Insects and spiders are not the only household pests that
need removal. Mice are cute and cuddly,
until they have babies, chew through your drywall, bite your pets and spread
diseases. Mouse incursions are not
limited to rural areas either. Many
suburbanites are finding that as their towns grow, and more land is broken up
for development, mice that used to live unmolested in fields have to find new
places to live. Often, those new places
are nice, warm, nearby houses.
Most experts agree it takes three steps to get rid of mice;
sanitation, construction and reduction.
Sanitation is simple; keep food sealed tightly and mice won’t have any
reason to stop by for a snack.
Construction involves shutting any openings that mice can use to get
into the house. Mice can squeeze into
very small spaces, so caulk or plug even the smallest openings to discourage
them from entering. Reduction involves
trapping or poisons. The old-fashioned
wooden trap that we all remember from "Tom and Jerry" cartoons works just fine. Glue traps also work well, although my
family ran into a problem when our cat would attempt to swat at mice that were
stuck to the glue. Our cat would get
stuck too, and in an attempt to get loose, would free the mouse as well. Speaking of cats, not all cats are good
mousers. And the ones that are are
often so proud of their feats of mouse-murder that they will leave the tiny
corpse in your shoe or on your doorstep just to show you how great they are.
Most mouse poisons cause death through internal bleeding or
disruption of their nervous systems. It
goes without saying that these poisons should be used with caution in a house
with children or pets.