Tips for How to Get Rid of Mice in Apartments

A mice infestation can be a massive headache in a large house when you aren’t sure where they are coming in from and where they are hiding at any given time. But it can also be frustrating to have mice in an apartment, especially if your small living space is packed with furniture from wall to wall and neighbors are renting space next to you on the other side of those walls.

This article covers how to get rid of mice in an apartment – fast, naturally, professionally, and affordably.

How Mice Get Into Apartments

Apartments are shared spaces that are especially prone to mice activity. Even if you have the most diligently clean and mindful household habits, mice can enter apartment buildings because of other tenants’ spilled food, unsecured containers, and open windows and doors. Mice commonly come into multi-unit apartment buildings through cracks and gaps in floors and hallways. They enter through doors and windows that people leave open, the building’s heating and cooling systems, and even from one apartment to another through ceilings and walls.

What Attracts Mice in an Apartment?

Mice come into apartment buildings in search of food, water, and shelter. Mice can easily enter your space if you or your neighbors leave out food, leave unclean dishes in the sink, or don’t repair holes in your private rooms. Mice activity tends to pick up in the fall when the weather cools off outside. Mice are attracted to clutter in apartments because it provides ample hiding spaces. They enjoy finding dirty floors that aren’t cleaned regularly, trash that isn’t covered or taken out frequently, and original food packages that are easy to chew through in pantry areas.

How to Get Rid of Mice in an Apartment Naturally

For a humane and eco-friendly approach to mice control, you may look for natural solutions for how to get rid of mice in a small apartment. You can place certain scents around your house to deter mice, such as vinegar, peppermint oil, and citronella. Mice tend to avoid areas with strong smells. You can also try placing aluminum foil in mouse-prone areas, try ultrasonic devices that make noises that mice hate, or adopt a cat to keep mice away. Keeping your house clean and tidy and sealing up entry points around your apartment can go a long way in preventing mice infestations in the first place.

Get Professional Help with the Mice in Your Apartment

If you have tried your best but still cannot get mice out of your apartment, don’t delay calling Precise Termite & Pest Control. We know the safest, most humane, and most effective ways to eliminate mice from apartments, and we offer free inspections to help you determine the severity of the problem. Some landlords cover pest control as part of building management, while others expect tenants to find and pay for their own pest control services. So, check your lease or contact the person you rent from to assess your situation.

At Precise Termite & Pest Control, we are committed to helping you get rid of mice in your apartment fast so that you can get on with your life pest-free. Don’t hesitate to contact us online or at 866-971-2847 to get control over the mice in your apartment!

What Smells Will Keep Mice Away from a House?

Certain scents attract mice to indoor spaces, such as sweet fruits, pet food, meat, and greasy food. The reason why people put peanut butter and cheese in mouse baits is because mice love these scents.

But on the other hand, what scents do mice hate, and what smells will keep mice away? Here are some items you can place around your house to deter mice based on their sense of smell.

Vinegar

Many people already have a bottle of vinegar in the house, so this is an easy DIY remedy for mice. Vinegar has a powerful smell, and you can use either white vinegar or apple cider vinegar for this purpose. One idea is to soak cotton balls in vinegar and place them in areas where you think rodents are getting inside. Vinegar can also be used to clean areas that have been affected by rodents.

Citronella

Most people think of mosquitoes with citronella, but some also use it to eliminate mice. The strong smell can be too much for mice to handle, keeping both pests away from your home and property. You can find citronella in the form of sprays, candles, pouches, essential oils, and live plants.

Mothballs

Mothballs prevent moths from eating clothing but may also help keep mice away. The balls contain naphthalene, a substance that mice despise. However, this idea comes with some warnings because studies suggest that naphthalene can also be toxic to humans with excessive or prolonged exposure, causing issues with your lungs and the tissues in your nasal canal.

Cinnamon

Even though you may love the smell of cinnamon in holiday drinks and baked goods, mice don’t feel the same way. The spicy aroma of cinnamon can deter mice while being a pleasant scent for you to have around the house. To use cinnamon as a mouse-deterrent, hide cinnamon sticks under furniture and inside cabinets and drawers.

