Tag Archives: mice removal

How To Keep Mice Away The Professional Way

The answer to “how to keep mice away” is simply letting the household pet cat loose, right?

It’s engrained in our sub-conscious that our favourite felines are calculated killers ready to wipe out every single mouse that enters our properties. Unfortunately, it’s not so easy to get rid of mice the old-fashioned way.

Take it from Canada’s top pest control company. Proper and effective rodent control takes a lot, lot more effort than a couple of hastily laid mousetraps, bits of cheese, and your pet cat.

How To Keep Mice Away: Does DIY Rodent Control Work?

Firstly, there is a big issue with Canadian homeowners taking on rodent control themselves. In short, they might be able to win the battle, but they’ll likely lose the war.

Ultimately, if rodent removal isn’t undertaken as part of a larger rodent control strategy, you’re just treating symptoms rather than cutting out the infection at large.

Take mousetraps for instance. Sure, a traditional mousetrap can work early on to get rid of mice before they breed. However, they’re ineffective at combatting a large of community of mice.

Poison baits can work on a larger scale. Nevertheless, if you have mice in the walls and they die, you won’t be able to remove the corpses before they decompose. This will only cause unwelcome odours and attract other pests and scavengers.

Additionally, there’s family health concerns too. Leaving industrial strength poisons willy-nilly around your home can be extremely dangerous. This is true especially if you have young and inquisitive children around. Moreover, handling mice poison or mice killers on your own without proper care, attention and supervision can also pose a serious health risk.

How To Keep Mice Away: Why You Should Hire A Mouse Exterminator Instead

So after reading all of those limitations, it’s pretty clear that DIY rodent control isn’t worth your while.

After all, you wouldn’t perform eye surgery by yourself. So why would you get rid of mice without consulting a professional mouse exterminator? When you enlist the help of an expert Terminix Canada mouse control technician, you get results and peace of mind. Using tried-and-tested methods, we get rid of mice in a humane and environmentally friendly manner.

For instance, our mice extermination methods may include placing special mice bait stations at strategic locations outside your home. In short, you can bypass a rodent infestation entirely because mice will be attracted to exterior food sources before bothering to venture inside your residence.

Ultimately, our team will devise a mice removal plan that is unique to your property and your mice infestation. On your initial service, we’ll hunt high and low for mice, documenting our findings in a comprehensive mice inspection. Then, after investigating your mice problem, we’ll deploy our long-term rodent solutions to prevent mice returning.

The bottom line is, if mice come back to your home, so will our professional rodent control team. Our custom rodent removal techniques adapt with the seasons to address seasonal rodent activity in your local area.

Leave Rodent Control To The Professionals At Terminix Canada

Remember, there’s no shame in getting help with mice control from a professional mice exterminator.

Beyond helping you get rid of mice, our integrated rodent control takes steps to prevent subsequent mice infestations by identifying vulnerabilities in your foundation, among other preventative measures.

Backed by over 90 years of pest control experience, Terminix Canada is your go-to mouse exterminator for handling mice infestations big or small. To get residential rodent control services near you, visit our Branch Locator, find your nearest Terminix Canada branch, and give them a call for your free consultation.

5 Best Ways To Prevent Rodents This Holiday Season

“Twas the night before Christmas, when all thro’ the house
All the creatures were stirring, led by a mouse;
The pest-filled stockings were hung by the chimney to air,
In hopes that Terminix soon would be there;
The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of cockroaches danced in their heads”

Christmas isn’t the same when you’re welcoming more guests than your in-laws. But unlike your in-laws, by using the best rodent prevention tips right now, you can make sure your holiday season is pest-free.

We’ll help you deck the halls with pest-free holly, so your home is warm and festive for your family for the holidays, but cold and frigid for unwanted pest guests.

Rodent Prevention Tip #1 – If You’re Bringing In A Tree, Check It Twice.

Santa double checks his naughty and nice list every year, and you should do the same with your Christmas tree.

The easiest way for insects and their eggs to breach your home is taking a ride on your Christmas tree, straight into your living room.

