Beautiful Baltimore has lots to offer homeowners – great parks, lots of history, and gorgeous properties. However, if you’ve owned a home for any amount of time here, you’ve probably encountered Maryland’s cutest enemy: the common house mouse.
Having a house is almost synonymous with having a house mouse. These buggers show up no matter how secure your home is, and while they may be small, they pose huge problems if left untreated. If you’re a Maryland homeowner dealing with an infestation this winter, don’t fret – this is your exclusive guide to dealing with these pests before they become a problem.
Mouse in the House?
House mice are fairly easy to identify. They look like typical rodents, with round bodies and small, slightly pointed faces. Mice come in a range of colors but are mostly gray, brown, and black with a whitish belly. They measure around three inches long, with scaly tails about the same length as their bodies. You can differentiate a mouse from other rodents by its small size, small eyes, and soft, rounded ears.
If you’ve had a pest infestation before, there’s a good chance it was a mouse infestation because these unwanted house guests are notoriously common. Furthermore, it’s easy for mice to access your home as the can squeeze through tiny holes. Once inside, they will procreate quickly. Lastly, during these cooler summer months, infestation rates rise as mice flock indoors in search of a consistent supply of food, water, and shelter.
Infestations and infections
Once inside your home, Mice pose a serious threat to your home and your health. Though they may look innocent enough, these creatures are notoriously prolific. It takes about three weeks for a female mouse to give birth, and each litter contains anywhere between 5-12 pups. So, a warm house with ample room and food could easily spawn over fifty mice by the end of the season.
When you consider the damage that mice can do to your home, suddenly its more important than ever to get rid of them. Due to their ever-growing teeth, mice love to gnaw, and gnaw they will – through electrical wiring, house infrastructure, food stores, and insulation.
On top of the structural damage they cause, mice carry and transmit a variety of harmful diseases. Hantavirus, salmonella, and tularemia are just some of the microbes they carry, posing a real danger to you, your family, and your pets.
How to keep house mice out?
So, how can you prevent infestations from occurring? The short answer is, it isn’t easy. You’ll have to prevent mice from entering the covert holes and spaces around your home, either by filling them, putting in traps or poisons, or removing grasses and trash cans that may attract them to your property in the first place. Please remember, however, that the use of poison or misplacement of traps could be dangerous. If used incorrectly, they could inadvertently harm you, your children, or your pets.
Regardless of whether or not you choose to try DIY methods, there’s no guarantee they will work. Mice get inside homes to nest and stay warm, and they’re nothing if not persistent. If you see one mouse in the house, chances are there’s a whole nest of them. But don’t fret; almost everyone deals with an infestation at one point or another. When this happens, don’t try try to fix it on your own – call the professionals who can take care of it best.
Our licensed and experienced technicians at Pest Czar will control your rodent problem and ensure that your house remains mouse free. Contact us today to speak with one of our friendly representatives!