The battle is on! You have identified at least 1 mouse has found its way into your home, and you now want to get rid of it (or them!)
In this post, we will run you through our detailed 10 step process for getting rid of mice!
We cover getting rid of mice, but we will also give you some tips for keeping them away (like sealing entry points) or at least reducing the chances of ever having mice again.
You can consider this post to be a complete mouse control guide!
First things first, we need to understand mice.
Mice – Understand Your Enemy
The more you know about mice, the easier they are to catch!
This is your first step for total mouse control! Before you go into battle, take some time to learn about mice. Here are the essential things you need to know about these rodents before getting to our 10 step guide.
- Mice are nocturnal. This means they are more active at night. Your traps are most likely to catch a mouse at night as they travel through your home in search of food and items to construct their mouse nest.
- Mice prefer to travel in narrow areas. This knowledge allows you to place your mouse traps in areas where they are most effective.
- Mice only need a hole as big as their head to enter your home. Use this knowledge to search around your property to identify weak points where mice can gain access. Seal them up!
- Mice carry nasty diseases. Protect yourself when coming into contact with mice by using a respirator and strong gloves. Thoroughly clean areas where mice have been, paying most attention to areas littered with urine and mice droppings.
- The gestation period of a mouse is between 19-30 days. So you need to hunt them down and get rid of them before they begin to spread!
Getting Rid Of Mice- 10 Step Mouse Control Guide
Here is an overview of the 10 step guide, but keep reading for details on how you achieve each step:
- Draw up a battle plan
- Seal entry points
- Store food correctly
- Get some mouse traps
- Prepare mouse bait
- Set your traps
- Check the traps
- Dispose of any captured mice
- Clean up
- Confirm all the mice have gone from your home
Now let’s take a look at the plan in more detail.
1. Draw Up A Battle Plan
First things first, the battle plan for getting rid of mice in your home!
Where have you heard the most noise? Did you realize you had a mouse problem because you heard noises in your attic? What was the first sign you noticed?
Keep a diary of all the times you heard mouse activity around your home. Write down what you heard, where you heard it, and what time you heard it. These are the places where you need to begin, and these are the times you are most likely to catch the mice.
Recommended reading: Places where mice love to hide in a house.
Plan your attack. Here is a list of items you will need to get rid of mice:
- Effective mouse traps
- Mouse bait
- Respirator
- Strong gloves
- Additional clothing protection (Foot covers, protective coverall)
- Strong cleaning equipment (anti-bacterial cleaner, sponges, and strong bags)
2. Seal Entry Points
A mouse only needs a hole big enough to fit its head into to get into your home.
Now is the time to thoroughly check the outside of your property to ensure there are no small holes big enough for a mouse to gain entry.
Check the following:
- Cable holes
- Air conditioning outlets
- Gaps in window/door frames
- Roof holes
- Gaps in your roof
If you find any weak points, then you need to seal them up immediately. You can use caulk, steel wool, or mesh to block these entry points.
Recommended reading: How to find common entry points for mice and seal them.
3. Store Food Correctly
Mice are attracted to your home because it offers comfort, protection, and food!
Storing food correctly is key to dealing with your mouse infestation.
Make it difficult for mice to find food by storing it correctly in glass containers.
Mice can chew through a whole load of materials, making it a challenge to store food in a ‘mouse-proof way, but not impossible.
We recommend storing food in strong plastic, or glass containers.
4. Get Some Mouse Traps
There are so many mouse traps for you to consider! A snap trap is the most popular option for DIY pest controllers.
If you have an infestation, we prefer to use something like this humane mouse trap, which can live-catch up to 30 mice! Add the bait and leave the trap to catch them.
Recommended reading: Best mouse trap options for effective capture.
Getting your traps and bait (see below) set up is one of the most critical steps in your pest control quest.
Oh, and please do not use glue traps!
5. Prepare Mouse Bait
As I said above, traps and bait are critical components in dealing with your mouse problem.
Mouse traps are useless without some tasty mouse bait!
When setting mouse traps, we use peanut butter on most of them. If a few mice do not like peanut butter, we load some up with bacon, nuts, or pet food. Make sure you diversify the bait options across the traps you are using.
