Summary: Rats and mice can enter your home or workplace through a passageway smaller than you can imagine. They can jump, climb, swim and wind their way through nearly any man-made barrier.
The first question pest management professionals hear when we are called in to eliminate rodents from a house or building is “How did they get in here?” There seems to be a great misconception about the size entryway that is required for a mouse or rat to successfully get past man-made barriers.
Let's make it really easy. To achieve a mouse proof house figure a mouse can get past anything larger than a dime and a rat requires a hole only the size of a quarter. “No way!” everyone shouts. How in the world could an animal the size of a rat get through a hole so small? Rodents have the unique ability to elongate or stretch their bodies so that they need only worry about squeezing the bone structure of their heads through the holes they are trying to navigate.
If you look a comparison pictures of rats and mice it is easy to see that their heads are streamlined and certainly much smaller than the rest of their bodies. Noses are pointed and ears fold backwards, giving them a sleek appearance.The whiskers on their noses give them instant feedback as to whether they will fit through or not.
If you can see light coming from under a door threshold it is time to put on new door sweeps or entirely new threshold. Close up holes where pipes come through walls using quick setting concrete or hardware cloth.
Remember! Give a rodent an inch and he'll…..squeeze through it.
Comments
Paula
08 Nov 2008, 18:28
Hi there and HELP! I just need to know exactly what products I should use
in order to make sure the little buggers (mice) do not come in here
anymore. Nasty creatures! Is it true that they will chew through caulking
as well as expanding foam? Do I use steel wool? Please give me whatever
advice you can. Mice seem to enjoy living in our cellar where we store a
whole bunch of stuff. I put almost everything now in Rubbermaid plastic
containers. There are droppings on shelves and I see one dead mouse on the
floor. He had eaten some poison. I can't stand to see them or their
droppings so must stop their entrance now. Also, it is November and I need
to know what works in this weather from the outside. Sorry to be so long
winded.
Thank you in advance.
Paula
LATOYA
17 Jul 2009, 22:44
Please Help me!! I have a small mice problem just one I've seen so far and
I do have small holes in my floor due to pipes i cant do much to cover that
so i feel i am at a lost, will moth balls help keep him away?
TIM
24 Jul 2009, 08:17
An exterminator came to my house yesterday to eliminate a mouse problem.
Not 12 hours after he left, I went to the kitchen to get some water and
there was already some mouse poop! How long after extermination should I
expect to wait before the problem is gone?
This was actually the second time an agent from this company came. The
first one apparently missed an enormous hole that was a point of entry for
the mice.
Paul
21 Aug 2009, 07:15
What is the best way to fill gaps adound an area that gets hot? Such as
around an oven or dryer vent hose.
B
01 Jan 2010, 13:35
I'm not sure if mice can chew through expanding foam yet or not. I used it
to seal up a hole (they chewed it into the wall) a few days ago and i can
hear it scratching to try and get through. It drives me crazy! I have
tried everything from traps (which they somehow get the cheese and peanut
butter off of) to the sticky traps that they turn over. I really can't use
the bait bc of small children....