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House Mice (Mus domesticus), alongside rats, are the most common pest species we deal with and they are one of the main rodent pest species worldwide. As their name suggests, house mice have evolved to live inside our homes because our homes provide them with food and shelter. This evolution has resulted in several characteristics that enable them to be a very efficient pest inside a property. An adult mice has the ability to fit into a hole as small as 5mm, they can survive on very small amounts of food and they reproduce very quickly – a single female mouse can produce 60 offspring in a year.
Problems Caused by Mice
Mice represent a health risk due to the fact that they have very little bladder or bowel control - meaning that they urinate and defecate wherever they go including on kitchen surfaces and in cupboards. The diseases contained in mouse faeces and urine include salmonella E.coli and leptospirosis.How do we Treat Them?
The key to effective mouse control is being one step ahead of the breeding cycle of mice by ensuring that the controls we deploy are more effective than the mice are at reproducing. To start we undertake with a survey of the property to establish the severity and dispersal of the problem, identification of mouse runs evidenced by steaks as well as looking at entry points both internally and externally. Once we have surveyed the property we will deploy appropriate control measures – in most cases we will deploy rodenticide (poison) as it is the most effective way to quickly control a mouse problem. Rodenticide is never deployed where it can be accessed by children or pets and prior to deployment we will undertake a risk assessment with your input to ensure there is no risk to anyone in the household. A question we are often asked about the use of rodenticide is whether there will be dead mice or bad smells in the property, the reality is that very rarely are either of these an issue due to the fact that most mice will either return to the nest or go outside as well as the fact that dead mice rarely generate a strong smell. Treatment for mice is undertaken over a course of treatment visits and we will return at frequent intervals to assess the amount of rodenticide taken against the level of activity seen in the property. Once we get to the stage where we have control of the problem, we will undertake proofing works to your property both internally and externally – the function of this is to minimise the risk of a repeated issue with mice. Proofing usually involves covering external entry points such as air vents to prevent access and blocking accessible holes internally where mice have previously been active.