People say that when you see one mouse, there are many more in the shadows. Now, I don’t know if you’ve ever seen a mouse infestation. But in my 17 years of being a licensed animal control specialist, I can confirm that this saying is true. Many people don’t understand that mice breed rapidly, The average female can give birth to about 10 litters per year (each litter contains 6-8 babies) and now imagine that inside your home. Hundreds of little mice scampering under your floors, between your bedrooms, darting across your kitchen floor. It’s because of this reason that it is so vital to contact an exterminator or animal control specialist as soon as possible.
Mice can do all sorts of damage to your home, things you wouldn’t typically think of. Because mice live in nests, they will chew and rip up anything that could be used to build their home within your home. Anything from wood, installation, and even electrical wiring. Mice have no respect for your belongings, they will chew through furniture, appliances, walls and anything in between. Structural issues become a very real problem if a mouse infestation gets advanced enough. The material items are the least of your worries.
On top of being incredibly destructive, mice are known for carrying all sorts of diseases and germs. Sure, from a distance mice are super cute and fluffy. With their small plush bodies, and their small eyes and adorable ears. But if you look at them from a biological standpoint, they are the ultimate breeding ground for bacterial and viral infections. From rat-bite fever, to the plague, even Leptospirosis. These dangerous and even deadly diseases transfer even faster if the mice get into your food and you living areas. This is why it’s so important to contact a proper specialist so they can make sure to sanitize and clean properly. So please, keep yourself and your families safe from these hidden figures
Tag Archives: mice problem
Mouse Removal
“Are you crazy?? Asking me to get rid of the mouse. Please. Do you even know me?”
Jenna looked at her roommate, Ally, as they sat on the couch in her room, both making sure their legs were nowhere near the floor. Jenna had shoved a blanket under the tightly closed door in the hopes the mouse they’d spotted wouldn’t be able to get in the bedroom.
This was one of the rare nights when they were both home at the same time. Usually, one of them had a date, or had a shift at work, or had class. So they’d decided to make homemade pizza and watch an old chick flick together. They joked and talked about Ally’s boyfriend and Jenna’s most recent dating catastrophe while they pulled ingredients out in their tiny kitchen and laughingly argued about the best ways to make pizza dough. Jenna had opened a cabinet to search for pizza sauce when something moved behind the boxes and cans. “What the . . . ?” Jenna said, pulling things out. She was, by far, the braver of the two girls, and thought it was possibly a large spider that needed to be killed. Instead, as she pulled out a couple of boxes of pasta to see into the back of the cabinet better, a little brown mouse leapt out of the cabinet, onto the kitchen floor and disappeared under the refrigerator. A breathless moment passed, then both girls screamed, dropped whatever they had been holding, and ran into Jenna’s room, slamming the door behind them.
Jenna was the braver of the two girls, but not by much.
Now, they were stuck in Jenna’s room. They’d both left their cell phones back in the kitchen. Jenna’s laptop was also in the kitchen, where she normally did her homework. They were either going to be stuck in Jenna’s room for hours until Ally’s boyfriend dropped by after his shift at work, or one of them would have to overcome their fears and get rid of the mouse. Neither option sounded really good.
Jenna had hoped that Ally would step up and offer to get rid of the mouse, since Jenna was always the one who killed spiders and other insects that got into the apartment. It was a long shot, she knew, but it was worth a try. Ally would have none of it. She was a girlie-girl in all senses of the word, and didn’t get near creepy-crawlies on principle, as well as a deep-seated fear. Jenna would have to do it, or wait until Ally’s boyfriend came by hours later.
Jenna used a hanger to peel the blanket away from under the door while she stayed on the safety of the couch. To their relief, no mouse immediately ran in to attack them. Then, she reached over the arm of the couch, yanked the door open and peered into the hallway. With a deep breath and a squeal, Jenna jumped into the hallway, ran to the kitchen, snapped up her cell phone, ran back, and slammed the door behind her. The first call to Ally’s boyfriend got them nowhere. He couldn’t get off work early, but he’d come as soon as he could. The second call was to Allstate Animal Control. Ally’s boyfriend assured them they’d send someone out to get rid of the mouse, and make sure there weren’t any more mice running around. Neither girl got any sleep that night.
Mouse Problems
(Artwork by Sharon Davis. Contact us for her contact info.)
I tried to tell my roommate that I thought we had mouse problems, but typical of her, she never listens to me.
I’d noticed some tell-tale signs a few weeks ago. I was vacuuming our tiny living room (I always do the vacuuming), and saw some tiny little black pellets up against the baseboards. I bent down to look at them more closely and realized they must be mouse droppings. So glad I bent down to look at them instead of picking them up! I vacuumed them up and then scouted the kitchen for more mouse droppings. I found a few under the sink, by the garbage, but didn’t find an actual mouse.
I told my roommie about it, but she just laughed it off, saying I was making a bigger deal of it than it really was. It was probably just one single mouse that had come in to investigate the apartment but was long gone. She even suggested I’d made the whole thing up just to try to get her to help clean up. I shrugged it off.
But, I soon began to realize our mouse problem was bigger than that. I kept an eye out for a mouse or some sign that we had one or more in the apartment, just to be on the safe side. When I found my cereal box had been chewed through, I tossed it out and put all my stuff in plastic containers. My roommate and her boyfriend made fun of me, calling me obsessive-compulsive. I cleaned my room thoroughly, not wanting anything to jump out at me from under a pile of clothes or anything. Of course, my roommate’s a lot less clean than I am, and I tried not to think of all the many places a mouse could be hiding in her room.
I had a bunch of friends over one night so we could all watch the game. My roommate and her boyfriend were being overly-cuddly on one couch, right in front of everyone, and talking loudly about how stupid I was to be afraid of one little mouse that wasn’t even in our apartment anymore. The rest of us tried to ignore them as best we could, and just enjoyed the game and ate the chicken wings I’d made for all of us. She bragged about all the “real” junk food they had, and pulled out a big bag of cheese-dusted snacks, which they kept all to themselves.
They sat there and loudly ate the entire bag, until they reached the bottom. Then, they got quiet. There was a little chewed hole at the bottom of the bag, and a couple of tiny little mouse pellets that were now all dusted with fake cheese.
I think, finally, she believed we had a mouse problem, and it was time to do something about it.