t find your home (or walls) attractive enough to seek shelter in.
If they get all the food and water they need, mice will comfortably live out the rest of their lives in your walls. They are much more dependent on food than on water, and can only survive from 2 to 4 days without it. On the other hand, mice can live up to a month without water, as they get most of their moisture from food.
Seal Off Entrance Points
For this task, you must assume the role of an inspector that doesn’t miss a single clue. Perform a thorough inspection to identify possible entry points. Once you’ve identified them, seal them off with hard material that can’t be gnawed. Such sealants include galvanized sheet metal, metal thresholds, steel wool, and concrete mortar.
Remove Nest-Forming Materials
Empty cardboard boxes, old carpets, paper-related products, furniture stuffing, and discarded clothing must all be removed or sealed away to keep mice from building nests with them. Once the nest is built, the female mouse may give birth to up to 12 pups, for as many as 6 times a year. Throw unwanted materials away to keep your walls from turning into a mouse haven.
Items that need to be stored for future use should be stored in high-quality plastic containers. When properly sealed, mice won’t gain access to the items and fail to build nests in your walls.
Reduce Yard Debris
To keep mice from getting near your home exterior, let alone entering, you must remove weeds and tall bushes growing near it. The goal is to remove potential nesting sites around the house such as hollowed stumps, piles of wood, and dry leaves.
Dispose of Garbage
Don’t let the garbage bin fill up so much that food waste starts falling off and turning into mouse food. As a matter of fact, mice can easily climb the bin and feast on whatever food source they find. Frequent disposal of garbage is essential in keeping mice from having a late night feast before returning to their nests, which could be built in your walls.
Caution: Do not put out poison as a means to keep mice away. It is not a long-term fix to an infestation. In most cases, a mouse that’s been poisoned will die in your wall, which would later cause a terrible smell that’s hard to get rid of. Additionally, you risk harming your little ones and pets. The measures covered above are safer and more effective in keeping mice away.
Why Do Mice Get in Your Walls?
Warmth, safety, and an ideal location to build their nests. Mice can get all three from seeking shelter in your walls. Once they’ve settled in, they can chew out holes and tunnels to travel throughout your entire home, including your attic or garage. One of their desired locations is your kitchen, where they might find bits of uncovered food or leftover crumbs. This is why you should always maintain a clean kitchen and store any leftovers in sealed containers.
Mice chew up insulation, paper, and cardboard boxes for nesting materials, all of which can be found in your home. Here are some common routes they use to get into the walls:
- Utility pipes: The tiny critters can easily squeeze themselves into walls through spaces left during the installation of utility pipes. Seal these spaces with material that’s not easily gnawed.
- Roof vents and chimney pipes: If nearby trees have long branches that reach your roof, mice can use them as a pathway to your chimney or roof vents.
- Door and window frames: If they were poorly sealed during installation, mice will almost certainly take advantage and enter your home. Perform a thorough inspection to ensure all these open spaces are sealed before they enter and wreak havoc.
- Cracks in foundation: We think of it as a dark and isolated environment, but for a mouse, it’s an ideal location to build nests and grow the colony.
Once a mouse has found its way into your walls, it can cause various kinds of damage. It can chew on electrical wires that have soy-based coating (attractive for mice), form tunnels through the insulation to travel, and make tiny holes to gain access to food and water.
Signs of Mice in Your Walls
When mice are traveling freely in and out of the walls of your house, they can’t help but leave signs indicating their presence. Some signs require a keen eye for detail, while others require you to make use of your hearing and smelling senses.
Here are the most noticeable signs of mice in your walls:
- Skittering or rustling noises: Mice tend to become loud when the house is quiet, such as in the middle of the night. This is a clear indication that mice are present and moving within your house walls.
- Droppings: Mice droppings typically look like tiny black pellets with pointed ends. The tiny critters will leave droppings behind whenever they travel in search of food.
- Round holes: Mice chew out small round holes and tunnels that allow them to travel around the house in search of food and water. They will also use these openings to get to their nests, which could be built near your attic or crawl space.
- Food debris: One of the most common signs of mice infestation is crumbs of food in or around your kitchen closets. Mice will sniff out food that’s not properly stored and feast on them like an open buffet.
- Urine smell: This is possibly the most unpleasant sign of mice in your walls. If it’s a large infestation, you’ll notice a stale smell of ammonia coming from hidden areas within your walls.
- Tracks: You may notice their tracks if you intentionally put down a thin layer of flour on high activity areas. If mice are actively infesting your home, they won’t hide their tracks in the process.
