In the middle of Quebec winter, humans are not alone in wanting to stay in their warm homes. Indeed, rodents and mice in particular rush into our walls to make them their winter habitat. Cute for some and horrible for others, the presence of these rodents remains unpleasant and dangerous for everyone; mice in the wall are annoying and sometimes difficult to exterminate.
In this article we focus on how to get rid of mice in the walls.
Why do we have to get rid of mice in the walls?
In principle, the presence of mice in the walls may seem like a non-urgent matter to you because your rooms are free. But it is a false belief, mice keep their potential dangers even in a wall.
At night, mice leave the walls to watch for food in your kitchen and can therefore infect it with the germs they carry.
How do you know there are mice in the wall?
Suspecting the presence of a mouse in your home is not difficult. Indeed, the clues are the noises, the excrements, the traces of their nibbling in your food… and you can even see when it’s dark.
Now to know that a mouse is in a wall, there are more clues to look for.
How does the mouse get into the wall?
When one or more mice are found in the wall, there are not a thousand entry points to suspect. Often, the mouse manages to drill tiny holes in the partition, in the circumference of the piping to finally gain access to the wall and stay there for a very long time because it is an excellent place for survival and proliferation: calm, dark, isolated and warm!
What to do against mice in the walls?
The principle is to access the wall where the mouse scrolls. If there is an electrical outlet, access to the wall already exists and you only have to switch off the main electricity meter then remove the outlet cover using a screwdriver to bare the wall opening. Be careful, this operation can be dangerous and should be left in the hands of a professional.
If there is no outlet, you have no choice but to dig a hole a few inches above the ground. Once the opening is created, you can use:
1. Mouse paste
Especially if it’s an opening of an electrical outlet. We advise you to put the mouse paste in the wall, because it is always the most effective way to get rid of it. Once the paste is in the wall, replace your electrical outlet to prevent the mouse from entering your rooms. You can wait 2-3 days for the issue to be resolved. Repeat the operation until all the mice in the walls have been eliminated.
If you don’t have a paste, you can use blood thinner blocks in any other form.
2. Spring Trap
The trap cannot be put in the wall, but you can place it in a cardboard box, put it against the wall and cover it with adhesive so that you can check the result regularly.
Don’t forget to put an effective bait against mice like, for example, peanut butter.
The advantage of the trap is that it does not lead to the death of the mouse in the wall, but rather in the cardboard . This will save you the corpse of mice stuck in the cavity of the wall, which emit foul odors when decomposing.
Important behaviors for future prevention
Of course, prevention is always better than action. When you exterminate mice in the walls, you need to prevent it from happening again. Here are some steps to take:
a. Remove the entry points
b. Insert ultrasound devices
Ultrasonic devices are a sophisticated method of keeping mice away from your walls. Ultrasound is not perceived by humans, but it annoys mice and therefore protects your walls.
c. Leave your house clean
The cleanliness of your floor, your surfaces especially in the kitchen will minimize food odors that attract mice to enter your home. And even if they do enter, the lack of food will quickly disappoint them.
d. Take care of your crawl space
The real solution against mice in walls
To eliminate a colony of mice in the walls, the methods we have mentioned and which you can do by yourself are simply not effective. Indeed, most owners fail to manage the infestation, and it is wasted time that allows the mice to reproduce.
We recommend that you always contact a professional mouse exterminator. The case will be settled definitively in a short time and with guarantee.