Why Mice Are So Hard To Keep Out Of Your Tupelo Home
How big do you think a hole has to be to allow a full-grown, adult mouse into your home? Let's add some perspective. The body of an adult mouse is between 2 ½ and 3 ¾ inches long and it can be as fat as a half-dollar coin. Would you be surprised if we told you that a mouse can squeeze through a hole the size of a dime? It's true. If it can get its skull through a hole, it can get the rest of its body through. This is because it has a flexible skeleton and soft body tissue. What if we told you a mouse can get into your home through a hole the size of a pencil? Well, you don't have to worry about it squeezing through a hole that size. But it has strong teeth that can make a pencil-sized hole bigger. These abilities help mice easily get into homes in Baldwyn. So, you shouldn't be surprised to find it difficult to keep them out. But there is more to it than this. Let's explore the problem.
It's Hard To Keep An Animal Out That Wants To Live With You
There are only a few mouse species that get into homes. The most common is the house mouse. It is hard to keep house mice out of your home because they prefer to live with you. House mice love living in man-made structures. There are currently no known populations of house mice in the world. They all live in, or near, man-made structures. If a house mouse comes into your yard and explores your exterior, it is going to be strongly motivated to get inside.
Your Yard Might Be A Mouse Playground
If you have reasons for mice to come into your yard, and to explore the perimeter around your home, you'll have a hard time keeping them out. There are several factors that can attract mice.
- Tall grass
- Lawn clutter
- Wood piles
- Leaf litter and piles
- Stacked stones
- Puddles
- Exposed voids underneath structures
- Dense vegetation
- Open trash
- Bird seeds on the ground
- Trees that produce nuts or fruit
- Berry bushes
If you want fewer troubles with mice, you need to remove harborage options, properly manage your trash, and protect voids and exterior food sources with fencing material.
Rabbits Have Nothing On Mice
You've probably heard the term, breeding like rabbits. This is because rabbits can produce as many as 12 babies in one litter. Of course, they could also produce just one baby in a litter. But, let's say a rabbit did produce 12 babies every time. At that rate, rabbits still can't keep up with mice. The maximum number of pups a mouse can have is 14. But the average for both mice and rabbits is about five or six offspring. The real secret to why mice have more offspring has to do with the fact that mice outpace rabbits. It takes a rabbit at least four months to grow old enough to start reproducing. A mouse can begin breeding with other mice at the age of five weeks. All of this is to say, mice breed quickly. There are a lot of mice in the world. That's a big reason why they're hard to keep out.
Life Gets Busy
Mice don't always immediately get into your home. You're likely to find droppings in areas where mice are active before they started getting in. You're also likely to see wood being damaged before a mouse finally chews a hole that is big enough to get through. If you do routine checks of your exterior and repair or patch spots that are being targeted, you could prevent mouse problems in your home. But who has time for that? Life gets busy. This is where we can help. When you have year-round pest service from McCary Pest Control, you get routine inspections from a licensed pest professional. If there is mouse activity, we let you know. Not only that, but we can do something about it. That's the best part.
It Isn't Good To Live With Mice
When mice get into your home, they can create many problems. Mice are a disease threat. They also carry parasites that are a disease threat—like ticks, fleas, and mites. Mice leave their droppings and urine in many places, they chew holes in your stuff, and they can chew on the wires in your home, which can lead to a fire.
You Don't Have To Live With Mice
If you live in Tupelo, Mississippi, reach out to McCary Pest Control today to request rodent control services for your home or business. Our licensed professionals use advanced technologies and industry-leading strategies to effectively track down mouse and rat activity, identify conducive conditions, and get control of rodent problems.