Category Archives: Mice Control

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.

What to Do About Mice in the Couch

Mice are resilient little rodents who seem to be able to live just about anywhere, such as attics, basements, walls, and kitchen pantries. But one place that many people don’t think about mice taking up residence is the couch. There’s something very unsettling about the thought of mice hanging out where you sit to relax and cuddle up with a book or watch TV. But mice in couch problems definitely exist, and we’re here to help when they happen to you.

Can Mice Live in Couches?

The short answer to this question is yes, mice can live in couches and make their homes among the soft cushions here. Some homeowners have taken DIY approaches to rodent control and thought they had a mice issue handled when they stopped seeing them in familiar areas. However, little did they know that the mice had migrated to the couch and started to destroy a valuable piece of furniture that they previously believed to be safe, clean, and comfortable.

Why Mice Like Couches

Couches are attractive places for mice, just like they are among our favorite places to spend time as humans. Couches are filled with soft materials that are cozy and make excellent nesting materials. The inside of couches are hidden away from the outside world and the humans and pets that may disturb them. It’s also a great place for pregnant female mice to have their babies and keep them safe and warm. If you have a habit of snacking on your couch, mice will find those tiny crumbs between the cushions and have their own little feast from your leftovers!

How to Identify a Mice Nest in Couch

One of the most common signs of a mice nest in a couch is mice droppings, which are fecal pellets left behind from these unwanted couch residents. A single mouse can create dozens of droppings per day, which will be noticeable when you rotate your couch cushions or remove them to vacuum your couch.

Other signs of mouse activity in your couch are gnawed portions of fabric, the smell of urine, and bits of stuffing on the floor. If you are quiet, you may even hear squeaking or scratching noises coming from your couch when you are not sitting on it.

We Can Get Rid of Mice in Your Couch

If you have noticed signs of mice in the couch or have any sneaking suspicions that they are living here, don’t live another day in these troublesome conditions. Precise Pest Control is the go-to source for mouse control in Northern New Jersey, and we are in the business of helping people get mice out of their couches for good.

Our professionally trained exterminators know the best ways to remove mice from couches so that you can assess the damage and make the best decision about your furniture. The longer you wait to take action, the more damage mice can cause in a couch. If you catch the problem early, you may be able to have the couch cleaned and repaired so that you don’t have to buy a brand-new couch and put a strain on your budget.

Then, going forward, we can provide you with helpful tips about how to keep mice from getting into your couch in the future, such as promptly cleaning up crumbs, strategically placing mice deterrents, and sealing up gaps and holes in your home.

How to Tell If You Have Mice in Your Attic

Mice are resilient little rodents that seem to be able to take up residence nearly anywhere. But one of the most common places that you will find mice is the attic. Mice in this location can present a tricky situation because many homeowners don’t spend much time in their attics and don’t even realize mice are living there.

Here is some information about how to tell if you have mice in your attic and what to do about the rodent activity once you discover it.

How Mice Get in the Attic

Some people are surprised that mice are even able to access attics because of the height and minimal doors and windows for access. However, mice can find the tiniest cracks in a home and get up that high by climbing gutters or jumping from tree branches onto roofs. Attics are actually preferred habitats for mice because attics are typically warm, dark, dry, and free of human activity.

What to Listen for

Mice often make scratching and scurrying sounds, so these are things to listen for above your ceiling. You may hear the sounds of tiny running feet above you, which is a sure sign that mice are in the vicinity and could spread to other parts of your home too.

What to Look for

Even if you only use your attic for storage, it is important to inspect your attic regularly to ensure that no unwanted house guests are up here. Signs of what to look for are pools of mice urine, mouse fecal droppings, and grease marks along the walls. You may also see chew marks on wires in your attic, nesting materials (like paper and cloth) gathered together, and burrows through your attic insulation. Another sure sign that you have mice is if you see a live or dead mouse among your belongings. Mice rarely exist as individuals, so where you find one, you will likely find more later if you look closely.

Preventing Mice in the Attic

In addition to regularly visiting your attic to check for sounds and sights of mice, there are additional things that you can do to be proactive about rodent infestations. To start, keep your attic clean and free of unnecessary clutter. If you notice any cracks in the attic area, patch them up so that mice don’t have an easy access point.

Do not store food in your attic, or if you must store food here, make sure it is secured in sealed containers that mice cannot chew through. Also, take a walk around your property and take note if any tree branches or bushes are very close to your home that would enable a mouse to jump on top of your roof and get into the attic.

