BlogHow to Prevent Rodent Infestations This Fall

Every fall, rodents infiltrate millions of homes looking for a warm place to spend the winter. The National Pest Management Association estimates that rodents invade about 21 million U.S. homes by each winter. If you want to stop rodents from wreaking havoc in your home, it’s helpful to understand their behavior.

What Time of Year Do Mice Come Inside?

Mouse season starts in the fall, usually as nighttime temperatures begin to dip in September and October. In the Midwest, that push indoors can start even earlier.

Rodents are active in the fall because they’re busy finding ways to survive the winter. Mice don’t hibernate, so they need a warm place with a regular food supply to get through the cold months. Unfortunately, your home is a great option.

The best time to rodent-proof your home is before the first hard frost, while mice are still scouting for a winter home rather than already nesting in yours.

How Do Rodents Get Inside My House?

Rodents can smell food from far away and through barriers like insulation and walls. That, combined with their ability to find tiny cracks and gaps to sneak inside, makes it relatively easy for them to get into your space. Mice can fit through a hole about the size of a dime, while a rat can fit through a quarter-sized gap.

Common entry points include gaps where utility lines and AC lines enter the house, worn garage door sweeps, loose siding, and the space between brick and soffits. Plunkett’s technician Joe Thebert walks through the most common spots in How Mice Get in Your House.

Once inside, rodents generally seek out hidden, secluded areas where they can go unnoticed. Common hiding spots include attics, crawl spaces, the space behind appliances, and the inside of walls.

Are House Mice Harmful? The Dangers of a Rodent Infestation

It’s well known that rodents can ruin food and make a mess. But did you know mice and rats can be dangerous, too?

Health Risks of Mice and Rats

Rats and mice can spread disease through their droppings, urine, saliva, and bites, or by contaminating food and surfaces in your kitchen. According to the CDC, diseases linked to rodents include salmonellosis, leptospirosis, and lymphocytic choriomeningitis (LCM).

Hantavirus is the most serious of these. It’s mainly carried by deer mice, which are common in rural areas and cabins across the Midwest. People are usually exposed by breathing in dust from dried droppings or nesting materials in closed spaces like sheds, garages, and cabins that have sat empty.

Rodents can also bring fleas, ticks, and mites into your home.

Damage to Your Home

Mice and rats gnaw on vulnerable material to keep their teeth sharp. Unfortunately, this material often includes electrical wires. Rodents frequently chew through electrical cords in homes and cars. Their gnawing wears away the cord's insulation, exposing live wires. Exposed wiring could spark an electrical fire.

Mice and rats also seek out soft material they can chew on. Cardboard, plastic, fabric, paper, Styrofoam, insulation, and even wood are fair game. They make this material part of their nest, which often takes place behind a home’s walls.

How to Prevent Rodents: 12 Tips

To keep rodents out of your house, you have to take away three things: a way in, something to eat, and a place to hide.

Seal Up Entry Points

1. Install door sweeps on all exterior doors. Check garage door sweeps, too. Chewed or missing rubber is a common sign that mice have already found a way in.
2. Replace the doors' weather stripping and seal any cracks you see with caulk.
3. Check the windows. Replace window weather stripping annually, caulk cracks in the frames, and make sure the windows sit properly. Feel for drafts to find where gaps may exist.
4. Seal around utility lines. Pay special attention to areas where utility lines, pipes, and AC lines enter the structure. Seal gaps around these entrances with caulk and copper mesh.
5. Screen vents and crawl space openings. Use hardware cloth or metal screens so rodents can't slip in through the foundation, dryer, or attic vents.

Remove Food Sources

1. Keep pantry food in airtight, sealable, hard plastic or glass containers. Rodents chew through cardboard and thin plastic bags easily.
2. Clean the areas where you prepare and store food regularly. Wipe up crumbs, and don't leave dirty dishes out overnight.
3. Don't leave pet food out. Store kibble and birdseed in sealed bins, and pick up pet bowls at night.
4. Manage bird feeders. Spilled seed under feeders is an easy meal for mice and rats. Move feeders away from the house or use trays to catch fallen seed.

Eliminate Shelter

1. Keep rodent-favored areas like your basement, attic, garage, and crawl space clean, open, well-ventilated, and as dry as possible. Repair plumbing leaks and other sources of moisture.
2. Store firewood at least 20 feet away from the home and off the ground. Here are more tips for keeping pests out of firewood.
3. Inspect boxes, bags, and other packages before you unpack them in your home, especially items coming out of storage units, sheds, or cabins.

Already Have Mice? How to Get Rid of Rodents

If you’re already seeing signs of rodents, the goal shifts from prevention to removal. Common signs include droppings, gnaw marks, shredded nesting materials, a musky odor, or scratching in the walls at night.

For a mouse or two, snap traps baited with a small amount of peanut butter can sometimes work. Set them along walls and behind appliances, where mice travel. Bait stations can be effective, but rodenticides should be kept away from children and pets. For that reason, many homeowners leave baiting to a professional.

When you clean the area, don’t sweep or vacuum rodent droppings, since that can stir up contaminated dust. Wear gloves, spray droppings and nesting materials with a disinfectant or bleach solution, let it soak, and then wipe it up with paper towels.

If you keep catching mice, or you’re seeing activity in more than one room, you likely have a rodent infestation that traps alone won’t solve. Mice reproduce quickly, and every week they go untreated gives them more time to nest.

How Plunkett's Handles Rodent Control

If you have a rodent infestation, the most effective next step is contacting a professional pest control company like Plunkett's.

Our mouse control service for single-family homes includes three visits:

• An initial inspection and treatment
• A follow-up within two weeks to check progress
• A final visit after four to six weeks to remove equipment and any leftover bait

During that first visit, your technician inspects both the inside and the outside of your home. They seal small entry points (up to about the size of a golf ball) on the spot with copper mesh and recommend repairs for larger ones. They also place baits and traps where kids and pets can't reach them. The service comes with a 90-day guarantee.

For year-round protection against mice and other pests, ask about our HomeGuard program.

Stop a Rodent Infestation in Its Tracks: Call Plunkett’s Pest Control

If you need help controlling or preventing a rodent problem, get in touch with Plunkett’s Pest Control. Our experts can help wipe out your rodent infestation and keep your home protected. With a little awareness and some help from the pros, you can have a rat- and mouse-free winter!

Frequently Asked Questions About Rodent Prevention

I found a mouse in my kitchen. What should I do?

Start by looking for droppings under the sink, behind the stove or refrigerator, and in the back of lower cabinets. Store food in sealed containers, set a few snap traps along the walls, and check where pipes enter the wall under your sink, which is one of the most common ways mice reach a kitchen. Where there’s one mouse, there are usually more, so if you catch one, keep trapping and consider calling a professional.

Can mice open cabinets?

Mice can’t open cabinet doors or drawers, but they don’t need to. They climb well and usually get into cabinets through gaps in the back panel, around plumbing under the sink, or through the open space beneath the toe kick. Once inside, they can chew through cardboard boxes and bags. By sealing those gaps and storing food in hard containers, you take away the reward.

Is steel wool enough to block mice?

Steel wool can plug a hole in a pinch, but it rusts over time and mice can sometimes pull it loose. Our technicians use copper mesh, which doesn’t rust. For a more permanent seal, they cover it with spray foam or exterior sealant.

Does one mouse mean I have an infestation?

Not always, but it’s rare to have just one. Female mice are able to have a new litter every few weeks, so mice breed quickly. If you’ve seen a mouse or found droppings, it’s worth taking action now rather than waiting to see if more show up.