Rouse and remove the hidden bugs that could be cocooning their eggs in the boughs of the tree, giving your tree a good shake and once-over before bringing it into the house. Spiders, moths, and mites are the likeliest unwanted Christmas ornaments you’ll find littering your tree, so look out for webs, cocoons, and egg sacs especially.

When the holidays have ended and it’s time to dispose of your tree, make sure to clean up any remains thoroughly with a vacuum to remove pine needles, insect eggs or anything else that might’ve been left behind by the tree.

Storing Your Artificial Tree

If you opt for an artificial tree over a live one, the way you choose to store it matters in order to ensure proper rodent prevention. Instead of keeping it in its original cardboard box, switch to a tree bag to stop rodents from chewing through the box and destroying the tree.

RELATED: Wondering How To Get Rid Of Mice Right Now? Read Our 10 Best Tips

Rodent Prevention Tip #2 – Clean Your Ornaments Before Packing Away

Even if you think you’ve gotten rid of all possible pests or eggs before bringing your tree in, it’s better to be safe than sorry when it comes to packing away your cherished Christmas ornaments. As you take your ornaments off the tree, inspect them for any possible pest activity such as spider webs, mouse droppings, or chew marks. Even if you don’t see any pest remains, it’s a good idea to give your ornaments a quick wipe down with a damp cloth or duster. Not only will these ensure any remains have been cleaned up, it’ll also leave your ornaments dust-free for next year.

Rodent Prevention Tip #3 – Clean Up Thoroughly After Hosting

Everyone knows to wash the cutlery and dishes after dinner, but it’s also very important to wash any linens such as tablecloths or napkins before returning them to their drawers for proper rodent prevention. Spills, crumbs, or other food leftovers are exactly what rodents and insects go looking for. Don’t help out these pests by leaving a smelly trail for them to follow, right into your drawers.

Rodent Prevention Tip #4 – Inspect Your Firewood

Sitting in front of a roaring, crackling fire with a cup of hot chocolate is an ideal Christmas setting.

But that firewood can bring more into your home than warmth and comfort, namely, household pests that are notorious tunnelers. Ants, termites, wood-boring beetles, and carpenter ants regularly refuge in stacks of firewood, especially if it’s somewhat damp, or piled onto the ground.

To keep your firewood pest-free:

  • Examine and clean any firewood you’re bringing into the house
  • Shake the logs, to remove any clingy insects on the bark
  • Bring inside just enough firewood, which should be used immediately
  • Stack firewood on elevated surfaces and away from your house; dry wood is less inviting to tunneling pests

Rodent Prevention Tip #5 – Open Decoration Boxes Outdoors

Insects appreciate the confines of dark, undisturbed locations to do whatever it is insects do in solitude.

So, there’s arguably no better place for insects to colonize than those decoration boxes that go virtually untouched for 11 months a year.

The chances of a pest infestation only intensify when the holiday boxes are stored in a humid, quiet setting, like your basement, crawlspace, or attic. It’s not uncommon to find mice, rodents, and other household pests in your box of ornaments.

To ensure you’re not opening a can of worms, or a box of bugs, take the decoration boxes outside, and inspect them for live pests, dead pests, droppings, bite marks, and any other pest damage. Wipe everything down, and you’re ready to deck the halls of your home with Christmas cheer!

Best Ways To Store Your Christmas Decorations In The Off-Season

While opening your decoration boxes outside is always a good idea to ensure any pests that managed to sneak in stay out of your home, you can do more to ensure pest-free decorations in the off-season.

Mice and rats can sneak into the boxes, destroying your decorations and leaving their waste behind to contaminate your holiday cheer. In order to aid in rodent prevention, choose your storage bins wisely. Cardboard boxes or paper bags are no match for rodents trying to dig their way in. Instead, opt for plastic storage bins with tight fitting lids to keep these pests out. As a bonus, these bins will prevent moisture from seeping in, preventing water damage or mold from ruining your decorations.

Check On Your Stored Items Periodically

It’s always a good idea to peek in on your stored items a few times a year. Not just to check for any proof of pests, but also to ensure there’s been no water damage or leaks. Keeping your space tightly secured by repairing any cracks in your foundation, floors or walls will help to keep both pests and water out, keeping your decorations and other memories safely stored.