Who to Call for Mice in the Attic

For over 30 years, Precise Termite & Pest Control has been keeping Northern New Jersey protected from attic mice. We understand the risks involved in exterminating mice and the best tactics for keeping them away from local homes. When you call us for a free inspection, we can determine if there are signs of mice in your attic, where the mice entry points are, and the best course of action for getting mice out of this space. We’ll also come up with a plan to keep mice out of your attic so that you only need to schedule an annual, preventative inspection rather than dealing with an emergency infestation situation in the future.

Call us at 866-971-2847 or contact us online today to learn more!

How to Prepare for an Exterminator for Mice in Your Home

So, you have a mouse problem and have made the smart decision to call an exterminator to come handle the situation. Great!

Now, the next step is to get ready for your exterminator to come so that this trip out to your home is as effective and efficient as possible. Here are some tips for how to prepare for an exterminator for mice so that you are ready for the day that Precise Pest Control comes to your home.

What to Clean Up Before the Exterminator Comes

To help exterminators do their job, clear household items away from areas with rodent activity before they arrive. This may involve taking items out from beneath sinks, inside closets, or around the refrigerator. Some people wonder if they should leave mouse droppings where they are found until the exterminator arrives. The answer to this question is no, because you’ll want to clean up any droppings as soon as you notice them for the health and safety of everyone in your household.

Prior to your exterminator’s visit, patch up any noticeable holes that you can find around your house, such as in the walls, around doors, or by the baseboards. If you live in an apartment, tell your landlord or management company about gaps, cracks, and holes so that they can be fixed promptly. Another tip for how to prepare for an exterminator is to properly store away food in containers that mice can’t chew through them and to place storage items, such as documents and clothing, into mice-proof boxes instead of cardboard ones.

Preparing for Your Exterminator’s Questions

When your Precise Pest Control exterminator arrives, he or she will ask questions about where mice activity has been noticed and how severe the problem has been. Before your pest control appointment, you may want to jot down notes about when you last saw live or dead mice, along with their location. You should also be prepared to answer an exterminator’s questions about the types of treatments that you are comfortable with if you have kids or pets in the house and what precautions you have already taken to keep mice out of your home.

Questions to Ask Your Exterminator

It’s also a good idea to have a list of your own questions as you prepare for an exterminator to come. First, you’ll want to hire a pest control company that has substantial experience, good reviews, and is licensed, and insured. Precise Pest Control has all of those things and much more to offer!

You may also want to ask your exterminator about why the chosen method of pest control is best, how safe the treatment is for kids and pets, and how to keep mice away for good. Other good questions to ask are what the cost of extermination services will be and if you need to leave your house during the extermination process.

Call for Your Free Estimate Today!

At Precise Pest Control, we specialize in mice control and have been in this business for over 30 years. We offer free inspections and are here to answer all of your questions to make the extermination process quick, effective, and affordable. Contact us today at 866-971-2847 to learn more!

Tips for How to Get Rid of Mice in Your Basement

Mice are resilient little rodents who to take up residence nearly anywhere in a home or yard. However, one of the most common places for mice to live in a home is the basement. There are a few different ways that mice get into basements, and this can cause a variety of problems for homeowners.

Fortunately, Precise Termite & Pest Control is here to help get rid of mice in your basement and keep them out of this area of your home.

Why Mice Live in Basements

There are various things that attract mice to basement areas, such as storage boxes and piles of clutter. These are prime places for mice to build nests, so it is best to use plastic storage containers instead of cardboard boxes and to place them away from walls to eliminate hiding spaces. There are lots of excellent hiding places in basements, so keep the area free of clutter to deter mice.

Mice may choose to live in a basement if there is food stored there or exposed insulation lying around to provide an attractive nesting spot. Basements are also preferred by mice because they tend to be dark, cool, and have less human activity than other parts of a home.

How Mice Get Into Basements

Mice often get into basements through holes and cracks that aren’t properly sealed up. Mice only need a tiny amount of space to squeeze through, so you might not even notice miniature gaps around plumbing, wiring, floors, and where the foundation meets the ground.

