
When you make that rare trip into the crawl space, the last thing you want is to be greeted by squeaks and mouse droppings. Why? Because, if mice are hiding in the crawl space, they likely have access to the rest of your home, too. Fortunately, it’s easier than you might think to prevent and get rid of mice in your crawl space.
Thanks to its infrequent human activity, dark corners, damp surroundings, and easy access to food and nesting materials, your home’s crawl space is a desirable environment for mice. This article will teach you how to prevent and get rid of mice in your crawl space with practical methods, like using bright lights and storing away food.
How to Prevent Mice In Your Crawl Space
Preventing mice from entering your crawl space is highly important. Mice will infest anywhere in your home they can, and once they’re in one area, they can easily spread to others. If you identify mice in your attic, for example, you may find them in your basement. Mice will even nest in your car if given the chance.
Thankfully, it is possible to keep mice out of your crawl space with the right methods. The best way to do that is to make it, and your home as a whole, unappealing to them. To that end, you need to remove any easy entry points they may use and remove possible food, water, or nesting material sources.
The following tips, when combined, can help keep mice out of your crawl space.
Method 1: Remove Nesting Material

One of the most effective strategies for keeping mice away from your crawl space is to keep it clean. If you’re using the crawl space for storage, boxes and their contents are big sources of nesting material, so move them out if you suspect an infestation. You should also keep the crawl space clean of debris, such as stray insulation, trash, or leaf litter.
Method 2: Keep It Dry
You also need to dry up any moisture spots that may attract mice, such as puddles or leaks. Condensation from your ducts can create moisture in your crawl space, as can leaky pipes. When you suspect a leak in your crawl space, hire a pro to fix it right away so that the water doesn’t encourage a mouse infestation.
Method 3: Seal Entry Points

Another important method for keeping mice out of your crawl space is to seal up any entry points they may exploit. Fixing cracks or holes in areas like your foundation, outside walls, and siding will prevent mice from using them. You can use caulk to seal exterior walls.
Polyurethane can be used to fix foundation cracks, but you should contact a professional to fix them if they’re too severe. Once they’re sealed, cover them with steel wool or mesh so that the mice can’t gnaw through them again.
Another good way to keep mice out of walls and crawl spaces is to apply screening to your windows if you don’t have it already. If you want to take it a step further, you can also add sweeps to your exterior doors so they can’t use the space underneath them. This way, mice can’t use these openings to access your home and move into the crawl space.
Method 4: Repellents
Another way to prevent mice from entering your home is to use a natural repellent. Most modern repellents take the form of sprays or pouches that use natural ingredients with scents that mice hate, such as peppermint and eucalyptus. You can buy these pre-made in a store, but you can also get essential oils with these scents and use them yourself.
Routinely sprinkling a few drops around the nesting area may help keep the mice away. If you have a cat, you can (temporarily) use its used litter as a repellent, since the scent of cats repels mice.
Method 5: Lock Up Food

One of the most important parts of preventing mice is to lock up your food. Clean up any food once you’re done with it and don’t leave any dirty dishes out. When not in use, keep your food secured in your pantry or fridge, and if possible, keep it in sealed containers so that the scent doesn’t attract mice. This applies to both human and pet foods.
Keeping your food sealed will make all areas of your home less attractive to mice, including the crawl space. It’s important to remember that mice will travel throughout the entire home once they’re inside, so food anywhere becomes an attractant.
Method 6: Trim Outdoor Vegetation
Another tip for keeping mice out of your house is to control your outdoor landscaping and overgrown vegetation so that they don’t contribute to an infestation. For example, foundation plants and other features (like bushes or grass) directly on the side of the home give mice sheltered areas to gnaw into your home. Once they’re inside, it won’t take long for them to set up shop in your crawl space.
Method 7: Move Bird Feeders Farther Away
Bird feeders are a very attractive food source for mice. They’re just as fond of them as squirrels, and just as capable of climbing the feeder to get the birdseed they contain. If you don’t have a seed tray, they’ll also eat the seeds that birds drop while eating. Keep your bird feeder at least 10 feet away from your home so that it doesn’t attract mice into your house.
Method 8: Move Wood Piles Farther Away

