European House mice
Mice are a very dangerous infestation to have in your house. House mice which are the types of mice that infest a home are not native to this continent and originate in Europe where they have lived with humans for tens of thousands of years. Mice started infesting homes the moment humans stopped being nomadic. When we began to farm and had more than we could carry on our backs. Mice have been feeding off us ever since and when ships started sailing from Europe to the Americas the mice came with them.
Mice reproduction
Mice are reproduction machines. They have evolved over thousands of years to be our very own personal pests and they have found ways of living in our homes for as long as they can. They can go long periods without drinking water and can survive off very small amounts of food. They will live in the walls and only come out to find food and then run back in. It’s very hard to catch them and even if you get one in a snap trap there are a dozen more being born. Mice can go from insemination to birth in less than a month. They can become pregnant again immediately after and can have up to fifteen litters in a single year. They can have up to ten pups per litter and they grow into adults in just a couple of weeks and are ready to mate again. Snap traps just are not sufficient to stop them.
Mice feces and Hantavirus
Mice will defecate all over the house. They are not potty trained and even defecate in their nests and on the food that they eat. This is also your food and they will coat it in feces and urine that you may not even notice. Leave a bowl of fruit or a dish of cookies out and they will have at it eating imperceptible amounts and leaving feces and urine all over it. Eating this can cause severe illness so if you think you have mice do not leave any food out and if you do, throw it away.
Mice entryways
Mice, like all rodents, have incisor teeth that continue to grow throughout their life. This allows them to chew on very hard materials for long periods. This allows them to break through plastic, metal and even concrete to make holes to travel into your home. This is one of the ways they can enter a home. They will also happily enter through a door that has been left open.
Commercial mouse treatment
If you are worried about having mice or their feces the best thing to do is call a professional exterminator. They can get rid of the mice faster and more efficiently than you will be able to do using commercial-grade bait. When the mice are gone they can disinfect and clean the mouse feces as well using commercial-grade disinfectants and even reach behind walls with an industrial fogging machine that ensures, no matter where it is, that all the feces has been sterilized.