Mint

Mice are not fans of mint, which is why some people use peppermint oil to keep mice away. Peppermint oil is a heavily concentrated form of the scent, so it may be more effective than just having a live mint plant growing in your home. However, the oil can irritate your skin, so be careful while handling it. Alternatively, you can rub some mint toothpaste along baseboards and around cracks in your home to discourage them from entering.

Chili Powder and Oil

Anyone who has tried spicy food can attest to the fact that chili powder is a lot to handle. For a more concentrated version of this spice, you can also try chili oil around your home to deter mice.

What to Do When Scent-Deterrents Don’t Work

If you have tried a few scent-deterrents to address your mice problem and it’s not working, it’s time to call Precise Termite & Pest Control. We have been keeping Northern New Jersey mice-free for over 30 years and understand the different kinds of mice, the diseases they carry, and the damage they can cause.

Our professional extermination methods go far beyond just adding scents around your home, and we can use a combination of techniques depending on your situation, such as trapping and exclusion. Please get in touch with us at 866-971-2847 for your free mice inspection today!

What Are Ants Attracted to in a House?

If you notice increased ant activity in and around your home, a logical question to ask is what brought them there and how it could have been prevented. With a better understanding of what ants are drawn to, you can get control over a pest situation before it becomes more severe and prevent future infestations too.

So, what attracts ants in the house? Here are the top things that ants love and how you can stop them from affecting your life.

People and Pet Food

Like all living creatures, ants need food to survive. Ants are drawn to food sources that they can access, such as dry goods in your kitchen pantry, trash left outside, and pet food in bowls. Ants are most attracted to sugary foods, such as syrup, honey, jelly, and candy.

Even if you keep your food in tightly sealed containers, ants love to find spills on countertops and floors that you didn’t notice or forgot to clean up. It only takes an ant or two to discover a food source and then leave behind a scent trail to guide the rest of the ant colony to the feast you have provided.

Accessible Water Sources

Ants also need water to survive, so they seek out moisture in any form around a house. Ants need to drink water when thirsty and take it back to stow away for future use in their colonies. Ants can find water sources in a home by accessing pet water bowls, decorative fountains, and moisture left behind from leaky roofs and broken pipes. If you have a plumbing issue in your home, this is very attractive for ants searching for water.

Indoor Houseplants

Another answer to “What are ants attracted to?” is houseplants that you have lovingly placed around your home for decoration and improved air quality. Ants enjoy sweet fragrances and the dampness that houseplants provide. Indoor plants may attract other insects besides ants that leave scents and residues behind, which ants are interested in.

Safe, Warm Shelter

Ants are resilient insects that can thrive outdoors in harsh environments. But they also would love nothing more than to find a safe, warm place to live where they didn’t have to worry about predators, extreme weather, or lack of resources. Ants are attracted to openings in a home that allow them to easily get inside and enjoy a higher quality of life. Common entry points for ants in a home include foundation cracks, gaps along windows and doors, and doors left open.

How to Handle an Ant Infestation

You can do a lot to prevent an ant infestation by eliminating accessible food and water sources, monitoring your houseplants, and sealing up entry points that may lure plants inside. But if ants have already made their way into your home, you need Precise Termite & Pest Control on your side.

Ants are a particularly tricky type of pest to control. DIY ant products may kill existing ants but don’t necessarily solve an infestation and can even worsen the problem. To help you assess what attracts ants in your home, please contact us online or at 866-971-2847 for a free inspection. We will be happy to provide expert guidance about what’s bringing ants inside and resolve the issue efficiently and affordably.

How to Get Rid of Ants in the Dishwasher

Ants sometimes appear in the strangest places in a home, such as the dishwasher. This is a particularly unsettling place because the dishwasher is an appliance you trust to get your dishes and utensils clean enough to eat safely.

From the ant experts at Precise Termite & Pest Control, here is some information about why ants get into dishwashers and what you can do to get rid of them here.

What Draws Ants to Dishwashers?

You might think that a dishwasher is the last place an ant would want to live, especially with all that hot, flowing water on a regular basis. However, dishwashers are attractive to ants because of all the food residue left behind on the dishes you put inside them. Many people leave dirty dishes sitting in the dishwasher for a few days before running it. This is a great opportunity for ants to enter and feast on your leftovers.

