A little grey House Mouse is sitting by its nest in an old antique chair.

To effectively prevent a mouse infestation, it is essential to understand common mouse behaviors and how they move throughout a house. One unique aspect of mouse communication is scent marking, which serves various purposes in mouse colonies.

In this article, the mouse control experts at Precise Termite & Pest Control share what they know about scent marking and how this mouse behavior impacts household eradication and extermination efforts.

What Is Scent Marking?

Scent marking is a mouse behavior that involves using scent glands to mark objects or territories.

It is a crucial aspect of mouse communication and a way for mice to share information with each other. Marking behavior can include rubbing parts of the body on surfaces to leave behind a scent, as well as urinating and defecating in targeted places to mark territory.

Mice often use scent marking in places they spend a lot of time in, such as around food sources, along walls, and on safe surfaces in a home. These markings accumulate with time and establish scent trails for other mice to identify and follow.

How Mouse Communication Works

Mice communicate using highly specialized scent glands located in their cheeks, tails, and feet. Mice rub these parts of their bodies against surfaces, leaving behind a distinctive scent. Mice produce pheromones and chemical signals to communicate everything from stress to a desire to find a mate.

In addition to scent marking, mice also communicate in other ways. For example, they make high-pitched sounds to communicate with each other to show aggression, attract mates, and express distress. Mice can produce sounds that can’t be detected by the human ear, which is essential to mice mating behavior.

What Does Mouse Infestation Smell Like?

Mouse infestations come with distinctive odors that are unpleasant, yet being able to recognize the smell can help you detect a mouse problem early on.

Scent marking can contribute to foul odors caused by mice in your home. You may also notice a strong, ammonia-like smell caused by mouse urine. Mice fecal matter produces an earthy or musky smell and can cause health concerns as well as unpleasant odors.

If mice die in your home, you may smell decaying flesh and a disturbing rotting smell. Mice nesting materials produce a musty odor, especially in hidden areas like attics and crawl spaces. However, these smells won’t linger forever and will slowly dissipate when all mice are gone from your house.

How to Handle a Mouse Infestation

If you notice signs of foul odors around your home, mice scent marking could be to blame for keeping mice populations healthy and thriving where they don’t belong. Fortunately, the highly experienced extermination professionals at Precise Termite & Pest Control are skilled in removing mice and rats from challenging spaces to prevent the spread of disease and give you peace of mind.

At Precise, we offer free inspections to help you assess your mouse infestation situation and devise a customized solution. Before your extermination appointment, we recommend clearing away household items from mouse-prone areas and making a list of questions you have for your exterminator.

If you address mouse communication patterns at the first sign of mouse activity, you’ll be able to rid your home of these pests more quickly and easily. For your free inspection or to learn more about our experience with common mouse behaviors, please contact us online or call us at 866-971-2847.

Wood Mouse Apodemus sylvaticus

Foraging is the process by which mice search for and gather food to fuel their bodies. Mice are opportunistic and will eat a wide variety of foods depending on what’s available in their environment. However, they tend to gravitate toward certain foraging routes, feeding times, and strategies based on their instincts and learned behaviors.

In this Precise Termite & Pest Control article, we discuss feeding behavior in mice to help you understand mice feeding habits and prevent household infestations.

What Do Mice Eat?

Mice are omnivores and eat a varied diet with grains, fruits, seeds, vegetables, and meat. They may also eat non-food items like paper and fabric. These are highly adaptable pests that can survive on nearly anything available to them.

However, mice instinctively prefer high-energy foods that keep their bodies going strong for as long as possible. Foods that are high in protein, sugar, and fat are attractive to mice. Therefore, they are drawn to foods like peanut butter, cheese, and cereal.

When Do Mice Eat?

Mice feeding habits are also dictated by the time of day. Mice are naturally nocturnal, which means there is more nighttime feeding behavior in mice.

Mice are most active when there is low light, an adaptation they have developed to escape predators. Foraging often begins around dusk and continues until dawn the next morning. During the daytime, mice tend to be less active but may still move around in dark corners and spaces untouched by human activity.

How Often Do Mice Eat?

Behavioral studies show that mice usually eat between 15 and 20 times per day. They eat frequent, small meals, with just small amounts of food per eating session. Mice may snack every couple of hours throughout the night but also hoard food in hiding spots to stash it away for later.

Common Mice Feeding Habits

It is typical for mice to stick to established routes when foraging for food. They leave trails along walls and under furniture to access food, which may be marked with pheromones and urine. Mice stay along wall edges and furniture to protect themselves from potential predators and stay safe away from open spaces.

