Field mice love visiting people’s gardens and backyards and making them their homes. It can become tough getting rid of mice, whatever species they might be, as they are small, resourceful creatures that can surprise you with their intelligence. It is usually easier to take care of mice than rats as rats are more intelligent and careful when exploring a new area than mice, but you still need some knowledge related to mice extermination.
Mouse traps are the usual way to go since they’re cheap and don’t require too much setup. However, simply placing them around your home without a clear strategy won’t do you any good. You’ll need to take special care about certain things, as well as use multiple different mice traps and repellents.
Clean your Garden and Backyard
Most rodent infestations happen due to improper hygiene, followed by large piles of trash. If you do have such piles, be sure to get rid of them. Take the trash away or put it into a trash container (if one is available). Make sure your entire backyard and garden is nicely trimmed and clean; even lack of grass care can lead to a rodent infestation. Don’t make it easy for them by blocking all possible entry points.
It’s better to repel an infestation than to deal with it but if you’re already a subject of one, taking proper care of the outside of your home is imperative. Unfortunately, this sometimes isn’t enough if a large enough infestation has been taking place. If so, then move on to the next step.
Using Mouse Traps Around your Home
Mouse traps are the simplest way of getting rid of mice. There are many different types of mice traps, all of which have their positive and negative sides. We recommend using a combination of snap traps, catch & release traps, and glue traps.
Snap traps are the most well-known type of trap; they have been around for a long time, and have been effective if placed correctly. Place the traps in high-frequency areas – places that the mice use most often to move around your home (whether it’s the inside or outside). Make sure to use proper bait (cheese is not good bait) such as peanut butter or seeds (although, peanut butter is the best choice here). Check the traps often to see if there was any success and, if there was, get rid of the dead mice.
Prevention
When it comes to preventing a mice infestation, it’s overall more cost effective than having to get rid of them once an infestation has already begun. You won’t have to use money to pay for traps, or in some cases, the exterminators (if the infestation gets too large for you to handle).
Preventing these rodents from coming in the first place is also healthier, since you won’t have to deal with mice corpses. People are usually disgusted by the act itself, which is why homeowners sometimes manage to kill the mice, but they just leave their corpses to decompose which is a major health hazard.
So, in order to avoid such situations, we recommend prevention. Dissuading mice from visiting your home is fairly straightforward and almost all techniques are related to keeping hygiene levels high. Always clean up after yourself, don’t leave trash out for too long (get rid of it as fast as possible) and keep your house clean. Pay close attention to dark corners and areas that are hard-to-reach as these are the locations which the mice might choose. Using mice repellents is also recommended; DIY or commercial? Doesn’t make too much of a difference as long as you know how to use them.
Peppermint oil is a great deterrent and is simple to use: Place a couple of drops near entrances (doors, windows, etc.) and you should be fine. Other precautionary measures are also good, such as having a cat, or placing a couple of extra traps along the way just to make sure that if a curious mouse comes looking, he’ll get caught.
Conclusion
In the end, you’re the one making the choice: “Should I take extra care when cleaning so there’s a very low possibility of a mice infestation, or should I prepare myself for the inevitable?”. There are a couple of other factors at play as well such as where you live, how exposed you are to potential infestations, is there an abundance of food available, etc. However, if you do your best to make sure your home is nigh ‘invisible’ to these dangerous rodents, you shouldn’t have any issues.