Ants can easily hide in the cracks of a dishwasher to avoid drowning or being swept down the drain. Even modern dishwashers have various cracks and openings that offer easy entry points for tiny ants. Common entry points for ants in a dishwasher include side vents, gaps behind the dishwasher, the lower kick plate, and the area where the plumbing connects to the hole in the appliance.

Getting Rid of Dishwasher Ants

If you have an ants-in-dishwasher problem, it’s not enough to simply run the appliance on a hot cycle and assume they all died. Some DIY enthusiasts have tried placing delayed ant lures near dishwashers to poison ants that come into them and then spread the poison through the rest of the colony. Another option is to pour a cup of vinegar combined with boric acid down the dishwasher’s drain to reduce the smell of food residue that attracts ants. You can also scrub the dishwasher with soap and water to clean up food residue, check for leaks around the machine, apply diatomaceous earth around the dishwasher, or place ant bait stations underneath and around it to target the ant colony.

Professional Help for Ants in a Dishwasher

However, one consideration to keep in mind is that you don’t want poisonous substances anywhere near the cups, bowls, plates, and utensils that you will soon be eating with. Never spray pesticides inside a dishwasher because you could unintentionally poison yourself and your family while trying to get an ant problem under control.

The safest and most effective solution is to call Precise Termite & Pest Control for professional help with your ants in dishwasher issue. Ants common to Northern New Jersey are our specialty and what our trained exterminators excel at handling every day. From our experience, it is likely that you have ants in more than just your dishwasher if you find them here, so you may have a more extensive infestation problem on your hands than you even realize.

When you hire us to get the job done right, we will not only get rid of ants in your dishwasher but also inspect other possible entry points around your home and take preventative measures to ensure they won’t come back. For your free ant inspection, please call us today at 866-971-2847 or contact us online. It’s best to reach out to us at the first sign of ant activity so that we can address the infestation early on and prevent it from spreading elsewhere in your home.

Signs You Have Bees in Your Walls and How to Get Rid of Them

There are few things more unsettling as a homeowner than hearing buzzing sounds coming from within your walls. After all, the walls of your home are supposed to be durable and impenetrable to provide 24/7 protection from outdoor risks and hazards. However, bees can actually find their way into walls of buildings and be very difficult to get out.

Here are the signs that you have bees in your walls and the best approaches for getting them out.

Why Bees Get in Walls

Bees love to find dry, dark, and safe conditions to live in. If you have cracks, crevices, or gaps in your walls, these can be places for bees to hide and take shelter. Bees are drawn to wall cavities that form from natural wear and tear in your walls over time or due to another rodent or insect infestation. As professional exterminators in northern New Jersey, we have seen bees get into walls around plumbing and electrical wires, through gaps in siding, and around window openings too.

Some bees are more likely than others to get in your walls, including carpenter, bumble, and mason bees. It is risky to have bees in your walls because someone in your household could get stung, which is especially problematic if anyone is allergic to bees. If bees die while inside your walls, their combs can melt and stain your walls.

Signs of Bees in the Walls

The most common sign of bees in walls is a buzzing sound that indicates that bees are making a nest inside. You may also notice more bees outside the affected wall area, either suddenly or more than usual.

Another sign of bees in walls is an active hive near your home. Bees in walls may leave behind stains on ceilings and walls. They can destroy the wood and drywall while also attracting ants, rodents, and other pests.

How to Get Rid of Bees in Your Walls

It can be frightening and frustrating to have bees in your walls. Therefore, the best way to get rid of bees in walls is to contact Precise Termite & Pest Control for a free inspection to assess the level of the bee problem and remove them safely and humanely.

Bee removal is not a DIY endeavor, as many people end up in emergency rooms each year after trying to handle a dangerous bee infestation themselves. We have a team of highly trained bee removal specialists who can help you achieve a bee-free home with the right equipment and prevent bees from coming back in the future.

Preventing Bee Infestations Around Your Home

In addition to the bee prevention services that we provide, there are things that you can do to prevent bees from getting back into your walls. If you notice gaps, holes, or other damage to your walls, repair them as soon as possible before they become attractive habitats to bees and other pests. Use caulk to fill holes in the walls, roof, and foundation of your home, and make sure that chimneys, vents, and utility holes are covered properly. Bees are not likely to live exclusively in walls and will typically find their way out into your main living quarters if given the opportunity.

