Rated Pest Control: Keeping Mice Out of Your Garage
Adorable to some and terrifying to others, mice are never a welcome visitor to any home. Not only do mice attempt to get into stored food, but they can also carry with them other types of pests and disease. Keeping mice out of your garage can be especially difficult, as your garage is often exposed to the elements.
Cut Down On Your Clutter
If you’re worried about mice, it’s a great time to do a little cleaning. Mice thrive in clutter — and clutter can easily obscure how bad a pest situation has become. Ditch cardboard boxes in favor of transparent plastic bins, and make sure that your garage items are fully organized. If possible, keep as much as you can on shelves and off the ground — mice may seem nimble, but they can’t run up walls!
Don’t Store Any Food in Your Garage
Remember that “food” means some thing different to a rodent. Grain, birdseed, and pet food will all be considered food to a hungry mouse. Essentially, anything edible should be stored in thick plastic tubs or in a pantry rather than in the garage. Storing edible items within plastic or paper bags won’t deter a mouse: they can chew right through a bag in seconds. Mice may also chew on paper products, such as cardboard: they aren’t eating it, but they are finding it an appealing way to make a nest. Moving as many paper products out of the garage as possible is usually a good call.
Check Your Garage Door Seals
Your garage door seals may have degraded over time. Close your garage door completely and look under the door with a flashlight. If there are any gaps at all, it’s very likely that mice can get through — and it’s not going to be great for your insulation, either. A garage door repair company will be able to help you replace that door seal quite easily. Another issue that could affect sealing is a bend or dent in the door itself. These will need to be repaired by a professional.
Place Traps in Warm, Dark Corners
Firstly, you want to choose your trap wisely. Traps that include poison can be dangerous to your family — as can spring traps. Glue traps are ineffective at best. You can create a humane mouse trap out of a bottle or purchase a reusable one at the store . Place traps baited with food in dark, cozy corners of your garage and check them regularly. You can then either kill the mice humanely or release them out into the wild. (If you do release them, make sure you release them a mile away from civilization. Otherwise they just become someone else’s problem!)
Understanding what draws mice in will help you in avoiding these pests. Essentially, mice enter into your garage because they are seeking shelter. They want food, warmth, and a place to hide. If you can reduce these issues, the mice will no longer see your garage as an opportunity. The few that do scamper in should be easily dispatched with traps.