One of the first steps in mouse control is finding the entry point that mice use to get inside and sealing any openings that exist. Signs that you have mice in the basement are tracks on the floor, gnaw marks, a musky smell, and fecal droppings. Even a single mouse in a basement can be an issue because of the risk of spreading diseases, such as salmonellosis and leptospirosis, through their excrement. Another with mice risk is the spread of parasites, including mites, fleas, and ticks. Mice can also cause a lot of damage in a basement if they chew through electrical wiring and create dangerous fire hazards.

We Can Help Get Rid of Mice in Basements

At Precise Termite & Pest Control, we regularly help New Jersey residents get rid of mice in their basements by determining how they are accessing the space and by deploying various rodent control tactics based on the situation. Our extermination professionals know the safest and most effective ways to deal with basement mice.

To prevent mice from coming back into your basement, we will develop a strategy with you that may include removing food sources in the basement, sealing up trash, fixing water leaks, and sealing the home’s foundation. It may also help to put weather stripping around the basement door to prevent mice in the basement from traveling to other parts of the house as well.

We offer same-day service for customers in Bergen, Passaic, Morris, Essex, and Sussex counties to get your mice problem resolved right away. Contact us at 866-971-2847 for more information about how we get rid of mice in basements and for a free inspection of your basement and other areas of your home.

How to Get Rid of Mice Outdoors on Your Property

In the past, most of our blog articles about mice have been focused on how to get them out of your house. But what about mice that are living outside and haven’t yet found their way indoors just yet?

Here are some tips for how to get rid of mice outdoors so that you can have mice-free yard and garden areas.

Keep Your Yard Clean and Tidy

Mice love good hiding places in yards, so you can deter them from your outside area by making hiding places harder to find. Mow your grass, pull weeds, and keep compost materials far away from your house. Also, eliminate wood and brush piles in your yard to keep mice away.

Set Mouse Traps or Repellents

If you notice mice activity on your property, you can set some traps to catch them. It’s typically best to place traps along the perimeter of your property, but even this can be dangerous if you have kids or pets playing in the yard.

As an alternative, you can set humane DIY traps that won’t harm your little ones or plant natural mice repellents in your garden, such as lavender, sage, and basil. There are also devices that you can buy that make an audible sound that mice hate and that can serve as an effective deterrent without harming people or pets.

Eliminate Food Sources

To get rid of mice outdoors, you’ll also want to get rid of any exposed food that might entice mice to linger around. This includes bird food in bird feeders, pet food in outdoor kennels, and open trash cans. Instead, keep trash secure in cans with lockable lids, and take away leftover food that your pets don’t eat after meals.

Seal Up Potential Entry Points

The biggest risk of having mice outdoors is that they might find their way indoors and cause an infestation in your house. To take control of the situation, cover up any holes in the foundation of your home and seal up entry points, such as cracks in doors and windows.

Perform Regular Property Inspections

Mice reproduce very quickly and can easily take over a property if their presence goes unnoticed for too long. On a regular basis, walk around your yard and keep an eye out for any suspicious activity, such as gnawed wires, burrowed holes in the dirt, or fecal droppings left behind in outdoor areas.

Call Precise Termite & Pest Control

However, the best way to get rid of mice outdoors is to enlist the help of a professional who knows where to look for signs of mice activity and can quickly remedy the situation before it gets worse. It’s also a smart idea to have an exterminator perform an annual inspection as a preventative measure just be proactive if you live in an area where mice are common. Northern New Jersey is an area that is notorious for mice living both outdoors and indoors, and Precise Termite & Pest Control has been keeping our region mice-free for over three decades with effective, prompt, and affordable pest control.

For your free inspection or to learn more about the signs of outdoor mice activity, call us at 866-971-2847 or contact us online. This is a great time of the year to have an inspection done, so schedule yours today and enjoy peace of mind for the rest of the year.

How Do You Know When All the Mice Are Gone?

If you’ve ever dealt with a problem of mice in the house, you know the desperate feeling of wanting to get them out as quickly as possible. But after you’ve caught one or more mice, is there any way to tell if that’s it or if more are lingering behind?

This article answers the question of how to know when all the mice are gone and also make sure that they stay away for good.

Trust Your Sense of Smell

Mice leave a certain foul odor behind that comes from their urine. When you have a mice infestation, you may smell this odor throughout your house. But when all the mice are gone, the smell should dissipate as well.

Inspect for Mice Droppings

Mice droppings are a sure sign that you have mice in the house. But are these new droppings you are seeing or old ones that you never discovered until now?

