Mouse in the House!

Photo by Jared Belson

Small, fast, and incredibly messy, mouse infestations are very standard in our line of work. Last week our leading technician at Accurate Pest Control Management, Gary Wilkinson was called out to a job where there was evidence of mice living under the kitchen units. We usually conduct what is called a ‘top to bottom’ survey starting in the attic and then to kitchen and outside including drains.

After a short look around Gary was able to identify where the mouse was entering the house- through a small hole in the external wall.

What attracts mice?

General mess, and clutter can attract mice to your home, mice will also be attracted to food such as biscuits, cereals, and dog/cat biscuits are their favourite.

Mice are rodents and their teeth continually grow and so they gnaw to keep them short, otherwise their teeth eventually grow too long for them to eat. Unfortunately they usually gnaw on pipes and electrical cables to keep their teeth short.

The picture on the right shows things Gary found in the customers home that mice love to gnaw on. He also discovered crisp packets that had fallen behind the kitchen cabinets - perfect food for mice!

How did he get rid of the mice?

Before laying any traps or poison Gary wanted to identify how serious the infestation is and so laid out non toxic bait for the mice to eat. This bait contains a chemical that will show up in the mouse’s urine under UV light, the amount that shows up will give you a rough idea of how many mice are living in your home.

Gary then came back a few days later to check the non-toxic bait, and scan the house with a UV light. From the amount of urine you can see in the photos you can assume that there is only one mouse present in this home at the time.

The customer disclosed to Gary that she suffers from “musophobia” - the extreme fear of mice. Because of this she would rather not see the animal in a trap, and so Gary decided poison would be appropriate to use in this case.

After another visit it is confirmed that her mouse issue is sorted.

External hole the mouse entered in

Clutter that can attract mice

Mouse urine under UV light

Mouse urine under UV light

Mouse urine under UV light