How to Get Rid of Mice in An Apartment

Mice may look cute and harmless, but finding them in your apartment can be a serious problem. They can damage your belongings, get into your cabinets and contaminate food, and spread disease through droppings and potential bites.

The best way to keep pests away is to call your local Pest Control Services Williamsburg, but you can also take alternative steps to having a professional service do the work for you. It can also be less expensive in the long run, just as long as you take action early enough to get rid of the mice and keep them out.

Alert Your Landlord

First things first, at the first sign of a mouse problem, whether you find droppings or you see one of them scurry across the floor or counter-top you need to inform your landlord. It could be a smaller indication of a larger possible issue and you certainly don’t want to pay rent for tiny furry roommates.

Locating Entry Points

If mice are getting into your home, there has to be some place they are finding a way inside. It’s up to you to identify that location and close it off. You can look in some of the most popular areas where openings can occur such as cracks and gaps near window and door frames, or in places where holes exist near plumbing, under cabinets and shelves, anywhere the outside can make its way inside.

Once you find these vulnerabilities, fortify them by filling gaps, closing holes, and placing restrictive apparatuses to prevent more mice from inviting themselves inside.

Keep a Clean Home

Mice are coming inside because they are finding food and suitable shelter. That can be a sign that your home isn’t as clean as it could (or should) be and you have some work to do. This includes not keeping dirty dishes in the sink, placing food in airtight containers instead of bags and boxes, and putting things in the refrigerator to make it tougher to reach. Clean your counter-tops and shelves, throw out old and expired food and reduce the number of places for mice to hide.

Traps and Bait Options

There are many different types of mousetraps out there. The one you choose can bring many pros and cons. Glue traps can be inhumane and they rely on you to do the killing as the animal is stuck to the trap unable to escape and the longer you forget to check the trap, the longer the mouse suffers. Poison traps can be problematic as the animal can eat the poison, then go disappear into the walls of your home to die and decompose, causing a bad odor to permeate for weeks.

Standard mousetraps are a good idea because they can kill the mouse instantly and while you need to clean up the corpse after the trap has been triggered, you’re not the one doing the killing. Whichever you use, be sure to monitor your traps and bait often so you’re not living with a rotting dead animal in a dark corner of your apartment.