What Attracts Mice to Your Home in PEI?

What Attracts Mice to Your Home (1)

Mice are a common pest that can invade your home any time of the year. Mice are more intelligent than people give them credit for and know how to evade most traps and other methods that homeowners use to get rid of mice. By contacting our Truly Nolen Pest Control team in Prince Edward Island , you can ensure that your mice infestation is thoroughly taken care of and any harmful mice droppings are appropriately eliminated.

Why Do Mice Make Your Home Their Own?

Mouse problems occur for many reasons, one being that mice seek warm shelter as colder weather sets in. This makes the autumn and winter months in PEI an especially popular time for mice infestation to occur. Colder weather encourages mice to take up residence further inside the home and for longer, making these infestations more challenging to deal with than infestations that occur in the spring and summer months. Mice also tend to seek shelter if their outside habitat is disrupted by events such as road and building construction. When these events occur, mice want to stay someplace that they deem safer, which could be your house. Lastly, mice may seek shelter in your home due to lack of food or an increase in predators such as owls and snakes in their environment. 

While these issues are unpredictable and uncontrollable to homeowners, there are a few things you can do around your house to help prevent an infestation, including:

  • Promptly and thoroughly disposing of garbage and food scraps, making the environment inhospitable to mice looking to scavenge their next meal
  • Keep your porch free of bird feed spills and nuts or fruits that fall from nearby trees
  • Keep your lawn neatly trimmed and rake up fallen leaves when necessary
  • Reduce sources of standing water when possible, bring pet food bowls inside at night, and cover backyard swimming pools when not in use

When mice burrow in and around your house, they not only bring themselves but their droppings and potentially a nest. These can be difficult to remove and are excellent reasons to contact our specialists to take care of your mouse problems. 

Why Do Common DIY Methods Not Work for Mouse Problems?

Many homeowners attempt to get rid of a mice infestation on their own, often because they think this is the less expensive or quicker option. However, mice multiply quickly and DIY methods can backfire when they fail to work. One of the most common DIY strategies is to set up mouse traps, but mice have a strong sense of smell and will avoid mouse traps that carry the scent of a person on or around the trap. People often make the mistake of putting too much bait on the trap, enabling the mouse to pull a piece of food off without getting trapped, essentially making the infestation issue even worse since mice now see the traps as another source of food. Store-bought poisons meant to kill mice can be harmful to our pets and come with an off-putting smell. 

In addition to often being ineffective, DIY mice control strategies often overlook the other issues with the mice infestation. Rodent droppings can carry disease when handled improperly and need to be disposed of by a trained professional. Trained specialists can also provide further pest control after the mice issue is eliminated, eradicating the fleas, ticks, and mites often left behind after a mice infestation. Lastly, we can identify and fix areas in and around your house that attract mice and make the infestation possible in the first place. 

Contact Us Today

If you have concerns about a mice infestation, contact our Truly Nolen PEI Technician who can come to your home for an on-site assessment and free quote. We are here to help you feel comfortable in your home.