How to Control Mice In Your Home

Mice bring toxic diseases into your home and can cause damage to the structural foundation of your house. Control mice problems in your home with Tomcat.

Mice can enter your home and occupy space without ever hearing them. While they’d much rather live in total secrecy, mice make their presence known by damaging your home and leaving trails of droppings, urine and crumbs everywhere they go. In this article, learn how to control mice and learn what to be aware of when mice are found in your home.

The Most Common Type of Mouse Found In Most Canadian Homes

House Mice

The most common type of mouse found in Canada are House Mice. With adults growing as long as 20cm (8 inches), their tail makes up for half of that length. Some own House Mice as pets when purchased from the pet store although wild House Mice should not be interacted with as there is a high chance that they carry diseases that can be brought into your home and affect your health over a short period of time.

Not to be mistaken with common household pets like gerbils or hamsters, House Mice have pointed noses and protruding eyes with ears that are significantly larger and more round than that of a gerbil or a hamster. House Mice are likely to be seen during the colder months of the year as they go searching for warmer places to burrow, such as your home. Mice would much rather not be seen despite them being notorious for leaving a trail of food crumbs, droppings and urine as they scavenge for their next meal.

Signs of Mice In Your Area

Mice are notorious for leaving trails of their presence behind anywhere they go. Discover what type of signs to look for when you suspect that your home may have some unwanted guests:

woman looking in the cupboard with flashlight

signs of mice in your area
Common Signs of Mice	Where to Look for These Signs
Chew Marks & Holes	Anywhere that is eye level to mice, especially in drywall and cracks in baseboards
Damaged Food Packaging	Chew marks to bags and cardboard
Chewed Furniture and Boxes	The base of furniture and boxes
Sounds & Activity	Inside of walls and behind cabinets
Changes in Pet Behaviour	Pets paying more attention to areas out of reach, especially inside walls and inside of cabinets
Mouse Droppings	In cabinets, inside walls and on floors nearby to sources of food and water

Infestations

The more frequent that you see these signs in and around your home, the more likely it is that an infestation problem is occuring. Signs of infestations are likely to include all of these signs and will almost always begin with an abundance of mouse droppings and the smell of urine. Infestations are dangerous to your health and need to be acted upon immediately before it becomes hazardous in your home.

The Dangers of Wild Mice In Your Home

Home Damage

In their pursuit for food and shelter, mice are notorious for damaging your home by chewing and gnawing on anything at their eye level such as cables, baseboards, furniture and the wooden foundation of homes. Wires and electrical cables are common to be chewed on by mice during an infestation and can lead to significant damage to your home that can cause fires and other electrical complications.

Diseases

Mice may be cute, but their droppings, urine, saliva and fur can carry extremely dangerous pathogens that can poorly affect the overall condition of your home. It has yet to be proven that wild House Mice can carry harmful diseases like other species of rodents found in Canada, although it is possible that mice can still bring diseases into your home due to their unsanitary living conditions.

Despite House Mice also being owned as pets, wild House Mice are born and raised in much different and unsanitary conditions as House Mice bred in a pet store. The poor living conditions that wild House Mice can thrive in are much different than the living conditions of pet House Mice that are safe from disease and interaction with other rodents and pests.

Here is a list of the common types of diseases that mice are known to carry into your home:

Leptospirosis
Lymphocytic Choriomeningitis
Typhus
Lyme Disease

For more information on mouse droppings, read our article to learn how to safely handle mouse droppings in your home.

Controlling Mice WIth Useful Products

Controlling a mouse infestation is a necessary step towards the removal of harmful diseases and maintaining livable conditions in your home. The removal of mice in your home cannot be done without products that are specific to controlling mice and other rodents. Using a mix of different products will help in effectively removing mice in your home and is a step in the right direction of preventing them from coming back again.

