5 Ways To Keep Mice Away

My grandmother always said that if you want to keep mice out of your home, you need to have a cat. My family had three at any given time and only one caught mice while I was growing up. Max was my cat and he loved to make me proud of him. His way of getting my attention was catching mice in our family home's basement and laying them in my bed for me to find when I wake up in the morning. I loved that cat and he didn't realize that I hated mice, especially in my bed. A family cat could be a good way to keep mice out of your home; however, here are some other ways as well.

1. Keep food sealed in plastic containers and clean any spilled food that could draw a mouse's attention. Mice love to gnaw, so a paper box is not a problem for a mouse to get through to reach food. Keep any food that comes in a paper box container from a store in a plastic container which mice have a hard time chewing through. You also want to make sure to wipe out cabinet and pantry shelves that could have food spilled on them or any type of crumbs in them as well.

2. Inspect your home, both inside and out, to look for any openings or holes that are more than 1/4' in diameter for a mouse to enter. Seal the holes with concrete, metal or other sturdy material.

3. If you have any fruit trees or fruit bushes in your yard, make sure you pick up the fruit that falls from them daily when they are in produce season.

4. Keep the main house outside trash cans away from your home. The smell of garbage is attractive to mice, so if the cans are away from your home. then the less likely the mice will take up residence in your home.

5. Remove clutter within your home. Mice are attracted to areas that are forgotten like basements corners, closets, or storage rooms. Removing these types of clutter will less likely give a mouse a location to build a nest:

• boxes of different household stuff ex. kitchen cookware

• piles of clothing

• piles of newspapers, magazines

• old furniture that is no longer used or just gathering dust

If you see evidence that you have mice in your home or you want to protect your home from these nuisance pests, give Elite Wildlife Removal a call at 804-867-7184. We do a thorough inspection which includes locating the entry point, removing the ones in the building, prevent these pests from re-entering and talk about the remediation process. We will be more than happy to work with you side by side to get rid of these unwanted animals.