Call us at 866-971-2847 at the first signs of bee activity in your walls to be proactive about a potential infestation and take care of your household members and guests.

How Ants Get in Carpet and Tips to Get Them Out

It’s common to see ants crawling on the sidewalk, around the foundation of your house, and perhaps even on your kitchen counters if they find their way inside. But one place that you might be surprised to find ants is in your carpet. Regardless of whether your carpet is thick and fluffy or short and flat, ants in carpet are a more common issue than you might think.

Here is some information about why ants get into the household carpet and how to get rid of ants in carpet if this unfortunate situation happens to you.

What Draws Ants to Carpet?

First of all, there is nothing inherently attractive to ants about the carpet itself. What ants love to find in carpet are food droppings and residue from spilled drinks.

Many people have carpets in their homes to make the floors softer for kids and pets. But these household residents are likely culprits for spilling and dropping foods and beverages without promptly cleaning them up. Spilled items can become embedded in carpet fibers over time. Meanwhile, carpenter ants can be drawn to the wood below the carpet and access that wood through tiny holes in your carpet.

DIY Solutions for Ants in Carpet

If you notice just a few ants in your carpet for the first time, you might initially turn to DIY solutions and home remedies to get rid of them. Start by vacuuming your carpet more regularly than you usually do to get rid of food sources and suck up the ants. After vacuuming your carpet, you can spray a cleaning solution made with 50 percent vinegar and 50 percent water on the carpet to kill the remaining ants.

Another DIY method is sprinkling baking soda or diatomaceous earth on your carpet to get rid of ants. Ant baits can be set up on and around your carpet to kill them. Some commercial carpet powders contain ingredients that are toxic to kids and pets, however, so you will need to be careful with what you put on your carpet.

Exterminating Ants from Carpet

The safest, easiest, and most effective way to get ants out of your carpet is to call Precise Termite & Pest Control and have one of our professional exterminators come to your home. We offer free inspections and are experienced with all kinds of ants that live in northern New Jersey. Our ant control and removal services are affordable and will keep ants from coming back into your home while also keeping little ones and furry friends safe.

Preventing Ants in Carpet

Once you get the ants out of your carpet, there are steps you can take to help prevent them from returning. Vacuum your carpet at least once or twice per week on a regular basis, and then vacuum up crumbs and wipe up spills as soon as they happen. You’ll also want to mop your floors and wipe down counters in your home so that ants aren’t attracted to other parts of your home and later find their way to the carpet.

When our exterminator arrives at your home, ask the professional for other tips and ideas for keeping ants outside where they belong and not in your house at all. Exterior sprays, for example, can be very effective when professionally applied around the outside of your house and leave long-lasting protection for several months or more.

For more information or to schedule your free inspection, call us at 866-971-2847 or contact us online.

How to Identify Hives: Bees, Wasps, and More

If you discover insect activity around your home, chances are that a hive or nest is close by too. These shelters look different based on the type of insects that made them, and some are more dangerous to be around than others.

In this article, we are covering hive identification tips so you can learn about the types of bee nests and what to do when you find a bee or wasp hive on your property.

The Importance of Hive Identification

If you find a hive, it is helpful to know what kind it is so that you know who to call for help. For example, if you have a bee hive on your property, you may choose to hire a local beekeeper who can make use of the bees and honey in a productive way.

However, hives that are bothersome or dangerous require the expertise of a professional exterminator who can safely remove the hive without putting you at risk. Regularly inspecting a hive at your home can help you assess the severity of a potential infestation and whether the insects inside are beneficial or a nuisance.

Bee Hive Identification

There are different types of bee nests because the various species of bees prefer different structures to live in. For example, honeybees thrive in hollow trees and man-made hive box structures. Bumblebees build their nests underground and prefer hidden places like abandoned mice holes and spaces underneath sheds. Carpenter bees build their nests in trees and on the sides or eaves of buildings.

Meanwhile, wasp nests are typically paper-like and gray in color. Wasps build nests in trees, inside sheds and garages, and in other places out in the open. You may find yellow jacket nests in the ground, but other wasps choose to build hives under picnic tables, inside light fixtures, and underneath wood awnings. Unlike bees, wasps do not make honeycombs, so you won’t see the hexagon-shaped clusters of honeycombs if you have wasps.

