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How Do Pros Get Rid of Mice?
Professional mouse pest control companies get rid of mice using several techniques. However, these techniques vary from company to company.
Some of the most popular techniques that exterminators use to get rid of mice include trapping and baiting, sealing entry points, using rodenticides, and follow-up mice control.
Before the extermination, pros will first inspect the house or building to survey mice entry points. They will then seal off these entry points to prevent the mice from re-entering.
Professionals use strategic and carefully-planned steps in getting rid of a rodent infestation in homes. These are some of the methods that they use:
Surveying
Professionals will most likely start with surveying your home for possible entry points that rodents will use to enter and infest your home. They would start outside your home and will also survey the interiors of your home.
Pros know that mice often target the hot spots of a home, such as attics, corners of your basement, crawlspaces, and even behind your walls.
Installation of traps and baits
Typically, the hotspots that pros find are where they will place their traps and baits since these are the places where rodents frequently take shelter in.
Exterminators will avoid putting traps in places where your family frequently uses such as in the living room or kitchen.
How much does it cost to hire an exterminator?
The average cost of hiring an exterminator ranges from $200 to $600. This professional service visit would already include an inspection, treatment, and exclusion.
However, there are many factors that affect the cost of mice extermination. The main contributing factor would be the size or severity of the infestation in your home.
Medium to large rodent infestation
For homes with medium to large mice or rodent infestations, the average extermination cost ranges from $1,000 to $2,500. If you want to avoid expensive, one-time costs like this, it is recommended that you get a monthly treatment plan.
A monthly or semi-monthly treatment plan
If you want a monthly (or semi-monthly) treatment plan for rodent control from pest control services, the initial visit will cost between $150 and $300.
During this first professional visit, the technician will perform the inspection, create the treatment plan, and start implementing it. The follow-up visits will then cost about $40 to $70.
How long does it take for a pro to get rid of mice?
It is important to note that exterminators themselves do not eliminate all the mice in just one go. Once they have placed all their traps and bait stations in the appropriate areas, catching all rodents will take days, weeks, or months.
The complete eradication of the problem will depend on two things: the size of your home and the mice population present in it.
The size of your home
Depending on the area and size of your home, the time it takes to get rid of the rodent infestation could also vary. Normally, the bigger your property, the longer it will take for the exterminators to finish their job.
This factor can also include the details of your home including the possible entry points, attics, basements, and other sites where the rodents could infest.
While the setup for traps and bait stations only takes a couple of hours for these professionals, the complete removal of mice will take more.
The mice problem itself
If the infestation is not so severe, it could take only a week or two to get rid of them with all the traps stationed.
If the infestation is large, it could take a month or more to fully get rid of it. This will already include the mice themselves, their excretions, their corpses, and their nests.
If you wish to eliminate the rodents immediately in just hours, you can also opt for fumigation. This process will include sealing your house and releasing toxic gas inside it, which means you are going to have to vacate your home for a while.
How to get rid of mice permanently?
Here are ways to permanently prevent mice from coming back to your home:
Store food properly
Avoid attracting mice by storing your food properly. Make sure your dry goods are stored in glass or metal containers as these materials are hard for them to chew on.
It is important to keep your whole house clean, especially in the kitchen where food is stored. Activities that involve food should be done at the table where it’s easy to wipe eating and cooking surfaces.
Finally, vacuum your floors and the areas under furniture and appliances.
Seal entry points
Block all possible entries by using caulk or weatherstripping in the holes you can find in your foundation, siding, walls, floorboards, and doorways. Mice will attempt to enter your house, especially during the cold season.
Get rid of nesting materials
Nesting materials for mice include fabrics, rugs, blankets, cardboard, paper, or any lightweight plastics. They can chew through all these materials and could therefore use them as nesting materials.
Dispose of any unnecessary fabrics you can find, and if you store them, make sure they are contained in heavy-duty plastic storage bins.
In addition, because they seek shelter for nesting, keep wood piles no less than 20 feet away from your house. They like to use wood piles for shelter during the cold and could use them to move inside your house.
Use essential oils
Mice have a highly sensitive sense of smell. Using essential oils with strong scents will easily overwhelm them. Certain scents like peppermint oil are very unpleasant for them and will deter them naturally.
All you need to do is soak cotton wool balls with 8 to 10 drops of peppermint oil and place them in strategic areas of a room or near possible entry points. Replace or re-soak the cotton balls every few days.
