Randy Ray - Citizen Special

As nights get cooler, wee rodents with pointed snouts come looking for warm places -- your house. Here's how to give them an eviction notice.

In most homes, the only mouse in the house is connected to the family computer.

With the arrival of fall, chances are the four-legged variety with small ears, whiskers and a pointed snout will soon take up residence in homes across the region.

"Mice are near the top of the list of pests we deal with at this time of year,'' says Mike Dunn, Ottawa branch manager for Abell Pest Control Inc. "When the nights get cooler, they look for a more comfortable place to spend the winter."

For thousands of unfortunate property owners, the warm and cosy place mice check into is inside their homes, where the heat's always on, food is plentiful and the rent is free.

"You could have one and once they set up house and begin to multiply, you might have 10 or 12, or more," says Mr. Dunn, who notes that mice aren't picky when setting up house once the weather turns cold. Old homes, new homes, homes big and small, mice love them all, he says.

And as cute and cuddly as your children may find them, these pesky rodents can cause havoc.

They may do little more than leave a trail of tiny bits of poo on your floors and counters, nibble away at the food in your cupboards and send shivers up the spines of family members.

But Mr. Dunn has also seen the damage caused when mice gnaw on baseboards, drywall and cupboard doors, chew through the fabric on chairs and sofas and eat through wiring, creating the potential for a devastating fire. He also warns mice can carry a wide variety of diseases that can sicken humans, including salmonellosis, which is a concern in food storage and preparation areas.

That's a whack of impact for a creature that as an adult weighs in at between 12 and 40 grams and is a mere 15 to 19 centimetres long.

Not sure if you've got 'em?

Signs of a mouse infestation: unexplained holes in walls or food containers, spherical droppings up to 1/4-inch long, scampering and rustling noises in the walls and ceilings and dirty smudges and urine dribbles on floors along walls.

If you're not certain, sprinkle talcum powder or flour on surfaces along the walls where you think your infestation is centred, recommends the website How To Get Rid of Stuff.com. If mice are playing house at your place, you will probably see tracks in the powder within a few days.

So, what's a person to do?

Your first thought will be to run to your local hardware store for traps or poison, or to call a pest control company. A good idea, but in Mr. Dunn's view, that's like putting out a trap minus the bait.

Job #1 is to walk around the outside of your home and seal up all potential points of entry to keep the pesky creatures out. Job #2 is to eliminate areas outside the home where mice could be living and remove the mice's food sources. We'll get to methods of eradication later.

Because mice can squeeze through an opening the size of an adult's baby fingernail, passageways into the average home are numerous and often go unnoticed by homeowners.

"If a mouse can get its head through a hole, it can easily get into a home because its bone structure is soft and that allows it to pull itself through," says Dunn. "Mice also have a natural oil on their fur that acts as a lubricant."

The most common openings are unsealed gaps around pipes that pierce a home's exterior walls, including gas and hydro conduits, dryer vents, outdoor water taps and air conditioning lines.

A pencil eraser is a convenient way to check to see if holes are big enough for a mouse to fit through. Seal holes with caulking, mortar, insulating foam, sheet metal, screening or steel wool.

Mice are also happy to scurry beneath screen doors on which the rubber sweep at the base of the door is adjusted too high. And if there are openings in the soffits of your home they'll slide through those too. If soffits are sagging, nail or screw them tight.

And don't forget your chimney. Mice are expert climbers and they can easily scale the side of a home and break in via the chimney hole that transports smoke from your fireplace into the heavens, says Mr. Dunn. Screens specially designed to keep pests out will seal the deal.

Dryer vents and furnace intake and outtake pipes are not usually points of entry because if mice do get inside the pipes, they can't travel beyond the dryer or furnace.

If your dryer vent is not equipped with a screen, a mouse could enter the pipe, chew through the vent pipe that carries warm air outside, and enter your home.

Garages are another potential entry point.