Bees Nest vs. Wasp Nest

In general, beehives are larger than wasp nests. Wasp nests are often umbrella-shaped and only about two to six inches in diameter. Bee nests can be made of honeycomb, while wasps make their nests with wood pulp and mud.

Beehives can accommodate tens of thousands of bees, while wasp nests can usually only hold a couple of dozen wasps. Look for beehives out in gardens and meadows where there are flowering plants, and look for wasp nests in protected areas, such as overhangs.

Other Types of Hives and Nests

In addition to bees and wasps, you might see other hives or nests around your property and need to identify them. Ants build nests that look like mounds of dirt and extend underground through potentially extensive tunnels. Termites also build nests in underground areas and can eat away at the wooden structures of homes. However, nests are the creations of social insects, and less social insects do not typically build nests, such as stink bugs and Asian beetles.

What to Do When You Find a Hive

Whenever you find a hive on your property in Northern New Jersey, Precise Termite & Pest Control should be your first call. We will send one of our trained specialists out to your home for a free inspection and to confirm what type of hive or nest it is. From that point, we can advise you on the best course of action so that the insects are handled in a safe and humane way without putting you and your family at risk.

What Do Termites Eat?

Termites are insects that cause billions of dollars in property damage in the U.S. every year because of how much they love eating the wooden structures of homes. However, a termite’s diet might actually surprise you because of how varied and diverse it is.

From the pest control specialists at Precise Termite & Pest Control, here is our answer to “What do termites eat?” so that you can be an informed homeowner who is ready to handle any insect that comes your way.

Do Termites Only Eat Wood?

If you ask almost anyone what termites eat, the instant response you’ll probably get is wood. However, termites do not only eat wood, as they have a varied diet that helps them thrive in many different environments around the world.

Termites are resilient insects that can eat almost anything. They commonly eat dying plants, roots, fungi, and grasses. They also eat mulch, sugarcane, and cotton. Certain types of trees are especially attractive to termites, including pine trees, oak trees, palm trees, and ash trees. Materials that you have lying around your yard may attract termites to feed as well, such as cardboard, fabric, carpet, insulation, and pet feces.

How Do Termites Digest Cellulose?

For termites to be able to eat wood, it is necessary for the insects to digest cellulose, which is no easy task. To break down the wood in a termite’s diet, the insects have beneficial bacteria and protozoa in their stomachs. The digestive enzymes from these organisms naturally break down cellulose to help termites digest wood and get nutrition from it in the form of sugar.

To aid the digestion process, termites will often eat decaying wood because it is easier to digest than fresh wood. Baby termites develop these stomach organisms later as they grow and develop, so worker termites must pass along sugar from their own cellulose processing through mouth-to-mouth feeding.

How Do Termites Get Energy?

Worker termites are tasked with feeding and grooming other termites in a colony, and they are the ones that forage for food to share with their companions. When a termite finds a food source, it will leave a trail behind and go back to the colony to get more help to feed everyone else. A termite’s energy comes from its unique gut bacteria that allows the insect to break down cellulose and fuel its usable energy.

Understanding Termites’ Diet and Why It’s Important

A termite’s diet is crucial to its survival and serves as a guide for its habits and activities. You can reduce your risk of attracting termites by limiting potential food sources for this insect and keeping your property clean and tidy. Any decaying wood or debris materials should be promptly removed from your property so that they don’t attract termites. However, some termite food sources cannot be avoided, especially since these resourceful insects are known to infest roof shingles, utility poles, decks, fence posts, and other outdoor structures.

At the first sign of potential termite activity, call Precise Termite & Pest Control for a free inspection. We specialize in this type of extermination and offer fast and reliable service that is always affordable

Don’t let termites eat away at your precious home and yard. Contact us at 866-971-2847 for help and advice!

Ants in the Garage: Why They’re There and How to Get Rid of Them

Garages are handy places to store vehicles, sporting equipment, exercise machines, and tools. But they are also attractive spaces for ants to move into and take up residence. If you have ants in your garage, the issue could be more severe than you might initially think because of all the access points to boxes, attics, and the main house.

Here are some tips for dealing with ants in a garage and insights about what drew them into this area of your property in the first place.