RELATED: Why Your Need Winter Pest Control Right Now

Our best rodent prevention tips should reduce the likelihood of a pest infestation during the holiday season. By following our best tips, you can keep your family safe and worry-free.

If you notice any pest activity or waste left behind in your attic, basement, crawlspace or garage, we can help. Don’t hesitate to call Terminix Canada to handle your pest problems in a humane and responsible way.

But if your pest infestation is already in your home for the holidays, Terminix Canada can help. Contact our professional exterminators right now. We’re experts at ruining pests’ holidays!

Wondering How To Get Rid Of Mice Right Now? Here’s Our 10 Best Tips

Are you wondering how to get rid of mice right now? Do you want to know the best tips for getting rid of mice? We’re not surprised. Each winter, these pesky rodents are looking for warmth and shelter to ride out the Canadian cold season. Often making our houses their homes, having these unwelcome guests inside your property is the stuff of most homeowners’ nightmares.

An evasive species, mice live in dark and secluded spots of your home, and are notoriously difficult to remove. That’s why thousands of Canadians turn to the expertise of a professional mice exterminator when they’re tired of constant skittering, scratching or gnawing. Ultimately, once mice have made themselves comfortable in your home, it’s important to start mice control measures right now. Otherwise, you could end up with an entire mouse infestation.

Fortunately for you, Terminix Canada has dedicated this blog to listing the 10 best ways to get rid of mice. While many DIY mice control methods exist, some prefer the convenience of saving themselves the struggle and calling in professional mice exterminators instead. Whatever suits you, this blog details how to get rid of mice in your home, using the best methods of mice removal. Additionally, we’ll cover how to get rid of mice in your walls and attic.

How To Get Rid Of Mice In Your Home Right Now

  1. Seal up all entry points
  2. Perform regular attic maintenance
  3. Assess any wall scratching
  4. Start using mousetraps
  5. Choose mousetrap bait carefully
  6. Place mousetraps in strategic locations
  7. Don’t ignore bait packages
  8. Regularly practice good sanitation
  9. Think outside the house too
  10. Let cats do their bit too

1. Seal Up All Entry Points

So you want to get rid of mice right now. The best way to get rid of mice is to prevent a mice infestation in the first place. Canadian homeowners can effectively defend their property by sealing up all points of entry to prevent easy access. This isn’t a task for the unqualified however. Why? Because mice are incredibly cunning and nimble. They are able to squeeze through the tiniest openings one-quarter of an inch and up. Ultimately, mice can fit in small cracks and crevices that are only a pencil width’s wide.

Whether you call for professional help or tackle the task yourself, you should always seal cracks in your foundation, walls, and places nearby utility pipes and vents. Effective sealants include steel wool, hardware cloth, expandable foam, caulking, and even mortar. Keep in mind that mice have very sharp teeth and can sometimes chew their way through inadequately repaired openings. Our professional mice control specialists know the correct tools and materials to get a job done right. Finally, products like weather stripping are highly effective too and provide a barricade for the doors and window gaps in your home.

2. Perform Regular Attic Maintenance

If your mice problem is overhead and you’re wondering how to get rid of mice in the attic, it all starts with regular attic maintenance. Attic mice control is imperative since these pesky critters chew through electrical wiring and piping, potentially causing fires or flooding.

Remember the entry point elimination we spoke about in tip one? You’ll want to apply the same sealing methods to all cracks or openings that lead to your attic. By regularly assessing whether you’ve sealed all possible entryways, you stand a far greater chance of keeping more mice out.

3. Assess Any Wall Scratching

Questioning how to get rid of mice in the walls? You’ll need to carefully assess whether mice are actually inside walls in the first place. This involves constant monitoring at day and night. Ultimately, to get rid of mice in walls is more difficult than mice in the attic since walls provide a smaller area to work with. Hearing mice in walls does provide some reassurance too. We’re not joking either. Mice that are alive in walls still have the opportunity to be caught by a professional mouse exterminator. We’re sure you don’t want dead mice decomposing inside the walls of your property.