If you found mouse droppings but no mouse in a frequently used part of your house, chances are that you still have mice in the house that need to be taken care of. Also, keep an eye out for newly gnawed food containers in your cupboards that weren’t chewed through the last time you checked.

Listen Closely for Sounds

Turn off your stereo and TV periodically to listen for continued sounds of mice activity. It is much more likely that you will hear mice than actually see them. This is because mice scurry behind walls, under floorboards, in attics, and in closets. Your home should be silent once the mice have officially left your property. Mice are more active at night than in the day, so listen especially closely in the evening hours.

Leave Out Some Bait

There are also some clever ways that you can test if mice are still living in your home or if you have finally accomplished a mice-free residence. One simple trick that you can try is to sprinkle some flour on the floor where mice would likely travel before you go to bed. If you see tiny footprints in the flour the next morning, mice are still living in your home.

You can also leave out a sweet treat, such as a cookie, to see if any lingering mice find it and gnaw away at the delicious surprise. Setting mice traps with peanut butter or cheese can have the same effect.

Call a Professional to Check for You

While all of these mice investigation techniques can be effective as an amateur, the only real way to see if you still have mice in the house is to enlist the help of a professional. Precise Termite & Pest Control’s expert exterminators know exactly where to look for mice still hiding in your home and get them out so that they stay away for good. We’ll help you figure out how mice are coming into your home in the first place and the type of mice you’re dealing with. Then we can take the best course of action to get the remaining mice out of your home quickly and effectively so that you no longer have to worry about germs, disease, or unsanitary conditions.

Do You Have Just One Mouse or a Full-Blown Mice Infestation?

Having any number of mice in your home is not a good thing, but there is a big difference between just one rodent resident versus an infestation with dozens of mice or even more. Obviously, getting control over just one mouse is easier than if you have many of them. But it can be very difficult to tell how many mice are in your house unless you are a trained professional and know what signs to look for.

From your local pest control experts, here are some tips for how to know if you have just one mouse or a mice infestation, and then how to deal with problem regardless of how big it is.

The Situation of Just One Mouse

Although it is rare, it is possible to have just a single mouse living in your house. A lone mouse could wander inside your home in search of food, shelter, and warmth while staying mostly hidden during the day. If you have a single mouse, you’ll likely only see a small trail of fecal droppings rather than many droppings in multiple locations.

But a situation to be aware of the pregnant female mouse who comes inside alone to find a safe place to give birth but then produces up to 12 babies per litter in just a short amount of time. What starts out as just a simple mouse problem could quickly evolve into something much bigger without you even realizing what’s going on.

Signs of a Larger Mice Infestation

There are various kinds of mice that live in New Jersey and that tend to stick together and gather in households. You might have more than one mouse and a mice infestation if you see many droppings, hear loud scratching noises, or find large quantities of nesting materials.

Lots of items chewed through in your house could be a sign of an infestation as well, such as packaged food boxes and wires. Larger mice problems may cause your household pets to act strangely, especially in the evening hours when mice are more active.

What to Do with Mice in the Home

Whether you have just one mouse or many mice, it’s important to find where they are coming in from the outside world. It is common to see holes chewed through walls, smell urine, or notice greasy streaks on the walls in areas where multiple mice are getting inside.

Chimneys and holes in siding are other common places where mice enter a home. A professional exterminator can seal up mice entry points so that more mice don’t get inside and join the ones already living in your home.

Your Local Mice Infestation Experts

Being faced with a mice infestation is an unsettling experience because of the dangers mice pose, such as damaging electrical wiring and carrying diseases that make humans sick. Therefore, the best way to determine how many mice you have in your home is to call a professional to do a free inspection and assess the situation.

Precise Termite & Pest Control provides effective, prompt, and affordable mice control solutions to keep your home mice-free now and in the future. Contact us to schedule your inspection and take advantage of our discount on new annual contracts for mice control.

What You Should Know About Deer Mice

There are many different kinds of mice in the world, including quite a few distinct species right here in New Jersey. One of the common types we encounter is deer mice, which mostly live outdoors but can also find their way into homes.

Here is some information about deer mice so you can understand these pests and prevent an infestation in your house.

Why They’re Called Deer Mice

Deer mice got their name because their coloration actually resembles that of white-tailed deer. These mice have brown backs and white underbellies, legs, and tails. They also live in wooded areas, just like deer.

