How To Get Rid Of Mice In The Attic (Quickly & Easily!)
Mice are among the most dangerous household pests. Aside from stealing your food and ruining your old clothes, mice can also pose a threat to your health. Examples of diseases mice may spread include the Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, leptospirosis, and rat-bite fever.
Addressing your mouse problem as soon as possible is crucial. You have to find where they are in your home and drive them away for good. If the mice are hiding in your attic, there are steps you can take to get rid of them.
To capture the mice, you first have to make them stay in the attic by sealing all possible exit points. Follow that by laying down a mouse trap with peanut butter as the bait. Get in touch with animal control after capturing the mice and ask them what to do with the critters.
Mice are in your attic because they are just trying to survive, but letting them stay is way too risky. Use the information featured in this article to learn how you can get rid of your unwanted guests safely and effectively.
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Why Are Mice in Your Attic?
You may be wondering why mice are in your attic. It’s a fair question to ask and there are numerous possible answers. Let’s go through some of those answers below.
The Mice Are Looking for Food
Like all other living things, mice are driven by a primal desire to survive. They are willing to go scrounging for food anywhere, even if that means venturing into unfamiliar territory.
That still begs the question of why they’re in your attic. The answer could be because the mice have found items in there they find suitable as food. They’ll munch on seeds that may have gotten into your attic from trees standing outside.
The mice may also be hanging out in your attic because they’ve found food elsewhere in your home. For now, they are willing to bide their time in the attic and pounce when your food is unguarded.
The Mice Are Looking for Shelter
The climate may be harsh in your neck of the woods. Winters are particularly rough for rodents so they seek shelter in any warm place nearby. Your warm attic will be very appealing to mice looking for some shelter from the cold.
Mice may also stay in your attic because it’s a part of your home that hardly sees any activity. They may see it as a place where they can stay for a while and not worry about potential predators. Attics used as storage will be even more appealing to mice. It’s easy for them to get comfortable in there knowing they have so many places to stay warm and hide in.
The Mice Can Access Your Attic Easily
Household pests such as mice may also stay in your attic simply because they can access it easily. If your attic is easily accessible via trees and other structures, you can count on finding different creatures in there. They may have gone to your attic out of curiosity at first, but they may soon find a reason to stay.
How Can You Tell if Mice Are in Your Attic?
It’s hard to detect mice if you don’t know what to look for. Here in this section, we’ll discuss some of the clearest indicators that you have unwanted visitors staying in your attic.
Odd Sounds at Night
You may not just be imagining things. Those scratching, scurrying, and even squeaking sounds you hear at night may be coming from mice in your attic.
The noises may originate from the attic, but don’t be surprised if you hear them coming from the walls too. The mice may already be creating pathways inside your walls thus causing the noises to come from more places.
Holes along Wooden Surfaces
Take the time to inspect your home as soon as you start hearing those odd noises. Go up to your attic and start looking along the walls. You may find that the mice have created some small holes. If you cannot find any holes right away, try to look for some wood shavings instead. The shavings may eventually lead you to the spots where the mice are staying.
Droppings Present behind Appliances and Pieces of Furniture
The presence of mouse droppings is the clearest indicator you’re dealing with an invasion. However, you may not spot those droppings right away.
Mice are clever enough not to leave their waste in places where potential threats can spot them easily. That’s why homeowners who think they have a mouse problem should check behind their large appliances and pieces of furniture.
How Do You Get Rid of the Mice in Your Attic?
After confirming that mice are indeed in your home, you need to capture them as soon as possible. The steps detailed below outline how you can capture the mice in your attic.
Step 1: Prepare Your Mice Catching Equipment
You’ll need a few items before you can start catching mice. They include some gloves, suitable bait, and a trap.
The gloves are necessary because they keep your scent off whichever trap you’re using. Mice can detect our distinctive scent and they may even stay away from an enticing treat if they sense danger. Using gloves with no strong scent will prevent the mice from wising up to your plan.
As for the bait, you have a few options to choose from here. Cheese can actually work as bait and the same goes for beef jerky. Still, peanut butter is probably the item most mice find irresistible so use that if you have it.
Choosing the right mouse trap is also important. You want a trap that you can handle without feeling too squeamish. If you want to avoid harming the mice, metal cages work great as traps. Just know that you’ll have to handle the trap with the mice likely still moving around inside of it. Snap and electric traps are also available. They will kill the mice they trap, but the captured creatures will not suffer in the process.
Any one of those aforementioned trap options should work fine. We cannot recommend glue traps though because it’s too easy for mice to escape from them. It’s also a good idea to use multiple traps. You want to catch all the mice quickly so lay down multiple traps that can contain all of them.
Step 2: Seal the Exit Routes away from Your Attic
You now have to trap the mice inside your attic. To do that, you’ll have to close off all the possible paths away from it. Close off any opening no matter how small because mice are adept at squeezing into narrow spaces.
Step 3: Lay Down the Traps
It’s now time for you to lay down the traps. Keep the traps close to the walls because the mice often run to those spots. You can also position the traps close to holes in the wall as the mice are likely to approach them.
Also, avoid placing too much bait in the traps before laying them down. Placing too much bait could allow the mice to retrieve the treats without triggering the trap.
Step 4: Check Up on the Traps Frequently
You should check on the traps twice per day after setting them down. Some mice may have already triggered the traps so others investigating them will not be caught. You have to reset the traps periodically to get rid of all the mice inside your attic.
Step 5: Deal with the Captured Mice
All that’s left is to deal with the mice you captured. To figure out what to do, you should contact animal control in your area. Ask them how you should handle live mice or how to properly dispose of dead mice. Follow their instructions so you can finally be rid of your rodent problem.
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Related Questions
How do you prevent mice from getting inside your attic?
To keep mice out of your attic, you need to make it inaccessible to them. Close any small openings the mice can get through and trim tree branches they may use to climb into your home. Clearing out your yard is also recommended. Doing that will eliminate any hiding places close to your home that the mice can use.You should also pay more attention to how you dispose of your garbage. Keep your garbage containers tightly sealed and don’t leave any food out that may attract mice to your property. Make sure to dispose of any leftovers in your pet’s bowl as well.
Will the mice leave on their own?
It’s highly unlikely that the mice in your attic will voluntarily leave. Shelter and food are incredibly important and they will not give those things up willingly. You have to be proactive when dealing with mice in your home because nothing will change otherwise.
Gary Evans is passionate about home improvement. He loves finding out how to make improvements in the easiest, most practical, and most affordable ways. Upgrading his home kitchen is one of his ongoing hobbies. Gary is also a long-time content creator and enjoys spending his free time tending to his hydroponic vegetable garden.
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