Mice and Humans
Mice are a serious threat to human health and even to human survival. They have been infecting houses since we stopped being nomadic and settled into an agrarian lifestyle. The first houses we built, the first grain siloes the first time we had more to carry than would fit on our backs is when rodents started to see us as a food source. Our fires gave them warmth, our homes, shelter, our kitchens food and it did not take long for them to learn that we were the best option they had.
Native or not Native
This started in Europe which is where house mice, sewer rats and roof rats come from. Until the ships started sailing to distant shores there were no house mice in America. The Mus musculus is the Latin term and it is not similar at all to the native wild mice we have in this country. The mice that arrived immediately started infesting our homes. While wild mice may enjoy access to our gardens, field and even food left outside the house mouse was far more insidious. They would move into the home to never leave, never going outside again. They would rely on our homes for everything, nesting, food and water which they evolved to go without for long periods.
Mice in walls and attics
Mice learned the best way to stay alive was to not be seen by humans. They will find small openings that would lead them into walls and interior places. Often getting into basements as they used to be the cold clear where food was stored. Now the kitchen is on the main floor but that does not stop them from finding it. They often get into the house by chewing on cracked or broken concrete to make a hole. They can also chew on wall vents, and squeeze through weep vents which are mortarless spaces between bricks and plumbing or electrical openings. They are skilled at finding entryways. As the population grows they will move up stories eventually populating the attic as well. If this is the case you have had mice for years and need to act quickly.
Mice reproduction
Once inside the mice will begin to multiply. It’s common for a mouse to enter your home already pregnant and ready to give birth. They will find a nest and have up to ten babies in a single litter. They can then mate again immediately after. They can have up to fifteen litres a year with a total rate of reproduction in the double digits while their children will be ready to mate just a few weeks after birth. This creates an exponential growth rate in the population that cannot be damaged using traditional traps like snap traps and glue traps. There are simply too many mice to kill and not enough traps to put down.
Mice domestic treatment
While you can try spraying peppermint oil, around the house or leaving balls of clove oil in wall voids there is little you can do to dismay the mice from living in your home and eating your food. As described their population is too big and fast-growing for conventional domestic devices to work. What is needed is something all the mice can be affected by at once. This often results in the use of poison. The domestic poison must be safe as the companies that sell it don’t want a lawsuit. So the active ingredients must be low and the toxicity controlled which makes the poison essentially useless.