Mice are scavengers and will hunt for food scraps left behind in your kitchen and other parts of your home. They look for pet bowls, open containers of leftovers, and bird feeders for food sources.

Mice have good memories and can easily recall potential food source locations. Feeding behavior in mice is usually a solitary endeavor; however, mice living in colonies may forage in groups or communicate with other mice about where food exists.

Using This Knowledge to Prevent Mice Infestations

Now that you better understand the feeding behavior of mice, you can look for signs of mice foraging in your home. You might notice urine or fecal marks in active foraging locations or see gnawed materials in places where mice look for food. Inspect hidden areas of your home, such as behind furniture and inside drawers, to look for food stashes that mice have left behind.

Mice tend to spend more time foraging for food in the winter, so take seasonal changes into account as you inspect your home for signs of mice activity. Mice rely heavily on stored food in the winter when resources are scarcer. Therefore, you may have a better opportunity to find their food stashes when the weather is cold.

Precise Termite & Pest Control offers professional mice and rat removal services in northern New Jersey. Our highly skilled and trained exterminators understand mice feeding habits and know how to target mice populations at their food sources for the quickest and most effective results.

Please contact us online or call us at 866-971-2847 for your free mice inspection or to learn more about feeding behavior in mice.

How to Mouse-Proof Your Home: Identifying and Sealing Entry Points

One cute rat looking out of a wooden box

Mice are stealthy little rodents able to squeeze through spaces as small as a dime and resilient enough to withstand all New Jersey’s weather conditions.

Although some mice activity may be inevitable, you can be proactive about pest control by mice-proofing your home in various ways. Among these ways are properly sealing food, regularly disposing of garbage, using targeted scents, and sealing common entry points.

In this article, the extermination experts at Precise Termite & Pest Control discuss how to eliminate mouse entry points for a rodent-free home.

Common Mice Entry Points for Houses

One of the most common ways mice enter homes is through cracks in the brick mortar or pipes around your house’s foundation. It is also typical for mice to come inside through gaps or holes in doors and windows.

Mice enter homes through walls, basements, and attics when holes and cracks develop over time. You might also notice mice entry points in your roof, garage, siding, and around the electrical meter.

How to Find Mice Entry Points

Are you wondering how to find where mice are getting in your house?

This is a common question our customers ask and something we’ve learned extensively about over 30 years of working in this industry. The first step in identifying mouse entry points is to carefully inspect all areas of your home for any cracks, gaps, or holes.

You’ll often find these things around windows, doors, and the foundation. Also, check for open areas around pipes and where electrical wires enter your house.

How to Seal Off Mice Entry Points

There are a few different ways to seal entry points that mice can fit through. For example, you can use expanding foam, steel wool, or caulk to fill in gaps. Weatherstripping and metal vent covers are also helpful. Avoid using anything soft for sealing because mice’s sharp teeth are more than capable of chewing through soft materials.

Another tip for how to eliminate mouse entry points is to install door sweeps to block openings under your doors if they don’t close tightly. A door sweep is a type of weatherstripping that seals the gap between the door and the threshold. By installing one, you’ll not only keep mice away but also prevent dust and insects from entering while better controlling your home’s temperature during hot and cold weather.

Professional Help with How to Eliminate Mouse Entry Points

Precise Termite & Pest Control excels at identifying and sealing off mice entry points for houses like yours in Northern New Jersey. Our rodent removal services target sneaky mice that squeeze into inaccessible areas and evade DIY pest control methods.

As a preventative measure, we highly recommend our rodent-repellant treatment, a new service that involves applying an all-natural, organic-based oil treatment around exterior foundation walls. Finding and sealing off each and every mouse entry point is extremely difficult, even for highly trained professionals. Therefore, a repellent treatment like the one we offer creates a protective barrier around your home so that rodents turn around and run the other way instead of making their way inside.

At Precise, we offer free home inspections to check for mice activity and recommend treatment plans based on your home’s unique needs.

Please call us today at 866-971-2847 or fill out our online form to schedule your inspection or ask any questions about our mice control techniques.

the rat hides under wooden planks and looks out. High quality photo

As experts in the rodent extermination business, there’s a familiar story we hear far too often among New Jersey homeowners. Many people get rid of mice in their homes, only to experience more mice again shortly after.

Unfortunately, this is a typical situation after someone takes a DIY attempt at mouse control without professional help or implementing new, proactive measures.

Here are some tips for breaking mouse infestation cycles and keeping rodents out of your house long-term.

Food Is Still Readily Available

If you still have accessible food in your home, mice will come back and find it. Food is one of the top things that entice mice to enter a house.

