You should start fighting mice when you spot the first mice.
Why are we so afraid of mice, because they are seemingly cute and harmless creatures, no worse than a kitten? The fact is that mice are a source of spread of various diseases and parasites. For example, the plague epidemic, in part, was the merit of these little gray kids. In addition, mice chew the materials from which the house is built, spoil wiring, clothing and other things that are dear to you. And what can we say about the products! Food that rodents have tasted becomes unfit for consumption. That is why many are interested in the question: “How to get rid of mice?” Today we will try to answer it for you.
Why are mice dangerous in an apartment and how to get rid of them?
Mice are small mammals that can eat an amount of food equal to 30% of their body weight at one time. More than a hundred species of mice live in the territory of the former USSR. The most common are field, house, earthen and forest.
It would seem, what harm can these small creatures cause? In fact, such a neighborhood is very dangerous for human health, as well as for his home and belongings.
The traditional way to get rid of mice is to use mousetraps.
Mice climb everywhere, they can get into the bed and bite a sleeping person. Their squeaks prevent you from sleeping peacefully and can greatly frighten a small child.
In the wild they eat mainly plant foods, but at home they eat absolutely everything. They squeak and damage wires, increasing the risk of a fire in the apartment. They can also chew on a large amount of building materials, which will significantly reduce the lifespan of the house.
Mice in an apartment are also dangerous because they are carriers of a large number of diseases. Their invasion gave rise to epidemics such as typhus and plague.
A mouse can also infect humans and domestic animals with rabies and helminths. And it is not even necessary that you were bitten by a mouse; the fleas that certainly live on these rodents are also sources of infection.
In the kitchen, mice can also cause a lot of trouble. They eat reserves of cereals and flour, most of all they love apples and potatoes. Rodents can crawl into any crevice, so if they are infested, there is no use hiding food and water from them. By the way, everything touched by mouse teeth is considered poisonous and hazardous to health, so such products can no longer be eaten.
Mice are very fertile creatures. Already at the age of 3 months, a female is capable of giving birth to her first offspring. A house mouse can give birth to up to 14 litters per year. 5-7 pieces - that's how many mice there are in one litter!
These small animals love to chew on fabrics. They may live in closets with clothes you don't use. At the same time, things acquire a specific smell, which is very difficult to remove.
Prevention
To avoid contracting infections and diseases from mice, follow these rules:
- wash your hands before eating, after any work, upon returning from the street
- wash vegetables and fruits thoroughly (you can pour boiling water over them, wash them with soap),
- do not eat foods that have traces of rodents (bitten bags of cereals, etc.),
- Store food in tightly closed containers and in places that are difficult for mice to reach. Uncollected food residues lead to the appearance of other parasites: cockroaches and ants.
In order to prevent the appearance of mice in the apartment:
- keep the apartment clean and tidy;
- Seal all cracks in the walls, ceiling, and under baseboards. A mouse can crawl through a very small hole and gnaw a hole even in concrete.
- Advice! It is recommended to seal the cracks with cement mixed with broken glass.
- Seal the water supply;
- get a cat.
Note! A cat can become infected with trichinosis, pick up ticks and fleas;
- install an electronic repeller. This small device is bought in a store. It is absolutely safe for humans and pets. The operating principle is based on electromagnetic pulses and ultrasonic waves, inaudible to humans, but which mice do not like and leave the apartment;
- Protect communication channels with metal grilles.
Do mice chew polyurethane foam?
There is an opinion that if you seal a mouse hole with foam, the little pests will go away and won’t bother you anymore. One such opinion is far from the truth; in fact, mice even really like it, there is such material.
Mice can easily chew through polyurethane foam, regardless of the thickness of the layer.
Reasons why mice chew polyurethane foam:
- Mice chew on foam due to the constant growth of their teeth. This soft building material allows rodents to grind down the upper incisors without breaking them.
- Polyurethane foam and polystyrene sheets are easier to chew than other materials, so if you have areas sealed with this substance, then be sure that mice will make a new move in it.
- Mouse and rat are very smart animals. There are often cases when they decorate their home with polyurethane foam.
There are materials that are similar in their characteristics to polyurethane foam, but are hazardous to the health of mice. For example, eco-wool contains boric acid and other substances that can cause a suffocation attack in a rodent that swallows it. Mice are also afraid of insulation such as glass wool; you can sprinkle the area where you are going to pour polyurethane foam with broken glass.
