Micecan be very annoying, both at home and in the garden. In homes, they become a problem mainly in autumn and winter, when they seek shelter and food inside buildings. Seewhat damage mice doand how to recognize which species of mice has become your home. What to do when a house mouse, field mouse or forest mouse appeared in the house? We suggest the bestways to get rid of mice from your home and garden !
Mouse in the garden. Most probably it is a forest mouse
Fig. pixabay.com
What damage do mice do?
Mice, although they seem harmless in appearance, and sometimes even nice, cause a lot of damage in homes and farms. The severity of this damage occurs mainly in autumn and winter, whenmice in our homes seek shelter from the cold and food supplies
Therefore they bite through sacks and bags with food, leaving their unpleasant smell and feces.Food contaminated by mice is unfit for consumption and must be discarded
Mice are omnivoresand can also damage electrical cables, various wiring and installations. They chew on newspapers, books, various materials and clothes, and damage the building's insulation elements made of polystyrene or mineral wool. Thereforethe damage caused by micecan cost us dearly. And since mice can climb very high, the attic area is also in danger.
Mice appear mainly in kitchens, pantries, attics and basements.In many homes, a mouse running around in the bedroom or living room is, unfortunately, also not uncommon. Althoughthe presence of mice is mainly exposed to buildings in the villages , located near fields, meadows and forests, mice are also found in houses and blocks in cities. However, they do not belong to flats in blocks of flats. In multi-family buildings, they are a problem rather only in cellars.
Mice also cause great damage in gardensThey eat seeds, fruit and nibble at plants. They are probably the most troublesome in orchards, wheregnaw on the bark of fruit treesIn the fields, they enter the sheaves, damaging them from the inside.
The house mouse is the most common in our homes
Fig. depositphotos.com
What mice can be found in the house and garden?
House mouse(Mus musculus) - a common rodent of small size (7 to 12 cm long body and 5.5 to 11 cm long tail).The upper part of the body is gray, sometimes slightly turning yellow, while the belly is whitish. Slender body with pointed mouth. It lives in meadows, fields, gardens and orchards, where it digs burrows. It does not store supplies for the winter and in the fall it is moved to households, farms and farms. It is most active at night, but it can also feed during the day.
Forest mouse(Apodemus flavicollis) - slightly larger than the domestic mouse (body length 8-13 cm, tail length 9-12 cm). Yellow-brown body, lighter on the neck, white belly. Compared to the domestic mouse, it has much larger ears and eyes. It occurs mainly in forest thickets, parks and gardens. He can seek shelter in winter in households. It is active at dusk and at night.
The field mouse has a black stripe on its back
Fig. pixabay.com
Field mouse(Apodemus agrarius) - a small rodent, similar in size to a house mouse (body length from about 6 to 12 cm, tail from 5 to 9 cm).However, it is easy to distinguish from the house mouse, as its body is yellowish brown with a black stripe running along its spine from head to tail. It lives in meadows and fields, forest areas and various grasslands, parks and gardens. It does not appear in homes, but it can do a lot of damage to the garden. Unlike other species described here, the field mouse feeds mainly during the day.
Bush mouse(Apodemus sylvaticus) - another small rodent, similar in size to a house mouse. It is yellowish-brown in color with a gray tinge on the back and a lighter belly. It feeds mainly at dusk and at night. Like other mice described here, it lives on the edges of forests, parks, fields, glades, and during the winter it moves to buildings.
5 ways to get rid of mice
1. Seal the building and secure the garden area
We should start the fight with mice at home by walking around the propertyin search of gaps and holes through which mice can get into the house Typically, mice find their way through crevices where pipes, cables, windows, and doors enter a building. For this purpose, they often bite the cables or damage the installation.
Suchinspection should be performed primarily at the beginning of autumn , because it is in autumn that mice seek shelter during winter. If we find holes through which the mouse could enter, it is worth protecting such a hole, for example by filling it with plaster. It should be remembered thatthe mouse will squeeze through a really small gapIf we stick the smallest finger somewhere, the mouse will also squeeze there.In autumn in the garden, it is worth installing orchard covers on the trunks of trees fruit. It is worth to put them on young and newly planted trees, most exposed to rodent damage.
2. Odor deterrent
First of allto get rid of mice, both from home and garden , it is worth using natural and environmentally friendly methods.These includeplants that mice do not like to smellThey avoid garlic and onions, and do not like the smell of chamomile, mint and lavender. Therefore, it is worth planting these plants in the garden.
