Your recent discovery of a mouse in your house is unfortunate, to say the least. Not only were you surprised that you had mice (don’t they only like dirty basements and dumpsters?), but extra surprised when a couple of days later you saw another mouse. This time, it was one that looked different than the original discovery, and as far as you could tell from the fleeting glimpse, was arguably a completely different breed - or else somebody had offspring that were a completely different
colour than mom and dad. More than likely it was the
former, because what you may also be surprised to learn, is that in your Etobicoke home, there can be more than one type of mouse. Yes, it’s true, there are lots of breeds of mice, and any one of them may decide it’s time to take up residence in your home.
Types of Mice
With the initial shock of mice in your house now behind you, it’s time to understand the types of mice you may expect to see, what attracts them to your home, and how this impacts mice control on your Etobicoke property.
House
Mouse
As you may presume, this is the most common mouse
found in your house, and is most likely the type that you have invading your
home. These mice are identifiable by their grey to brown colouration along the
top of their body, with a light-coloured belly underneath. These mice have
large ears and can give birth to up to 128 young per year. The house mouse
loves to climb and will happily move all over your house, from floor to ceiling
and back again. It is always on the hunt for food, preferring cereal and high
carbohydrate sources of fuel, eating up to three grams per day.
Field
Mouse
This variety of mouse, as you may have guessed, spends
most of its time in fields or grassy areas, and is rarely spotted in a house. During
the winter however, when the field is empty and snow covered, they may be
inclined to seek the comfort and warmth of your basement, especially if there
is food stored there such as vegetables and fruit. These mice have sandy brown
fur allowing them to blend well into the field, and have a yellowish coloured
fur along its stomach. Interestingly, these mice have a short life span and
only live for two to three months.
Deer
Mouse
Visually similar to the house mouse, these mice prefer
to live in wooded areas, but will not hesitate to enter homes within close proximity
to woods and forests. Because of their natural woodland habitat, they are
aggressive with wood structures and have no qualms about destroying wood
furniture or wood pieces within your home. These mice are nocturnal, coming out
at night to search for food, and as you may surmise, are excellent climbers;
making their way to the tops of trees, buildings, and other structures within
and around your house. These mice are particularly concerning in the home
setting as they can carry the hantavirus, which is harmful to humans.
How You Get Mice In Your Home
Much of the time, mice end up in your home accidentally. They are drawn in by the scent of food, are looking for a warm place to live for the winter or end up following the path of your pipes and getting in through a hole in the wall or your septic system. Whatever the circumstances of how they get in, what is
more important is why they stay in; necessitating mice removal in your Etobicoke home, or the need to implement mice extermination practices. As long as the mouse has the ideal environment it needs to survive, it will have no reason to leave. In other words, if it is warm, has shelter and space, and has access to food and water, it will be moving in for good. And you can assume that it will tell its friends and they will soon follow.
In order to force the mice out of your home, you need to either kill them, change the physical environment, or both. Without properly addressing the areas of issue and the mice themselves, even if you do end up killing some of them, more will inevitably show up – or may already be in a nest living there in the house.
How to Get Rid of Mice
The only way to ensure you do not have a continuous and recurring mouse problem is to do both things: kill the mice and kill the environment. This entails getting to the root of the problem, of how the mice are getting in, where they are living that is allowing them to have such ideal living conditions, and of course, how and where they are most easily accessing food and water. It sounds like a lot of work just for a measly little mouse, right?
That’s why you call in the professionals. Power Pest Control is well-versed and extremely experienced in dealing with different types of mice, different mouse environments, and more than that, getting to the root of the mouse problem. When you call us to tackle mouse removal in your Etobicoke home, we will come to your home and do a complete assessment of the situation. We will ask you questions such as how long you have had the mice in your home, where you notice they most typically come and go from, and when they seem to be most active. From there we will do a complete physical examination of the inside an outside of your home to gather as much information as we can about the problem. Armed with all of this information, we will create a plan to tackle the problem, which will involve mice extermination and a complete environmental overhaul of your home. Many people have holes, improperly sealed plumbing, and missing roof shingles that they don’t even realize are a problem, and if left unaddressed, could be the catalyst for a bigger problem than just some annoying pesky mice.
If you have seen mice scurrying around your home, do yourself a
favour and call Power Pest Control. A small investment now will save you lots of time and money later.