In Europe, polyurethane foam is sold that mice cannot chew. It is safe for human health, but it contains bitter impurities that rodents do not like.
Vaccination
In the nearest trauma center or treatment room of the clinic, after a medical examination of the patient, the injury will be thoroughly treated with medications.
When bitten by a decorative mouse, primary measures are enough to prevent complications. Damage from a wild rodent is more dangerous. Antibacterial therapy, vaccination against tetanus and rabies are required. Treatment with folk remedies is inappropriate.
After the procedures are prescribed, the first injection of rabies vaccine is given on the day of treatment, then according to the schedule for the next three months.
Information about the infection of the bitten animal is important. If the rodent was caught after the attack, its delivery alive to the laboratory will allow us to identify all types of infections that the mouse could potentially infect after the bite. Vaccination is stopped when the animal is not a carrier of the rabies virus.
The victim’s refusal to visit a doctor carries a high risk of developing the active phase of the disease. Many symptoms of infectious diseases initially resemble a common cold. It can be difficult for a doctor to make an accurate diagnosis based on a vague clinical picture. When characteristic signs of diseases appear, time for effective measures is lost.
Refusal of vaccination and medical control is dangerous due to severe chronic diseases, relapses, and disability of the victim.
Can mice climb walls?
Can mice climb walls? It would seem that this question borders on fantasy. However, these small animals with sharp claws have learned to run on vertical surfaces.
The only material that rodents cannot catch with their claws is glass. They slide off it and fall down. There have been cases where mice climbed onto kitchen shelves and fell from them into uncovered pots of food.
Mice can move on walls without any problems
Mice would have filled the whole world long ago. However, fortunately, these dangerous rodents usually live no more than a year. Also, their high mortality rate protects us from the invasion of these animals. Most predators love to eat these animals.
Mice can climb walls. They feel great in city apartments, in the office, in the greenhouse, in the country house covered with clapboards and in the attic of a private house.
What does a mouse bite look like?
The animal has sharp teeth that can cause serious wounds. A mouse bite can look different, it all depends on how a person behaves at that moment in time:
- Light scratches from teeth . This happens when a rodent's incisors touch the skin only tangentially. This can happen if, for example, you jerk your hand sharply at the moment when the mouse is about to sink its teeth into a person’s finger.
- One or two continuous stripes left by the front incisors. Outwardly they look like a pair of punctures at a short distance, since the mouse has a small mouth. This is how an animal can bite a sleeping person.
- With torn flesh pulp. This happens if you jerk your hand hard at the moment when the animal’s teeth have already sunk into it.
How to get mice out of the house: the reason for their appearance
Mice live everywhere. They consider themselves our full neighbors. It is difficult to find a private home where rodents do not visit from time to time. Mice usually enter city apartments through garbage chutes and basements, but for such dwellings, rats are the most common guests.
You may ask: “Why do mice like our houses so much?” The fact is that these small animals in the wild are constantly forced to look for food and escape from predators, but in a human home they can feel calm.
Most mice move from fields and forests to apartments only in the cold season, when they cannot find food on the street, but the laziest mouse will remain in its habitable hole even when spring comes.
Mice are also attracted to homes where food is left uncleaned on tables and dishes left unwashed in sinks. Garbage, dust, lack of grilles on ventilation openings are factors contributing to such a neighborhood.
Where do mice come from? Usually they peek in from their natural habitat - fields and forests. If there is a mouse in your city apartment, do not rush to reproach yourself for being careless; very often rodents come from garbage chutes and basements. If this is really the case, and mice also attack your neighbors, then you won’t be able to drive them away using simple means; you will have to call sanitary services, who will clean not only your apartments, but also basements with garbage chutes.
If you want to get mice out of your house, you can get a cat.
How to determine the presence of rodents in the house:
- Pay attention to sounds. If there is something scratching in your closet or on the wall, it will almost certainly be a mouse. If you hear mice squeaking, then most likely you have become the owner of a whole litter of mice.
- Pay attention to sudden movements. Mice rarely leave their burrows when there is daylight. However, if you often see flickering shadows in corners and near walls, then you may have mice crawling around.