If you’ve noticed one or more of these signs, then prepare for battle. Getting rid of mice in your walls can be difficult, mainly because they’re hard to reach in those areas. The key is to lure them out and capture them before they make their way back into the walls.
How to Get Rid of Dead Mouse Smell in Walls
It can be difficult to pinpoint the exact location of the mouse corpse inside your walls. This is where a borescope comes in handy if you learn how to use one. The optical tool will give you a much higher chance of locating the dead mouse.
Even without one, your nose can do a decent job in tracking the unpleasant odor. It will likely get worse before it gets better, and your family will find it difficult to ignore at some point. The rancid smell will eventually evolve into a cabbage-like smell followed by a stronger smell of decay.
To counter this, here are basic steps you can undertake:
- Open windows to let fresh air overtake the foul smell
- Use air fresheners, though some scents may blend poorly with the dead mouse smell
- Place dry coffee grounds along the bottom of the wall, especially in the worst smelling area. This seems to be a highly-effective method to get rid of the stench. Coffee grounds have a powerful aroma and can absorb other odors nearby.
- Charcoal deodorizer and odor remover bags near the smelly wall area
The smell of decay will eventually go away, but you’ll still be left with the dead mouse issue in your wall. A rodent control expert may provide you with options on how to proceed.
DIY Mouse Control: What to Avoid
Using poisonous rodenticides is a big no-no, which we’ve covered in the previous section. Mothballs are an even worse way to go, and also illegal. They are intended to control moths– not mice. A homeowner cannot legally use mothballs (and other pesticides) in any way inconsistent with the product label.
Ultrasonic repellers are not harmful, but merely useless as a way to keep mice away. There’s no evidence to support users’ claims that they’re an effective rodent repeller.
The smartest approach to catch mice is to stick to the safe, effective measures highlighted in the previous section.
FAQ About Keeping Mice Out of Your Walls
Is peppermint effective as a mouse repellent?
It’s not the most effective measure, but it won’t hurt to give it a shot. Mice don’t like the strong smell of peppermint, which may help keep them away. Soak cotton balls in peppermint and place them strategically in locations with house mouse activity. The smell normally lasts a week or two, so they need to be replaced once the odor has worn off.
What sounds do mice make in walls?
If they’ve found a way into your walls, you’re likely to hear:
- Scratching: Mice use their sharp claws to scratch and climb surfaces.
- Squeaking: That’s how mice communicate with each other. They are also known to make highly pitched sounds when distressed.
- Pattering: It’s the sound mice make when moving quickly.
How do exterminators get rid of mice in walls?
Depending on the severity of the infestation, exterminators might use various measures to get rid of mice in your walls. They won’t come in Ghostbusters outfits and spray toxic pesticides across the entire house. They will start by inspecting and sealing off any possible entry points, and double-check that no food substances are left out in the open.
Secondly, they will determine where the mice have built their nests, and set up traps in strategic locations. As a method of prevention, exterminators will set up bait stations around the perimeter to keep mice from entering your house. Unfortunately, severe cases of infestations may take up to a month (or more) to get rid of the entire infestation and nests.
How do you get rid of mouse urine smell in walls?
Mouse urine has a strong odor of ammonia when it’s fresh. If urine has been left uncleaned for a while, you’ll experience a faint smell similar to rotting wood.
Before cleaning out the urine smell, it is essential to locate and remove the mouse nest. Why? Cleaning the urine smell doesn’t eliminate the source (mouse), and you’re likely to keep on encountering the foul smell. First step is getting rid of the mice and their nests, then you may proceed with eliminating the urine smell.
You don’t want to get infected by a rodent-borne disease, so it’s vital to wear rubber gloves or plastic gloves to avoid getting any urine on your skin. Use a household disinfectant cleaning product to spray on the urine until very wet. After letting it soak for about 5 minutes, use paper towels to wipe up the urine. Be sure to disinfect the gloves before removing them, and wash your hands when you’ve completed the task.
Do the Critters Keep Multiplying? Hire a Pro
You may try every single measure to get rid of mice in your walls, but feel like you’re fighting a losing battle. What mice do in between walls is difficult for us to see, so it’s not always easy to identify their nest locations. Letting mice build a hotel inside your walls isn’t good for your house. They can cause some serious problems by chewing through any material and electrical wires.
You may think you’re dealing with a couple of mice, but soon realize that they’re far too many for you or your family to capture. Hire a pest control specialist to take the matter off your hands and eliminate mice from your walls once and for all.
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