Wood piles are great sources of nesting material for mice. If they go undisturbed for long enough, mice will also make their nests in the pile, which can easily lead to them moving into your home. For this reason, keep your wood pile at least 20 feet away from your house.
Method 9: Light It Up
Finally, a good way to keep mice out of your crawl space is to keep it lit. Mice are nocturnal and don’t like light, which is why you don’t typically see them out during the day. Keeping a light on works great for keeping mice out of garages and other dark places. You can use an outdoor light to keep them away from the crawl space. It doesn’t even need to be on constantly; having a light turned on in intervals throughout the night can also work.
How to Get Rid of Mice In Your Crawl Space

If you want to catch a mouse like a pro, you need to be careful. Mice can carry many diseases that you can catch, such as hantavirus. These can spread through direct contact, bites, or contact with droppings and urine trails. The mice likely won’t show signs of the illness, so you won’t be able to tell they’re sick just by looking at them.
Realistically speaking, it’s very unlikely you’ll be able to eliminate a full-blown mouse infestation by yourself. There will simply be too many mice with too many ways to hide and escape to tackle unless you’re a trained professional. Unless you’re dealing with only a few or a small group, it’s best to call a pro.
If you’re only chasing a couple of mice and want to DIY your mouse removal, here’s a few methods you can try:
Standard Mouse Control Methods
The standard methods of mouse removal are traps and bait stations.
1. Traps

Traps are easier and less hazardous to use than poison. The most important parts of using mouse traps are good mouse trap bait, like peanut butter, and proper placement. Place them in the crawl space, especially around areas you suspect they’re nesting, and along their trails.
Traps set along mouse trails should be perpendicular to the wall, so that they’ll spring towards the baseboards if it’s against a wall. Set multiple traps along the same trail for the best effect.
If you choose to use traps, only use spring traps, and not glue traps. Glue traps are exceedingly cruel, and mice have been known to gnaw off their own body parts to escape them.
2. Bait Stations

Finally, there’s bait stations. They’re essentially enclosed containers full of poisoned bait that mice will take back to their nests for all of them to consume. Place them near the mice’s trails or nests; they never stray very far from trails or food sources.
When using bait stations, it’s important to keep them fresh. Mice will not go for spoiled or moldy bait. Check them daily and add fresh bait as needed. Make sure to use plenty of it so that they can eat as much as they want and take some back to their nests.
Humane Mouse Control Methods

If you’d like, you can also use humane methods to remove mice from your home. Unfortunately, nonlethal options are much more limited. Aside from live traps, your only real option is to try and drive them out through prevention methods and deterrents.
1. Live Traps
A live trap works by attracting the mouse through bait. When the mouse enters, the door closes, trapping the animal so that you can release it outside, at least two miles from your home. If you release the mouse any closer, it can find its way back to your home.
The best placement for traps are in areas where you’ve seen mouse signs and in closed places, such as behind large appliances and the backs of cabinets.
However, live traps do have their downsides. Live traps are not recommended by the CDC due to the increased risk of contracting diseases, such as hantavirus, via a mouse bite or urine. If you use a live trap, ensure you take steps to limit your risk of exposure, such as wearing an N95 mask, using rubber gloves when handling the trap, and disinfecting the trap after releasing your mouse.
2. Create an Inhospitable Environment
Alternatively, you can try to drive out the mice. To accomplish this, you can use the same prevention methods discussed in this article. The goal is to make your home, and by extension the crawl space, as inhospitable for them as you can so that they’ll leave and move on to another area.
For example, you can clean mice trails to remove their scent. You should also seal any holes you can find with steel wool, as mice can’t gnaw through it. Make sure you leave at least one exit for them that leads outside so they can leave.
You should also use a repellent in areas where the mice frequent. Chemical repellents you’d buy in a store work for this purpose, but you can also use eucalyptus or peppermint oil. It should help greatly in getting the mice to leave your home. If you can drive out enough of them, you should be able to live-trap the stragglers.
How Do Mice Enter Your Crawl Space?