Recommended reading: Bait we use to catch mice.
6. Set Traps
So, you have mouse traps, and you have mouse bait. Now you need to set the traps down!
The critical point here is that you set down your mouse traps in areas where you know mice regularly travel through. Proper placement of the trap is key here. Time to check through your notes from step 1.
Lay your mouse traps down in narrow areas or against walls, with the trap facing the wall. Also, add traps near any nests you have found, and always set the trap, so the ‘entrance’ is closer to the wall. If you do not set your mouse traps correctly, you may end up with a trap that keeps disappearing!
Recommended reading: Best places to put mouse traps.
7. Check Traps
You should be checking your traps every day to see if you have caught a mouse. As soon as you catch one mouse, your confidence increases. It will happen, so be patient.
As part of your checks, you should be changing the bait every 2-3 days to keep it fresh.
If you have not caught a mouse within 3 days and you have evidence they are still in your home, consider moving the trap to a better place.
It would help if you still recorded each noise you heard in your battle plan. If new areas begin to appear in your plan, move the mouse trap to that area to improve the success rate.
8. Disposal
Disposing of a mouse depends on whether you catch the mouse alive or your trap has killed the mouse.
Disposing of a dead mouse is easier. The best way is to place the dead mouse in a strong bag (double up if needed) and add it to your trash. Check your local refuse guidelines before doing this; while it is allowed in my area, it may not be the right thing to do where you live.
Clean the area and trap thoroughly before re-using.
If you have caught a live mouse and you need to dispose of it, that is slightly more difficult! It would be best to transport the mouse at least 3 miles away from your home in an area where the mouse can thrive.
We release live mice back into a wooded area where there are plenty of food sources.
Recommended reading: How to dispose of a live mouse.
9. Clean Up
After catching a mouse, you need to clean the area thoroughly!
Cleaning up after a mouse infestation means picking up droppings, clearing mouse nest areas, and making sure you have cleaned up any mice urine.
You can use bleach, vinegar, water mix, or antibacterial cleaners to clean the area. We use a combination during clean-up operations for urine and droppings. Rodents and their feces can spread numerous diseases, so this step is so important.
After the deep clean, it is worth ventilating the area and applying some odor absorbers too.
On cleaning up, you should also clean each mouse trap after they have caught a mouse.
10. Confirm The Mice Are Gone
Are you confident that all the mice have left your home?
There are a few tricks you can use to check! After you have caught the last mouse, you should take some photographs of the areas they have been to. Take pictures of everything the mice have chewed.
You can also scatter some flour or talc over the floor. Check the talc after a few days to see if there are any tiny mouse footprints in it.
If you haven’t heard any mice-related noise for 1 week and no footprints have been seen in the talc/flour, you can be confident that all the mice have gone.
If you want to know how to get rid of mice, you need to take this final step!
Recommended reading: How you can ensure that all the mice have gone.
How Can I Stop Mice Coming Back And Taking Over My House?
How do you stop mice from coming back to your home? How can you keep mice away?
Simple – perform a thorough check of your home for common entry points for mice! If you find any, then seal them up quickly with caulking, steel wool, mesh, and other sealant options. You have a mice-free house now, do not ruin it by giving them a chance to get back into your property.
You can also get a cat, which is a great way of keeping mice under control. However, there are many other natural mice repellent options that you should also consider.
It is ok knowing how to get rid of mice, but now you need to stop them from coming back. Unfortunately, preventing mice from getting into your home is more accessible than getting rid of them.
Conclusion
If you want to know how to get rid of mice, we are confident that you have found everything you are looking for in this post.
The best thing you can do is create a plan before the begin anything. Get your gear together before the battle (snap traps for instance)!
Having mice in your home is very common. They are tiny creatures looking for a warm, safe place to bring baby mice into the world (which is something you don’t want to happen in your home!)
While mice may look cute, you have to remember that they can carry and transmit some nasty diseases to you and anyone living in your home. Conditions such as Hantavirus, Salmonella, and Lymphocytic Choriomeningitis.
Run through this step-by-step guide for getting rid of mice, and they will be gone.
Good luck, and stay safe!