When a mouse comes into your home it really feels like you have experienced an intrusion that makes it hard for you to rest easy, cook, or just have peace of mind, at least that is how most customers I have encountered have explained their feelings about mice invasions to me.
So, when do mice sleep? Mice are for the most part nocturnal so they will sleep during the daytime. You can hear them scratching around in the walls at night and the next morning you wake up to the aftermath in your kitchen, bathrooms, or laundry rooms.
Keep reading to hear more about mice sleeping habits and proper inspection and treatment to be rid of them.
Here is a link that will take you to a page and share how to get rid of mice in your home by yourself using commercial rodenticides and my recommended products page will give you an informative guide on how to place the bait and where you can purchase it. (Recommended Products Page).
Like I mentioned above mice sleep during the day but a question you might ask is where are they. Or where do mice sleep I will answer that question right now.
Where Do Mice Sleep In My House?
Mice have 3 necessities that are vital to their survival, and that is shelter, food, and water.
Mice will pick places where they can be protected from disruption or human interaction. This will usually mean they are nesting in wall voids, attics, crawl spaces, basements, and under or behind counter build-outs.
I have found mice in unlikely places as well. If your water heater or air conditioner is in a closet they will likely nest near those areas too because of the condensation and dripping water each of them can provide.
During the colder months, it is not uncommon to see mice nesting and sleeping in insulation to stay warm.
You may also see mice during the day is if they have not found food for a while or they have a breed a large colony.
Will Mice Leave On Their Own?
No, one thing to keep in mind is that mice will not just move on, once they have decided to nest in an area they will stay there and continue to grow their colony as long as they feel safe in the environment.
Mice enjoy sharing space with humans because they can indulge in the many great things we have to offer them such as warmth, shelter, food, and water just to name a few.
In order to get rid of mice, you will have to take a proactive approach by setting traps, calling an exterminator, or reading the rest of this article so I can tell you how exterminators get rid of mice.
How Do I Get Rid Of Mice?
To get rid of mice you will want to do an inspection. This inspection will include going around your home with a flashlight and looking for signs of mouse feces. (this is gross but I am sure you can understand that if you are suspect of mice in your home you have already come across this).
You will get a good indication from your inspection as to how many mice you may have in your home.
For example, if you are only seeing mouse poop in one or maybe 2 locations this would be considered a small mouse problem, whereas if you see poop around several places in your home you can assume that the problem has been going on for several months and there can be more than a couple dozen.
You will want to clean up all the poop you find and place bait in the areas that you are finding the mouse poop.
After you have placed the bait around your home you can carefully monitor how much is being eaten and where the poop is coming from.
Mice do not have control over their bowels so they will poop where they eat.
A few things to keep in mind here.
- Never place mouse bait in an area that a pet can get into it. If your mammal pet is under 10 lbs. and ingests mouse poison the effects can be lethal.
- Mouse poison is a temporary thing, less is more and you don’t want to make the mistake of thinking that you can just put a lot out there to get rid of your rodent problems. So I do recommend only placing the poison in the high traffic areas that the mice have been.
- Once you have rid yourself of these unfriendly visitors I recommend getting all the poison out of your home as to not invite a new colony to pay you a visit.
Once the mice are gone you can place outdoor bait stations outside your home that can be a preventative measure to stop future infestations. (be sure not to place these bait stations in areas where they can flood. If mouse bait gets wet it is not effective anymore and you will need to discard it.
I mentioned above that you can treat the rodents on your own. Check out my rodent recommended products page here to get more info on how you can get rid of mice using a rodenticide.
This page serves as a resource that can help you to get rid of rodents with confidence.
Another fact is that mice are prolific breeders, female mice can start breeding as early as 6 weeks old so as you can imagine if you have a mouse problem within a couple of months without taking action you will have a big mouse problem.
You should know that it takes time for this process to play itself out. The longest it has taken me as an exterminator to get rid of a large infestation was 8 weeks.
In restaurants, it is a little different, most restaurants have to keep bait stations outside of their establishment as a preventative measure to ensure that they don’t have issues within.
How Do You Know When All The Mice Are Gone?
The only way to really know when mice are gone is for several weeks you have not seen their fecal matter throughout your home.
So if you are monitoring the situation by cleaning up after them and keeping a vigilant eye on all the movement, and there is no more sound coming from your walls, that is a good indication that you are in the clear.
This would also be a good time to remove the mouse bait from your home. In fact, throughout the process, if you are seeing less you should only put the bait in places you are seeing activity.
This way you can slowly move the mice out of your home.
Summary
I have helped many people conquer their mouse problem so with a good inspection and proper follow up you can get rid of this problem for yourself. Mice, in general, are nocturnal so if you hear scratching and scampering in the night this could very well be the issue. Make sure that you protect your loved ones and pets from any dangers that can come from using traps or rodenticides in your home. I can stress doing this process correctly enough only because I take it very seriously.
I hope this article was able to help you with your mouse problems.
So, as always, “Thanks For Buggin’ Out With Me”
The Pest Insider
Related Articles
What Do Exterminators Do To Stop A Mouse Problem?
Most Pest Applicators use poison to stop a mouse problem. If you are not a pesticide person and you don’t mind disposing of mouse carcasses traps work too. There is, however, a refined technique that should be implemented.
Ok, but when does mouse poison expire? Mouse poison doesn’t expire. As long as bait stays dry and the smell of the bait can still attract the rodent to it.
Mouse poison can last several years or a mere few days.
Where you live can also play a huge factor in how long mouse bait can work for you. Moisture will breakdown the grains and spoil the bait over time if it is left in an area where there is a lot of humidity and heat.
