How To Keep Mice Out Of Shed (4 Ways To Do It!)

Your shed is an important part of your backyard. It’s typically where we keep the gear that we need to maintain our yards. Given that, most homeowners tend to go in and out of their sheds quite a bit.

Unfortunately, sheds can also be a hotbed for rodent activity. This can cause significant damage to both your shed and the gear that you keep inside of it. Thankfully, there are steps that you can take to resolve a rodent problem like this without having to hire a professional.

Begin by identifying and filling any holes or gaps in your shed’s wall, roof, and door. Next, look for any food lying around which may attract the mice. Destroy any mice nests or shelters you can find. The best way to get rid of mice is removing everything from your shed and wash it thoroughly.

For example, mice like to chew on small items like paper, cloth, and little cardboard boxes. When left unchecked, a group of mice could tear right through any items you have in your shed that are made out of these materials.

They could also start chewing on wires in your shed that enable things like your lawnmower to function properly. This could force you to either have to shell out for the costs of significant repairs or replace a yard tool entirely.

This is one of the more underrated reasons why you need to address your mice problems quickly. Mice have a reproduction process that moves much faster than humans and other types of animals. For example, a female human’s 28-day cycle only takes 4-5 days in a female mouse.

This means that just a pair of mice can grow into a colony of 20 within a single month. In the most extreme situations, a pair of mice can turn into almost a million mice within a year. This means that your infestation will likely only get worse if you don’t deal with it now.

Learning what a rodent infestation looks like is an important part of being able to respond to the situation as quickly and effectively as possible. There are several common signs of this that are worth paying attention to when you go out to visit your shed.

First, you may notice droppings in your shed. These tend to appear like little black grains of rice. They’re usually going to be closest to any food sources that you have in your shed.

Another sign of a rodent infestation is burrowed holes. These tend to occur just outside of your shed and could be how the mice have been getting into the structure.

You should also keep an eye out for items that have been chewed on. These are most common on paper, cloth, and cardboard products so check those first.

It may be difficult to notice at first, but another common sign of a mice infestation is scratching and gnawing in the shed’s walls. This tends to get worse and more noticeable as the mice population on your property grows. As you search for this, keep an eye out for small holes in the wall, as this is another telltale sign of a rodent infestation.

Mice tend to congregate in areas where there are plenty of sources of food for them to choose from. This is a list that can include seeds, nuts, grains, pet food, and even candies.

If you have anything in your shed that you think a mouse would eat, you should either throw that item away or place it in another location. Doing so could lead to the mice to move away from your shed on their own accord.

At the very least, this is a good first step to take because it will ensure that once you do get rid of your mice problem, you won’t have to worry about another one anytime soon.

Mice won’t be able to call your shed home if they aren’t able to get inside of it. Unfortunately, there are many different ways for a mouse to get into a shed so you’ll need to spend some time on this step.

Start by looking for any obvious holes in your shed and sealing those up. You may also need to seal holes under your shed’s door, cracks in its walls, or crevices found throughout its floors.

You should also keep an eye out for burrowed holes on the exterior of your shed. If you find these, you should plug them up. Otherwise, you could be dealing with a new mice infestation in no time.

You may need to hire a professional rodent exterminator if you’ve tried the steps above but haven’t had any success with them. An exterminator will be able to come in, find what you’ve been missing, and solve the problem in a lasting way.

Exterminators may also need to be called for mice infestations that have already grown large. These can be tough to eliminate on your own just because of the sheer number of mice that you’re up against.

Related Questions

Do mice ever leave on their own?

No, mice virtually never leave a location on their own. If you have a mice problem in your shed, then you’re going to have to be proactive in order to solve it.

Will mice leave if they smell a cat or dog?

Yes, studies have shown that mice will vacate an area if they believe that area to be occupied by a cat or dog. Your pet doesn’t even have to kill the mice. As long as their scent is present near and inside of your shed, that may be enough to get rid of the rodents.

How do I get rid of mice without killing them?

If you have mice in your shed but don’t want to kill them, then you may want to invest in some catch and release traps. These enable you to capture the mice and remove them from your property without actually resorting to killing them.