Driving away mice: how to get rid of rodents

Rodent plague
Driving away mice: That is why live traps make more sense than poison baits

Especially in the cold winter months (but also all year round), many mice get lost in cellars and living rooms, looking for food and shelter. However, your visit will not go unnoticed for long: at the latest when you discover the first traces of excrement or smear, food is eaten or you are woken up by nocturnal noises from the pantry, you can be sure that the little rodents in your home are having a good time. The problem with this is that mice reproduce very quickly, contaminate your food and gnaw on cables – causing expensive damage. Even so, you shouldn’t kill the animals, but instead catch them alive. This article explains what traps and home remedies are best for driving mice away, and why you should stay away from poison baits.

Secret visitors: this is how you recognize the mouse infestation

Mouse droppings are very easy to recognize: the rodents spread the small black droppings everywhere on their walkways. When these are still fresh, they have a soft consistency – however, after a few days the poop will be harder and crumbly if you should touch it. If you only discover the mouse droppings after a few weeks, it is already rock hard. Whenever you want to find out how soft or hard the droppings are, be sure to always put on gloves first.

Alternatively, so-called smear marks also indicate a mouse infestation: This is a visible trace made up of body fat and dirt particles from the rodents. It also arises on the daily walking routes that mice regularly use. If you follow the smear trail, you may even find the animals’ nest. Here’s putting one up Live trap particularly useful – and usually leads to a successful result very quickly.

Mice gnaw on pretty much anything, not just food like bread, fruit, nuts, or bacon. They also eat their way through plastic, cardboard or wood to get to their destination. But why do you find bite marks on cables? In fact, the rodents use insulation for dental care, as their teeth grow for a lifetime and by chewing solid objects, they stay sharp and short. For this reason, gnawed cables are also an important indicator of a mouse infestation.

Mousetrap: why poison baits are deadly but useless

According to Peta, Germany’s largest animal rights organization, poison baits for mice are cruel and useless. If the rodents eat the poison, they suffer a slow and painful death by bleeding to death internally. That said, most baits are highly toxic to humans and pets, and the same is true of wildlife: ingesting the venom directly or by eating a poisoned mouse will cruelly kill you. “In addition, these deadly methods never keep rodents away in the long term and can even have the opposite effect, because by killing the animals, the surviving conspecifics have more space and food available increased reproduction compensated for, “warns Peta explicitly. Instead, you should rely on live traps or tried and tested home remedies. You can find out what these are below.

Driving away mice: how to get rid of rodents

Live trap
If you are looking for a Live trap you should decide one bait Place in it (for example peanut butter) as far back as possible – so that the tail is not pinched. According to Peta, it is important to check the trap every hour as mice are very sensitive to stress and can die after a few hours from tension or possible dehydration. If you have caught a rodent, it is best to cover the trap with a cloth to avoid stress – and only release the animal after a distance of at least 100 meters from your home so that it does not find its way back to you.

Ultrasonic
There are a number of different devices that mice use Ultrasonic should expel. According to the manufacturer, the waves that an activated pest controller emits irritate the rodents so much that they should stay away from your home. The same also applies to other troublemakers – such as cockroaches, ants, flies and other insects.

Lockdown
To prevent mice from entering your living space in the first place, it is important to find out which holes or cracks could be used as entrances. Check all outside walls and door crevices, cable ducts, and leaky or open windows. Do not just pay attention to the said traces (as described above), but lock or seal all possible weak points – for example with silicone or mortar.

Food
Rodents have a keen sense of smell and can track their food over long distances. For mice, it doesn’t matter whether it’s fresh waste or supplies. It is all the more important to dispose of the garbage regularly – in such a way that the garbage cans with the leftover food are as far away from the house as possible. The same goes for compost. And since the animals also eat their way through paper and plastic to get food, you should always keep your supplies such as pasta in airtight glass or metal boxes.

Tips & Tricks: The best home remedies for mice

As with every “pest”, there are of course a large number of home remedies for rodents that are supposed to be able to drive away mice. Whether these really help cannot be answered at this point. The best known include:

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