Every year, thousands of homeowners across Alabama struggle with infestations of mice living in their houses. Once mice get into a home, they tend to proliferate, so what starts as just two or three mice beneath your roof can soon escalate into dozens of the nuisance rodents. However, even with so many mice scurrying about between their walls, many homeowners don’t realize they have a problem for several weeks or even months. That’s because mice are incredibly stealthy critters that move around at night, adeptly evading encounters with people.
Fortunately, mice do leave signs of their presence in a home and the more mice there are, the more visible these signs will become. Continue reading to learn how you can determine if there are mice in your home in Alabama.
Identifying Mouse Activity in Your House
Mouse droppings are the telltale sign that most commonly leads Alabama homeowners to discover they have a rodent problem. Mice aren’t very careful about where they do their business, which means you might just find droppings sitting in the middle of your floor or on a kitchen counter. However, mouse droppings are typically found in more remote areas where mice live by day, including kitchen cabinets, bathroom closets, attics, and crawl spaces. Mouse droppings tend to be ¼ inch or smaller and have been said to resemble black grains of rice. By contrast, rat droppings are wider and at least twice as large, while the droppings of insects tend to be much smaller.
Another common sign that you have a mouse infestation in your Alabama home is finding smudge marks along walls and baseboards. Mice have oily fur, which will leave a stain if they repeatedly rub up against a particular surface. If you find a particularly dark stain on a baseboard, this is a sign that rodents often travel through this area. Following smudge marks is a reliable way to figure out where mice are most active on your property.
Mice are destructive critters that frequently gnaw on insulation, electrical wires, drywall, flooring, pipes, and just about everything else. This habitual gnawing may be what tips you off to a rodent problem in your home. If you begin to notice this type of damage to any materials in your house, it’s certain that you’re dealing with a mice infestation. Inspect rarely visited areas of your home, like the attic and crawl space, for further signs of gnawing damage caused by mice to see how widespread the infestation is.
Another sign of a mouse infestation in your home in Alabama is discovery nests made by mice. These crafty rodents piece together warm nests from shreds of various materials such as paper, cardboard, insulation, and straw. While mouse nests tend to be well-hidden, you might stumble upon them in remote areas such as beneath a garage shelf or behind a stack of boxes in your attic. An empty nest may merely indicate a previous rodent problem, but you should stay vigilant for other signs of mice in your house just in case.
While mice aren’t particularly loud, it’s possible that you’ll hear them moving about in the night when your home is quiet. If you’ve seen other signs of possible rodent activity, keep both ears open after dark. You might hear mice squeaking or scratching about as they move through your walls or in your ceiling. Alternatively, you might smell the mice before seeing them. Mice use their urine to scent mark areas, which can create a musty odor that becomes more noticeable if multiple mice begin marking the same area.
The Top Mice Removal Company in Alabama
Have you discovered any of these common signs of mice living in your home? If you have, give SafeSpray Pest Control a call today to schedule mice control services in Alabama!