Where Deer Mice Live

You will mostly find deer mice in outdoor habitats and rural areas, and they are typically less likely to inhabit homes than other types of mice. However, it is very possible to find deer mice living in farmhouses, rural vacation homes that are seldom used, barns, and sheds.

In the winter, you can even find deer mice in residential neighborhoods looking for warmth in attics, basements, crawlspaces, and garages. Hollow tree stumps, old fence posts, and piles of debris are also favorite places for deer mice to take up residence.

What Makes Deer Mice Unique

The appearance of a deer mouse is very small and about three or four inches in length. They often go unnoticed because of their camouflaging colors and ability to move quickly and hide in the forest. Other characteristics of deer mice are large ears with minimal fur, black beady eyes, a pointed nose, and short tails.

Their favorite things to eat are nuts, seeds, berries, and insects. These are nest-building mice that forage for food and build nests out of fur, weeds, seeds, paper, and other debris they find in their habitats. They live between two and 24 months out in the wild, and have two to four litters (of usually three to five babies each) per year during the warm months.

Risks of Deer Mice

One of the biggest concerns about deer mice is how they carry Hantavirus and can spread this disease to humans. People can get Hantavirus by touching a dead deer mouse body or even just by breathing in air that contains urine droplets of Hantavirus-infected deer mice. The feces, saliva, and contaminated dust in the air can also cause Hantavirus in humans, which can be fatal.

Lyme disease is another concern when you have deer mice on your property. It is caused by a deer tick and transferred between mammals to cause flu-like symptoms, rashes, and joint issues in humans. Beyond transferable diseases, deer mice can cause structural damage in a home and also damage your garden as you prepare to grow vegetables and flowers for spring. Preventative measures are best for avoiding costly repairs due to damage caused by deer mice.

Get Professional Help with Deer Mice

Because of the serious disease risks and the elusiveness of deer mice, it is highly recommended to call a professional exterminator if you suspect these pests living on your property. We offer safe, effective, and humane mouse control solutions to rid your home of deer mice and keep it mice-free.

If you think you have seen deer mice on your property or noticed droppings or damage around your house, contact Precise Termite & Pest Control at 866-971-2847. We offer free inspections and have over 30 years of experience with rodent control in Northern New Jersey.

The Most and Least Effective Solutions for How to Get Rid of Mice

Once you notice evidence of mice activity in your house, there are a few different approaches you can take to get rid of them. But when comparing mice traps, mice poison, and all-natural mice repellents, it can be confusing to know which tactic will work the best. This is an especially important topic to discuss in the winter when mice seek shelter indoors.

Here’s an overview of the strengths and weaknesses of various mice control solutions and some tips for which ones to try based on your level of mice infestation.

Tactic #1: Mice Traps

Mice traps can be quite effective when you have only a small number of mice in your home. It’s important to place the traps close to walls, in dark corners, and other places mice like to hide. Snap traps, live-capture traps, and electrocution traps are all options if you are fine with killing the mice instead of removing them alive.

Tactic #2: Baits with Mice Poison

People use mice baits to lure mice to specific locations so that they can eat poisonous foods mixed with enticing treats and eventually die. Mice baits can be dangerous to have around the house if you have small children or pets around who might get into them. Baits with poison are only effective as a supplemental pest control method, and the need to continuously use baits indicates that better sanitation is needed in the home.

Tactic #3: Glue Traps

Glue traps work in a similar way as mice traps or flypaper that hangs to catch flies. Mice get caught in glue traps and die, but you’ll need to have plenty of them set in strategic locations in the house and garage to be effective.

Tactic #4: Mice Exclusion

The most effective approach for how to get rid of mice is exclusion, which means blocking entry points in your home so they can’t get in. This includes closing up gaps and cracks, checking for openings around pipes and vents, and making sure that doors and windows fit securely in place.

Tactic #5: Household Pets

Some people rely on their dogs and cats to keep mice populations under control. While these pets may occasionally kill mice, this is not an effective long-term solution because they can rarely kill all of them during an infestation. Meanwhile, mice often feed from the food bowls and dropped food from pets around the house.

Tactic #6: Professional Mice Control

But by far, the most effective solution for how to get rid of mice is to call the professionals at Precise Termite & Pest Control. We specialize in mice control and know which tactics to use for every kind of infestation situation. Every home and mice population are unique, and our extermination professionals have tools and techniques that go beyond any standard DIY attempt.

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