Controlling Mice With Useful Products
Rodent Removal Product	Product Is Ideal For:	Will You See Dead Mice In the Trap?	Does it Require Poisonous Ingredients?	Is it Child & Pet Resistant?	Can It Be Reused?
Bait Stations	Mouse Infestations	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Spin Traps	One Mouse	Yes	No	No	No
Snap Traps	One Mouse	Yes	No	No	No
Wooden Traps	One Mouse	Yes	No	No	No
Glue Traps	Up to 4 Mice	Yes	No	No	No
Catch & Release Traps	One Mouse (Single Style Trap) & Up to 10 Mice (Multi-Catch Style Trap)	No	No	No	Yes

Bait Stations

Bait stations hold a poisonous bait block in place that mice can freely consume and also bring back to their colonies. Mice enter and exit the bait station as they please to consume the bait block which is formulated to kill mice in up to 48 hours. For more information about this product, read our article to get the complete guide to bait stations.

Spin Traps

With a lever trigger that spins the trap shut as soon as a mouse gets close enough to the bait stored inside of the entrapment, spin traps for mice offer users a high kill rate when catching one mouse at a time. For more information on how spin traps work, read our article for a complete guide on traps.

Wooden Traps

This product offers users an economic way to catch mice one at a time. A tried and true way to trap mice in homes, wooden traps for mice include a U-shaped metal coil that is triggered when a mouse gets close enough to the bait platform. For more information on wooden traps, read our article for a complete guide on traps.

Glue Traps

These ready-to-use traps do not require users to apply bait to the trap, but instead, are formulated to be of interest to mice as they get stuck to the glue pad while in pursuit for the lure. Glue traps for mice are pesticide-free and work best when laid out in areas that you suspect are most traveled by mice. For more information on this product, read our article for the complete guide on glue traps.

Humane Traps

For a more socially responsible approach to controlling mice, these human mouse traps involve a catch and release mechanism that allows you to lure mice into the trap and give them no exit-point as they remain inside of the trap until you release them back outdoors. Humane mouse traps come in a single-catch version and a multi-catch version. Read our article to get the complete guide to humane mouse traps.

Cleaning Your Home Post-Mice

With mice droppings being highly poisonous, cleaning up after mice is one of the first steps to be taken after controlling mice in your home. Due to its toxicity, disposing of mice droppings will also require intensive sanitizing of your home to ensure that all rodent residue is removed. By using the following products when cleaning and disposing of droppings, you will be keeping yourself and others safe during the process:

cleaning supplies post mice
Cleaning Supplies	Purpose
Rubber Gloves and a Face Mask	Avoid the possibility of skin irritation and the inhalation of pathogens that mice have brought into your home.
Dustpan and Broom	Sweep up all mouse droppings and other remnants that mice have brought into your home.
Disinfectant Spray	Disinfect all areas that mice were frequenting during their time in your home. This includes table surfaces, cabinets and floors.
Paper Towel	Use paper towels for wiping down surfaces and disposing of soiled paper towels easily.

Disposal of Droppings

Apply gloves and facemask.
Sweep up any physical droppings that you find in your home and immediately dispose of the droppings in a garbage bag designated for the mouse cleanup.
Once the droppings are removed and disposed of in the garbage, spray all surfaces that mice have interacted with.
Let the disinfectant spray settle into the surfaces for over 30 seconds before wiping down each surface. All paper towels used for wiping should also be disposed of in the garbage immediately.

Read our article to learn how to dispose of rodent droppings properly.

Disposal of Dead Mice

A single dead mouse in your home can affect the air quality of your living space and can cause serious respiratory issues to you and your pet animals. When left unattended for weeks, dead mice can bring more pests into your home and also contaminate the home surface that it is left in.

Using protective equipment and the other safety supplies to clean up after mice is important in removing dead mice from your home and safely disposing of them in the garbage without any chance of further spreading toxins in your home.

Preventing Mice From Coming Back Again

Having thoroughly gone through the necessary steps of cleaning up, sanitizing and disposing of mice residue allows you to take the next step of prevention. Follow these steps in order to prevent mice from coming back again:

Remove any sources of water and food to make it less enticing for mice to enter your home.
Declutter your home and remove any potential areas that mice may consider nesting in. Boxes in basements and other storage areas are common places for mice to burrow nests.
Seal any potential areas that you suspect mice can be entering your home from. Doing so will significantly decrease the chances of rats in your home.