Like most homeowners in Oshawa, you likely value your garage as a place to shield your vehicles from bad weather, to store your valuable tools and enjoy hobbies at the workbench. However, clever and adaptable rodents, like mice, may also view this space as a potential home, providing them with safety from predators and bad weather. If you find evidence of mice in your garage, we at Skedaddle Humane Wildlife Control offer mice control in Oshawa, as well as some useful information about why mice may choose this location and what you can do to safeguard your property from these invasive rodents.
What Attracts Mice To a Garage?
A garage offers all the features mice look for in a nesting site. These rodents search for nesting areas all year long, including during the winter. Mice may enter your garage for several reasons, including:
- Food smells from stored pet kibble
- Warmth
- Small or hidden spaces for safe nesting
While mice may also occasionally enter human homes, garages typically have simpler access points such as gaps in the siding or small gaps and holes near doorways. Mice can squeeze through gaps the size of a quarter and chew through garage door weatherstripping to gain access. Once they make their way inside, they will nest almost anywhere out of sight and waste no time birthing and raising litters of pups.
What Are Some Signs of Mice Activity?
While mice are adept at hiding from humans and predators, they often leave signs of their presence. If you suspect mice are making homes in your garage, take some time to inspect the interior for signs of a nest or of an entry point. Mouse droppings, claw marks or damaged materials are some of the most common signs. Check stored items for evidence of gnawing and look for feces, which is usually the most common sign of mice in a garage.
What Problems Can Mice Cause in Your Garage?
Mice can cause a variety of serious problems once they find their way into your garage. Mice in garage rafters, for example, can chew into stored goods and destroy not only the containers but their contents as well. Mice gnaw and chew not only to create nesting material but to also file down their incisors, which never stop growing. As more generations of mice arrive, the risk of damage to your garage increases. Over time, you could see damage to wall materials, electrical wiring and insulation.
Not only do mice cause damage with chewing and nesting, but they can also pose a health risk to your family. Close contact with mice increases the risk of Hantavirus, listeria and salmonella. These diseases can be spread by touching a mouse, moving nest materials, touching feces or improper cleanup of these items. Sweeping up nests and mouse feces can cause you to breathe in air packed with germs, which could affect your health.
Why Call for Help With Mice Control in Oshawa?
While you might believe you can handle the removal of mice in your garage, doing so on your own can put you and your family at risk and inadvertently make the issue worse. While mice may appear harmless, they will bite and scratch in defence of their nests, and such wounds can become infected. If you find a mouse nest, avoid disturbing it or handling any mice, even pups, as any member of the colony can carry disease.
Mice also host a variety of parasites that may travel into your home on clothing or even on your pets if they get too close to a nest. Most of these feed on warm blood, including:
- Ticks
- Lice
- Fleas
- Mites
Once fleas and ticks enter your home, they can live in carpeting and on pet bedding for months as they breed future generations. These parasites can make life a misery for your pets, causing itching, loose fur and more serious problems, such as tapeworms. Ticks and fleas can also transmit diseases to humans, including Lyme disease.
Our experienced wildlife removal technicians can get rid of mice in a garage with techniques that reduce the risk of spreading disease to you and your family.
We Can Get Rid of Mice in the Garage
When you call us for mice control in Oshawa, our wildlife technicians will begin the removal process by inspecting your garage to discover all existing nesting sites, as well as any entry points. Once mice start to raise families, some of the future generations may decide they enjoy the warmth and safety of the garage area and begin new nests of their own.
Once our technicians humanely remove all the live mice and their pups, they will also clean up all the nesting material in ways that keep dust and debris contained. This reduces the risk of spreading airborne bacteria. Removal of the nesting material can also help our technicians understand what kind of damage the rodents left and guide you through the process of making repairs. These processes can help you understand how we handle mice removal in Oshawa, from the discovery of the mice to providing you with tips and information that can help you keep mice away in the months to follow.
How Can You Prevent Future Infestations?
Once our wildlife technicians remove all the mice from your garage, they can provide you with preventative measures and tips for keeping these rodents out in the future. Sealing holes, gaps and cracks can keep curious mice out, especially once the weather turns colder and they actively search for a warm nesting site.
You can also reduce the risk of attracting mice to your garage by storing pet food in metal bins with airtight lids. Mice are omnivores and will eat a variety of foods, including your pet’s leftover food. If you keep pet food for your dog or cat in the garage, remove all leftover food at night and store the bowls where mice cannot reach them. Removing pet water each night can also lower the risk of attracting mice.
Mice can also find their way into your garage underneath gaps in door thresholds and unprotected vents. You can prevent this by adding chew-proof weatherstripping around doors and windows and by using metal vent covers that mice cannot chew through. Keeping your grass and trees trimmed can also discourage mice from approaching your garage. These measures, as well as periodic inspections by our wildlife removal technicians, can help ensure that mice cannot return to your garage.
Contact Us Today for Mice Control in Oshawa
Mice can cause considerable damage when they find their way into your garage, but we at Skedaddle Humane Wildlife Control can help. Our team is trained to safely and effectively remove rodents from your property. Call us today or request services online to reclaim your garage from mice and eliminate the problems they can cause.
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