To prevent future infestations, ensure that all food is properly stored in airtight containers and that crumbs are promptly cleaned up. Don’t leave pet food out for mice to find, and store trash in cans with locking lids.

You Have Ideal Mice Breeding Conditions

Mice breed faster than most other animals, so you need to get a handle on your mice situation before they start having babies.

Mice often give birth to babies every three to four weeks when they have a safe, warm place to mate and give birth. Ideal conditions for mice breeding include temperatures between 65 to 75 degrees, alternating periods of light and dark, quiet spaces without vibrations, and strong odors due to spoiled food and mice urine.

You Haven’t Eliminated Mice Nests

Mice build nests for shelter and to raise their young. These nests are often in a home’s walls, basements, attics, and cluttered places. If you bait and trap your mice but don’t address their nests, new mice can find their way inside and have an easier start at life thriving and breeding inside your home.

Easy Entry Points Exist

After exterminating mice, it is crucial to seal up existing entry points so that new mice don’t take their place. Mice are tiny rodents that can squeeze their way through minor cracks and gaps that often go unnoticed. You’ll find these gaps around pipes, baseboards, and windows.

You Need to Call a Professional Exterminator

Many homeowners aren’t able to assess the extent of their mice infestations and only scratch the surface of the problem with DIY traps. However, professional mouse control services like what we offer at Precise Termite & Pest Control address both extermination and prevention.

Our exterminators are trained to handle live mice, so you aren’t at risk of getting bitten, plus dead mice that can spread disease. Mice extermination can be frustrating, dangerous, and ineffective if you try to handle everything yourself. Fortunately, we specialize in prompt, affordable mouse control and have the latest and greatest equipment to tackle all sizes and types of rodent problems.

We have over 30 years of experience in New Jersey mouse control and are available for free inspections. Living in fear of mice coming back into your home is no way to live, and you deserve a safe place to call home with peace of mind.

Please contact us online or call 866-971-2847 to stop the cycle of mouse problems and live in a rodent-free home now and in the future.

mousetrap and cheese

As a smart and creative human, you might perceive mice as low-intelligence beings you could undoubtedly outwit on any given day.

However, mice actually have a brain-to-body mass ratio that is about the same as humans. Mice are surprisingly smart and able to use their learning and memory skills to their advantage after taking up residence in your home.

From the extermination pros at Precise Termite & Pest Control, here are some tips for how to catch a mouse when traps don’t work.

Issues with a Mouse Avoiding Traps

Mice are smart and sneaky little rodents skilled at finding various hiding spots in a house.

For example, mice may dodge traps and hide in attics, basements, and crawl spaces because they are dark, quiet, and often free from human activity. They might also hide in walls after chewing through drywall and kitchen pantries because of the abundance of food inside.

Many things attract mice to a house, including easily accessible food, standing water, piles of clutter, and warm spaces in the winter. This is problematic because mice are known disease carriers that can spread hantavirus, leptospirosis, and bacterial infections to humans.

How to Handle Mice Avoiding Traps

If you are dealing with mice that aren’t falling for the traps you’ve set out, it’s time to take other action.

You could start by setting various types of traps, such as glue, snap, and live traps to see if one is more effective than the rest. Another idea is to try different baits, such as peanut butter, cheese, bacon, or cotton balls they could use for their nests.

When existing traps don’t work, you could also try using nuts, seeds, marshmallows, and pet food as bait. However, be careful not to use too much bait because doing so can allow mice to eat the bait without triggering the trap to snap. Setting up more traps in strategic areas can increase your chances of catching mice in your home.

It’s crucial to place mouse traps in high-traffic areas that are directly in their paths. Placement is usually most successful along the walls and when you place the bait facing the wall. After you catch a mouse, clean or replace the trap so that it doesn’t contain previous mouse debris that might deter other mice from entering the trap next.

Beyond just traps, you might also try natural deterrents for mice, such as essential oils in strong scents like peppermint and citronella. Cat litter and bay leaves may also help deter mice because of their strong sense of smell.

Mouse Traps Not Working? Call Us!

If none of these DIY techniques are working, it’s time to call in the professionals. Precise has been helping northern New Jersey homeowners get rid of their mice for over 30 years.

Our mouse control services eliminate and prevent future infestations so that you always feel safe and comfortable in your home. Our exterminators are experienced in using a combination of mouse control techniques, such as trapping, poisoning, habitat modification, and exclusion.

When you call us to handle your mice situation, you reduce your risk of bites and disease while learning practical tips for keeping your home mouse-free in the future. For your free mouse inspection or to learn more about our professional mouse control, please call us at 866-971-2847 or contact us online.