Keep your doors closed when the garage is not in use and look for holes inside the garage, such as where the aforementioned utilities go through the walls. Seal even the smallest gaps.

Next, you should determine what attracted the mice into your home in the first place and eliminate the attraction.

Start by removing mouse-friendly food sources. Scour every nook and cranny in the kitchen for unprotected food, crumbs, spills and trash. Keep your food elevated if possible, in metal or glass containers. Keep your trash in strong, odour-proof containers with tight-fitting lids. If you have animals, purchase elevated pet food dishes and keep an eye out for spills. Train your teenagers to wipe counters after making a snack.

Work your way through your house, including closets, pantries, dining rooms, bars, living areas, children's rooms -- anyplace where food is eaten.

Next, search exterior storage areas and sheds for pet food, seeds, ripe or rotting fruit, and any organic material that shows signs of feeding. Move compost heaps away from the house. Seal up bags of pet food or sacks of seeds, preferably in glass or metal containers. Look for birdfeeder spills and refrain from leaving easily accessible food supplies for pets.

If you come across anything you think may have been touched by mice, throw it away.

The next task is to eliminate nesting areas, basically, anywhere warm and close to food. Inside the home, remove potential nests by cleaning out clutter in closets, children's rooms, basements and garages where they're prone to build nests.

Back outside, remove anything close to the home that can be used as cover such as high grass, weeds, woodpiles and stacks of brush, leaves and other debris. If you can't eliminate wood piles and composters, move them as far away as possible from your house to limit the possibility of rodents running from these places to your home.

The goal is to create a no-mouse-land, says How To Get Rid of Stuff.com.

Once your home is sealed and interior and exterior nesting areas have been reduced or eliminated, it's time to do battle with the mice that are enjoying the comforts of your home. You can do it yourself, or hire a pest control company to do the dirty work.

At Abell Pest Control, common snap traps are the method of choice, says Mr. Dunn.

They're baited with a small dab of peanut butter and placed perpendicular to baseboards in areas frequented by mice; each trap can catch one mouse each time they're set. Another method is mechanical traps, boxes with holes at either end that can capture five to 10 mice each time they're set.

Mr. Dunn discourages the use of mouse poison because the mice that eat the stuff can die inside the home, causing odours and potentially attracting scavenger insects such as flies and ants. Poisons can also harm pets, children or non-target animals.

Some homeowners, usually those who oppose killing live creatures, use humane traps that capture individual mice live, using cheese or peanut butter as bait. Homeowners will have to transport the mice to an area at least one kilometre away to guarantee they don't return. And if the mice aren't taken out of the house within a day or two, they will die a slow death in the traps, hardly a humane way to go.

Mr. Dunn, like many pest control experts, places little faith in ultrasonic mouse control devices that plug into wall sockets and emit a high-pitched sound to control rodents. How To Get Rid of Stuff.com agrees.

"The federal trade commission (in the U.S.) has stated that these devices are ineffective in controlling rodents, that they do not cover the advertised area, and that they do not prevent rodents from entering an area, '' says the website. "While an ultrasonic device may provide some deterrence, it is likely that the rodents will get used to the sounds it makes and eventually ignore it."

If you're thinking a cat is the way to go to rid your place of mice, think again.

Contrary to popular belief, dogs can be better at killing mice than cats, advises How To Get Rid of Stuff.com

"Cats, yes, cats injure rodents, too, and then they play with them and kick them around your house before killing them and presenting them to you as a gift ... how cute. Neither cats nor dogs are completely effective by themselves."

If you find all of this confusing or want nothing to do with the mangy mice, consider hiring a pest control company to do the dirty work. Abell Pest Control charges about $300 for a typical 1,500-square-foot home and the work, which can take between a week and three months, is guaranteed.

"We come in and do the job and if after three weeks there is no activity, we close the file," says Mr. Dunn.

Amen.

Randy Ray is an Ottawa writer.

Original Article: http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/homes/story.html?id=b4ebead4-ec...