info@getridofpests.com

How to Get Rid of Mice - House Mouse

If mice are in your home, you may find yourself with some problems, such as food packages or papers nibbled, not to mention the waste products spread wherever the mice congregate. With a few steps, you can effectively get rid of the mice, however, and take care of this issue. While the process is straightforward, it isn't necessarily easy.

  • 1. You must seal all holes the mice use to get into your attic or other area.
  • 2. Setting traps is the most effective method of getting rid of mice in your home.
  • 3. Don't forget to thoroughly clean the areas the mice were in, including the droppings.
  • 4. A professional will be able to get rid of all mice more quickly and with a greater degree of success.
  • 5. You can make your home less attractive to mice by eliminating potential food and shelter.
  • 6. Poison should be avoided as it will only kill half the mice and leave you to find the dead ones.


Why Not To Use Poison
As tempting as it may be, you should never use poison to kill mice. As mentioned, this will only take care of about half of the rodents, meaning you still need to use another solution. Additionally, killing mice with poison leads to an entirely different problem as you will have to try to find the dead mice. While you are searching every nook and cranny in your walls or attic (since these animals fit in extremely small spaces), they will begin to stink. You now have to find the dead rodents, dispose of them, deal with the odor, and decontaminate the area in question in addition to figuring out what to do with the mice you didn't kill. Not to mention, poison is inhumane as it leads to the mice dying slowly.

Choose Snap Traps
Instead, when killing mice, you should always opt for a snap trap. This is the choice among professionals because of its ease of use, the quick death that is humane, and their cost effectiveness. You can reuse snap traps multiple times as a way to save money and they will kill the mouse instantly, meaning there is no suffering.

Don't even consider glue traps or other similar items on the market. These will only get the animals stuck in a single spot, leaving them to slowly die in a painful and stressful manner. Most wildlife removal professionals can tell you stories about glue traps where they found fur or even a small limb without any sign of the mouse; they are clearly inhumane. There are also some traps that will kill the mouse using electric currents, but they simply aren't as reliable as snap traps.

How To Use Snap Traps
To make snap traps even more appealing as a method for getting rid of mice, they are also very easy to use. All you have to do is look for signs that the mice are active in a given area, such as chew marks, brown grease marks, trails, and tunnels in insulation. Place the traps in the areas with the most activity, opting for wooden ones if possible. When setting them up, place the traps along the walls' edges so the trip pan faces the wall; this lets the mouse trigger it no matter the direction they are going. Peanut butter is a good bait option as mice like it and they can't easily take it with them.

Removing The Mouse
After you have trapped the mouse, you need to remove it so you can reuse the snap trap and just to get it out of your house. Whether you use a snap trap or choose to catch a live mouse, you should always wear thick gloves and never let the mouse come into contact with your skin. In the case of live mice, they may bite and since they can carry diseases and parasites, this is not good. If handling dead mice, still take the same precautions to avoid disease and at least double bag the rodents. Confirm with your city if you can simply throw them out with your regular garbage collection or a different disposal method is necessary.

Stop Mice From Coming Inside At All
A little bit of prevention can make your life a lot easier since you never have to get rid of mice if they haven't gotten inside your house. You can even begin taking preventative steps while you are still catching a current infestation. Start by ensuring all of your food items are secure in airtight containers or the refrigerator as having these accessible appeals to the mice. Don't forget to consider other items you may not have, such as that pet food you have sitting outside or the extra food in bags in your garage. Of course, the best way to prevent mice is to seal up each and every gap or hole leading into your home, creating a physical barrier.



Mice are one of the most common infestations that a house can have. They are small enough that sometimes they will go unnoticed, that is until they start causing structural damage to your house. There are signs that mice leave behind but sometimes you really have to look for them. The most obvious sign is the droppings they leave. They are very small and spherical. You can also find holes in your walls that are smaller than those left by rats. They also make a very particular noise that can help you identify them. Those noises can also help you find the number of mice that you are dealing with and the nesting site, so if you hear any such noises you should pay attention as to the location so you it will be easier to catch them later.

Why You Have Mice: Like any other wildlife infestation, mice will invade your home because they see it as an easy food source. So if you want to get rid of the mice you should remove what brought the mice into your home in the first place and that is the easy food source. The mice may be getting food from places you may have thought were not possible to get into. Check your pantries and shelves because even if they have doors they may have made a hole behind it and gotten into the pantry that way. Also check the boxes of food that you keep in there because mice can urinate on your food and that can be very detrimental to health. Go through your house for possible food sources and when you find them make sure mice will have no access to them. That will be the first step to getting rid of your mice infestation.

Mouse Traps: There are different types of mousetraps, so many in fact that you may think that by now one would be graded as the most effective. The trap you choose depends on how humane you want the treatment to be. An old fashioned trap is effective, but it is also very messy so you may want to opt for something else. If you want less of a mess with the same trapping mechanism then a covered trap will be the answer. A favorite is the more humane no kill trap. If you love animals then this is definitely a trap for you, but you have to make sure you release in an area where the mouse will not return to your home, so a release in the backyard is out of the question. But if you do not want to harm the animal then the no kill mouse trap is definitely worth a look. There are poisoned mouse baits, but if you have pets it is recommended that you stay away from these. There are also glue traps, but these are often considered quite cruel.

Repellents: Once you have identified that it is indeed a mouse problem then you can get repellents in some of the stores that sell home and garden products. While repellents may not be the one sole answer it can get rid of most of the mice in your house. They may come in the form of an electronic device, an odor producer or something to sprinkle around the home. It is not guaranteed that all the mice will be gotten rid of with repellents because not all mice are affected by it. The most recommended solution is to hire a professional so that you know that all mice are gone. Repellents can be somewhat effective at also keeping another infestation away from your home, but the best method is to make sure that mice do not have entry points to your property. A combination of both is the best in the way of prevention as these are very determined, fast reproducing animals.

Other mouse information:
How big do mice get?
Fastest way to get rid of mice
How to scare a mouse away
Humane Mouse Traps
Home remedies to keep away mice and get rid of them
How to get rid of mice without killing them
How much does mice removal cost without killing them?
How to get rid of mice in the attic
Do cats keep rats and mice away?
What attracts mice?
Will a house mouse in the attic have a nest of babies?
How to get mice out of a wall
How to keep mice out of my garden
How to keep mice out of my garbage
What if a mouse gets inside my house, bedroom, kitchen, etc.?
How do mice enter a building?
How do you keep mice away from the trash?
An analysis of inhumane glue traps for mice
What can mice climb?
How to use one-way exclusion funnels to remove mice without trapping them
What does mouse feces look like? Where is it found?
How to get mice out of the garage
How to get mice out of your car
How long does it take to remove mice in a building?
Mouse Traps - Which Type is Best?
How to get rid of rodents in the attic
Do rodents eat insects?
Do rodents chew pex pipes or other water pipes?
Do rodents nurse their young?
Do rodents like rats and mice feel pain?
What diseases do rodents carry?
How to inspect a house for rodent entry holes
An analysis of inhumane glue traps for rodents
What property modifications will keep down rodent populations?
Do rodents enter a building through the plumbing?
How rodents communicate using pheromones
What are the types of rodent snap traps?
What are the types of rodent snap traps?