At homein places where mice are found, it is worth spreading out branches of lavender cut from the gardenWe can lay out bags with dried lavender or mint, as well as lavender soaps. Mice also don't like lemons. To do this, the lemon is cut in half and the lemon halves are spread out in different nooks and crannies. As a last resort, you can also try vinegar. Its smell irritates mice as much as us, so let's use it only in places where the smell of vinegar will not bother us.
In autumn,tomato twigs and leaves will also be helpful, the smell of which mice even hateWhen it gets too cold for the tomatoes to still ripen on the bushes, it is worth cutting tomato twigs and arranging them in different places in the garden, in the shed , on the terrace, in the basement or in the pantry.Wherever we are afraid of mice visits.
Gardeners on mice recommendalso elderberry. It is enough to put a handful of crumpled elderberry leaves in an inhabited burrow and the rodents will evacuate from it. This is a way not only for mice but also for voles and a mole.
A cat is a proven way to mice
Fig. pixabay.com
Remember also that mice are afraid of cats. Of course, it's best if we just have a cat at home and it likes to hunt mice. Butmice also avoid places where they can smell a catTherefore, if we do not have our own cat, it is worth asking friends to visit us with their pet once every few days. And, of course, let the cat look into as many rooms as possible during this visit.
3. Mousetraps
In the past, it was very popular to usesnap traps for miceTo lure a mouse, use a bait.It doesn't have to be cheese. A piece of bread or sausage will be equally good. The trap of the mouse's body does not crush it, it only breaks its spine. However, removing dead mice from traps is not a pleasure and may be a bit of a problem.
Therefore, it is now recommendedto use live trapson mice, which are in the form of a small cage. They are also referred to as live-fish. When the mouse becomes interested in the bait, the trap automatically closes. Then we can take her andrelease the mouse in the field or near the forest, far from homeAnd important note here! It is not enough to move the mouse 100 or 200 meters from the house, because it will come back to us soon. The distances must definitely be greater, even 1 km.
Field mouse released from a live trap
Fig. Eerschay, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
The use of restraining traps also imposes some responsibility on us, because the point is not to catch the animal alive and then let the trapped animal die in agony of starvation.Therefore,mousetraps must be checked at least once a dayIn practice, because mice prowl mainly in the evening and at night, it is best to put out the traps with fresh bait in the evening and check their contents in the morning.
4. Electric sound scarers
There are alsoelectric mice scarersavailable in stores. They emit sounds at frequencies inaudible to humans, but burdensome for rodents. Unfortunately, users of these devices very often find them ineffective in deterring mice.
5. Mouse poison
The last resort islaying mouse poison . They can be in the form of granules, cubes or sachets.
Poisoned baits are not recommended mainly due to the risk posed to children and pets. Theoretically, a mouse that eats the poison could then fall prey to a larger predator, which would also be poisoned. Many people are also concerned about the problem of removing dead mice from their property, as well as the unpleasant odor generated when the body of the mice decomposes.
It turns out, however, thatpoison manufacturers thought about all these problems . By choosing a modern bait that meets the highest quality requirements, we can avoid the problems described above.
First of all,the mouse does not die immediately after eating the poisonThis process can take up to several days. The pest feels breathless at first, so that it usually leaves the building in search of more fresh air. The poison also contains substances that cause mummification, i.e.drying the bodies of killed miceThanks to this, they do not decompose and do not emit unpleasant odors.
Examples ofgood quality and effectivepoisons are: RATIMOR paste for mice and rats and PATENRAT granules for mice and rats. Both contain bromadiolone, which belongs to the modern 2nd generation anticoagulants. Usually, one dose of poison consumed is enough to get rid of the mice for good.
For safety reasons, it is required thatmouse poisons should be placed in special deratization stations , sometimes also called feeders. In the deratization station, the poison must be placed in such a way that it does not accidentally leak out. The entrance openings to the deratization station are small enough to allow a mouse or other target rodent to get there, but there is no danger to pets. Additionally,the deratization station should be locked with the key , so that a child does not accidentally get into the poison.
Among the rat poison stations, it is worth paying special attention to the smallstation in our store's offer with a window that allows you to view the poison insideThanks to this, you do not have to open the station every time you want to check the condition of the poison. Due to the small size of this rat station, it can be discreetly hidden in various places where mice roam.Of course, it is secured with a key.
Finally, I would like to recommendthe latest generation RODICUM ALFAmouse poison, which is sold in the form of small containers filled with poison (there are 2 such containers in the package). It is therefore a deratization station with a poison included. Thanks to this, we do not have direct contact with the poison, and we put out the containers already filled with it. The containers are placed every 3 m. Each of them can kill up to 50 mice. If we want to fight only mice, not rats, for example, RODICUM ALFA will be the best solution: -)