If you want to prevent them, you need to know how mice actually get into your crawl space. Mice will commonly enter your home in search of food, water, shelter, or nesting materials, all of which are abundant in residential homes, so they tend to stick around. Just about any entrance or crack in your home can become an avenue for mice to form an infestation, and once they’re in one area, they’re very likely to spread to others.
Here’s a short list of common entry points that mice use to enter your home and crawl space:
- Cracks and holes in walls and foundation
- Unscreened windows
- Gaps under doors
- Loose roof shingles
- Chimneys
Signs of Mice in Your Crawl Space

It’s also important to be able to recognize when you have a mouse infestation in your crawl space. Here are some signs that you’re host to some unwanted furry guests:
- Droppings: You may notice mouse droppings around your crawl space, or any other areas the mice would frequent. Mouse droppings look similar to dark-colored grains of rice.
- Trails: Mice tend to use the same paths to navigate your home. You may be able to see trails of dirt, or paw marks in dust. In addition, mice leave trails of urine to mark these paths with their scent, which will show up clearly under a UV light. These trails will usually be up against the walls and will lead back to their nests in the crawl space.
- Nests: A clear sign of a mouse infestation is a nest. Mouse nests look like small balls of material in undisturbed spaces. Check the corners of your crawl space or any drawers.
- Odor: Another sign of a mouse infestation is their odor. Mice have a musky, ammonia-like smell due to their frequent urination. It’s surprisingly strong, especially in their nests and other areas they spend a lot of time in.
- Noises: You may be able to hear mice, especially if they’re in your walls. Listen for squeaking or scratching noises in areas where you suspect mice.
- Pet Behavior: If you have pets, especially cats, they may behave differently if you have mice in your home. If they’re especially interested in a certain area or are making unusual noises at it, it may be the site of a mouse infestation.
- Holes: A clear sign of mice is the holes they use to get into the crawl space. They can be either inside or outside and are usually in out-of-the-way places. Mice may expand existing holes or cracks, so keep an eye out to see if any are growing.
- Damage: A particularly worrying sign of mice is damage to your home. Mice will chew up your home’s insulation and cause structural issues by gnawing on wood to build their nests. If you notice any unusual damage, especially when combined with other signs, you may have an infestation.
- Sightings: Lastly, a definitive sign of mice in your home is actually seeing them. Even if you don’t spot a live mouse, you may find a dead one. If you see a mouse first-hand, it’s likely you have at least five or six that you aren’t seeing. There’s rarely ever just one mouse.
Importance of Mouse Removal
When you know that mice are present in your crawl space, it’s vital that you remove them as soon as you can. If you don’t remove mice, they can do serious damage to your home. Mice will tear through your insulation to create tunnels through your house, which makes it less effective, and create fire hazards by chewing through wires. They also spread disease and contaminate food.
Mice can even cause structural damage by gnawing on the wood in your home. This is especially harmful if they’re in the crawl space since there are many wooden support beams in it that are necessary to support the house. Left unchecked, a mouse infestation can quite literally destroy your home, so you need to remove it before it’s too late.
Disposing of Dead Mice
When you find a dead mouse, whether it’s in a trap or not, it’s important to dispose of it properly. First, ensure it’s dead. When you’re sure it is, spray it with some form of disinfectant, put on disposable gloves and put the mouse in a plastic bag so that you can throw it away.
Always make sure you’re wearing rubber gloves when you handle a dead mouse, and if you pick it up with something, like a tool, disinfect the item immediately. You also need to disinfect the area where you found the mouse. When all that’s done, you can work on prevention and removal.
Mouse Removal Cost
The average cost of professional mouse removal ranges from $246.50 to $432.50. You can expect your cost to vary depending on many factors, such as the size of the infestation and the type of home you have. You may also need to spend more to repair your insulation and seal the entry points that the mice were using to access your home.
FAQ About Mice
How quickly can a mouse infestation form?
It only takes a few months. Mice breed incredibly fast, especially in areas with a lot of food, water, and shelter, like a residential home. All it takes is two mice, one male and one female, to create hundreds.
How do I tell the difference between a mouse and a rat?
In one word, size. Rats are much larger than mice, and they’re longer. They also have smaller ears and a thicker tail, but the size is the factor you’re most likely to notice at first glance.
What do mice eat?
Mice prefer plants and grains for their diet, but they’re not picky. They’ll eat just about anything they can get their tiny hands on. This is why it’s so important to not leave out food, because anything and everything can become a meal for your mouse infestation. They’re particularly fond of chocolate and peanut butter.
Professional Mouse Control Solutions
A mouse infestation might seem daunting, but it is possible to remove from your home. It’s important to get them out as soon as possible before they cause major problems for your household.
If you’re having problems with pests in your home, contact pest control professionals near you. They can help you keep your home free of pests, like mice or roaches, so that you don’t have to worry about them.
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