4. Start Using Mousetraps

Where mousetraps are used, you should always deploy them responsibly. Classic wooden snap traps can work but success varies greatly depending on the size of the mice infestation. Importantly, you should know that it could take up to a dozen traps to capture just a single mouse. Therefore, you shouldn’t be overly reliant on mousetraps being your only mice control tactic. Beyond classic wooden snap traps, there are bait traps, multiple-capture live traps and glue traps too. When deploying mousetraps, make sure to lay a combination of different types to stand the best chance of catching intruding critters.

5. Choose Mousetrap Bait Carefully

Removing pesky mice starts with understanding their diet and what they love to eat. In short, choosing mousetrap bait carefully means you stand a better chance of conquering your mice infestation. Mice love to snack on things like bacon, chocolate, dried fruit, oatmeal and spreads. All these baits can be applied to your mousetraps to try and draw in a particular intruder. When setting baited traps, always tie the bait to the trigger with either a fishing line or dental floss. Bait can also be safely secured in place with a hot glue gun. If you’re wondering how often to set fresh bait, the answer is every couple of days.

6. Place Mousetraps In Strategic Locations

There’s no point placing mousetraps in areas that mice avoid. Firstly, you’ll want to deploy traps perpendicular to the walls in your home. Remember, the trigger section of traps should always face your baseboards. By doing this, mice will run directly towards the bait as they naturally travel along walls. If you ignore this tactic, you risk mice triggering mousetraps from the wrong direction, hindering their success in turn. Importantly, mice never travel further than 10 or 25 feet from their nesting locations. Therefore, mousetraps should always be set in areas with warning signs like rodent droppings. Lastly, don’t just leave mousetraps in the same location. Mice move around so constant deploying and redeploying of the traps is key.

7. Don’t Ignore Bait Packages

Beyond selecting and setting your own mice bait, remember that bait packages, or bait stations, exist too. These meals are usually sealed within plastic wrapping so mice can easily obtain access to the preserved bait. When successfully used, mice feed on this fresh bait and die. Nevertheless, trained mice exterminators should always handle products like these. The reason being that bait packages threaten the health and safety of you, your children and your pets in the wrong hands.

8. Regularly Practice Good Sanitation

While this tactic won’t get rid of mice, it’ll help to prevent more mice intruding both now and in the future. Remember, mice can survive on just 3 to 4 grams of food a day. Therefore, you should diligently remove any food waste from the floor. Always make sure to vacuum up things like crumbs or other spillages. Don’t stop there because you also need to wipe down counters, eliminate residue, and prevent any easy access to food sources. Other good kitchen habits include storing food in an airtight jar or container while ensuring garbage is securely stored in trashcans with a closed lid. You’re asking for trouble if you leave plastic trash bags around for mice to chew through with their teeth.

9. Think Outside The House Too

So far, this blog has explained methods you can take inside your home but don’t ignore the outside too. Remember that mice started life outside before entering your property. Therefore, you should eliminate potential nesting areas around your foundation. These include weeds and burrows and other debris. One thing you can do to landscape your home’s exterior is lining the foundation with a strip of heavy gravel. This helps to clear the nesting areas where mice frequent before effortlessly breaching gaps in your foundation. Elsewhere, you can remove bird feeders and regularly trim fruit trees and plants to remove food sources and deter rodents. Lastly, garbage should be disposed of regularly and placed as far away from your home as possible.

10. Let Cats Do Their Bit Too

Everybody knows that cats enjoy hunting mice. But remember, this is no substitute compared to the effectiveness of a professional mice exterminator. That said, it has been known for cats to catch mice without homeowners lifting a finger. Historically, human beings, particularly farm owners, have used animals to control rodent populations.

Terminix Canada Is The Best Way To Eliminate Your Mice Problem For Good

Offering 24/7 support, our rodent control specialists will tackle the mice problem plaguing your home. Learn more about our rodent inspection, rodent defence, and rodent monitoring. Find your closest Terminix Canada branch today!