- The surest sign of the presence of mice in the house is their droppings. It looks like shiny black oblong grains. If you find such traces in corners or in food cabinets, then mice are already in your home.
- Look for mouse nests. Rodents usually build their homes in warm and quiet places. You can find such a home in a closet with clothes that you don’t wear, in a closet or in the attic, and mice can also make a hole in the wall, in sawdust, in sand or in expanded clay.
- A specific musty smell may also indicate that there are mice in your home.
Based on all these signs, it will not be difficult to identify the presence of mice in your home. Once the problem is discovered, all that remains is to kick out such neighbors.
How to get rid of mice in a wooden house using folk methods
If you don’t want to find a dead mouse in your trap in the morning, then you can use humane traps. With their help, you can remove the mouse without killing it.
Humane methods of rodent control are considered effective if you only have one mouse in your house. A large number of animals will have to be dealt with with harsh measures.
Making a humane device against mice:
- A glass jar or bottle is placed on the table so that its neck is raised up. This position of the can can be achieved by placing a wooden block under it.
- To lure the mouse, a tasty bait, such as cheese, is placed in the jar.
There are many homemade devices that can be used to quickly and easily catch mice.
The principle of operation of such a trap is that the mouse will crawl into the neck of the jar for a treat, but will not be able to get out of there as it will slide off the glass surface. You should not use a cardboard box, the mouse will chew through it. The next day you will be able to release the captive, but remember that this can be done no closer than 1.5 km from home.
You can also place tansy, chamomile, wormwood, burdock or mint in rodent habitats, or treat the floor with ash. However, such measures do not help everyone.
One of the most effective ways to get rid of rodents that can chew through even concrete is a cat. This beast will quickly catch uninvited guests and will not allow new ones to appear. A cat copes best with squeaking pests, because female predators, in addition to themselves, also need to feed their family, so their hunting instincts are better developed.
Modern protection against rodents
If you have a large number of mice in your apartment or wooden house, they sleep under the floor, climb on your products, and do not fall into traps, you will have to use more modern methods. There are a lot of such methods, but not all of them are humane and many lead to the death of rodents.
The most effective methods when mice appear:
- Poisons are the most effective but cruel method for killing mice. If you have children or pets in your home, then this method is not suitable for you.
- Mousetraps have been used successfully for a very long time. Such a trap instantly kills the mouse it catches. You can use cheese, fruit or red bell pepper as bait.
- Repellers emit a sound, the frequency of which is not heard by humans, but they are afraid of mice. Such a device can work continuously.
All of these traps are incredibly effective. Reviews of their work are always positive. In this case, neither holes nor fast running skills will save the mice.
You can repel mice using modern technical devices that are sold in specialized stores.
After you destroy the uninvited guests, do not forget to remove their bodies. Animal remains decompose over time and are hazardous to health; they can also cause worms and caterpillars. And just stumbling upon a skull that was left after an invasion of mice is not very pleasant.
Consequences and complications
When asked by patients: “Can you die from a mouse bite?” medical workers say: “Yes!”
Gray animals are carriers of dangerous diseases. For example, if a mouse bite leads to infection with tularemia, tick-borne encephalitis, leptospirosis, and, less commonly, rabies, then in some cases the outcome can be fatal. After all, these infections affect the main systems of the body. Even if you manage to cure them, they usually result in various complications that can lead to disability.
Mice in a frame house
Mice are most common in a frame house. The fact is that such designs require the presence of a large number of hollow niches where mice can live especially comfortably and safely.
To protect your home from mice, use protective equipment during construction. Rodents cannot live in reinforced concrete floors, so you can put a concrete and metal structure at the base of the house.
Rodents also really like insulation, which is present in abundance in frame houses. They easily gnaw through it and make warm and cozy burrows in it.
Rodent mesh
To protect a frame house from mice, a fine-mesh metal mesh is used. It is laid during construction and prevents mice from entering the home.
Rodent screens may vary in size and thickness
If the house has already been built, then the mesh can also be used by burying it underground near the concrete base; an earth mouse cannot crawl through the small cell.
Which mesh should I choose? Of course, metal, with small cells. It is necessary to make protection against mice at the construction stage of the building; such a device is laid under the insulation on the floor and on the walls. After installing such protection, you can even decorate your house with plasterboard.