Why Ants Like Garages

One of the most common types of ants living in garages is the carpenter ant because this type of ant loves wood frames and structures. Many garages have exposed wood areas that are not sealed and offer easy entry points. Garages may accumulate moisture due to car tires and shoes that make the floor wet during rainy and snowy days. Ant in garage problems can get even worse if you store pet food in your garage or leave open trash containers in your garage.

Signs of Ants in Garages

If you knock on wooden structures in your garage and hear a hollow sound, it could be due to carpenter ants digging through the wood to make nests. You may notice droppings from ants in your garage or find holes in bags of pet food you have stored in the area. Doors that stick, floors that sag, and walls that bulge are other signs of damage that may be due to an ant infestation.

How to Get Rid of Ants in a Garage

Some baits and traps can be used to eliminate ants from garages. These extermination strategies have long-term effects and can be very effective for ridding your property of ants. You might try mixing equal parts water and vinegar with a few drops of liquid dish soap as a DIY strategy. It is also helpful to identify ant nests to know where ants are coming from and gathering together.

Make a point to inspect vehicles parked in your car for ant activity, as well as storage boxes and other items you don’t access regularly. Inspect the outside perimeter around your garage to see if ants are active in the outdoor areas nearby. Going forward, avoid keeping trash, food, or seeds in your garage to deter ants. Clean up excess moisture as soon as possible inside the garage so that it is less attractive to pests as well.

When to Call a Professional for an Ants in Garage Situation

If the ants in your garage seem like more than you can handle with an easy DIY approach, Precise Termite and Pest Control is here to help. We assist New Jersey residents with prompt, professional, and effective ant control services every day and know what it takes to keep garages free of ants.

At the first sign of ants in your garage, we recommend calling us at 866-971-2847 for a free inspection. We look forward to helping you make the most of your home’s garage space without any ant issues!

When Are Mice Most Active During the Day?

Common signs that you have mice in your home are fecal droppings on countertops, scurrying sounds in the ceiling, and food boxes that have been gnawed through. But you may notice these signs without ever seeing actual mice running around. This situation leads many people to ask questions about when mice are most active and how to target them in the most timely and effective way.

Here are some tips from the mice extermination experts at Precise Termite & Pest Control to help you get rid of the mice in your house for good during the day or at night.

Are Mice Nocturnal?

The term “nocturnal” means being active at night rather than during the daytime hours. However, mice are not totally nocturnal because they are active during both the day and night. Mice are more active after the sun goes down, but that doesn’t mean they sleep all day either.

What Time Do Mice Come Out?

Mice are most active between dusk and dawn, but their peak activity typically takes place just after dusk. The exact time varies depending on when the sun sets during a particular season. Mice living inside a home usually become most active within the first 30 to 60 minutes after human activity subsides. For example, if everyone in your household is in bed by 10:00 pm, you can expect mice to start moving around by around 10:30 pm to 11:00 pm.

Why Mice Like the Nighttime

The evening hours are attractive to mice for several reasons. They have better protection from predators when there is less light. Mice generally do not have the best eyesight compared to other animals. However, their eyes are sensitive to light, and they may feel more comfortable foraging for food and seeking shelter in low-light conditions.

Like other animals, mice use all of their senses to navigate their way through a home and residential property. They don’t need a lot of light to find their way around because they rely heavily on their senses of sound, smell, and touch.

Timing Your Mice Removal Strategy Right

Mice tend to sleep up to 12 hours per 24-hour period, primarily during the daytime. You may have the best success catching mice when they are foraging for food, typically right around sunset and right after you go to bed. First thing in the morning is another great time to catch mice because they may be foraging then to find some final food scraps before household activity picks up and the sunlight becomes brighter.

Professional Pest Control at Any Time

Catching mice is more challenging than you might expect, so if you want to time it right and catch all of them in your house, you need Precise on your side. We offer mice control services to help New Jersey residents deal with their mice problems whenever they arise – day or night.

We’ll handle all the details of mice extermination so that you can rest easy and have peace of mind that your home is safe, clean, and mice-free. Using the most effective and humane techniques in the extermination industry today, our team will target mice when they are most active to produce the best and quickest results.

For your free mice inspection or to ask any questions, please call us at 866-971-2847 or fill out our online form.

Categories

Recent Posts

Archives

Contact Us Today!

Same Day Service

25 Years of Pest Control