Have you ever spotted a tiny visitor scurrying across your kitchen floor and wondered what mice do all day when they’re not startling you during midnight snack runs? At Skedaddle Humane Wildlife Control, we’re fascinated by the hidden lives of these small but resourceful creatures. Understanding their daily activities isn’t just interesting—it’s essential knowledge for Ottawa homeowners looking to protect their properties from these clever rodents.

Mice are far more than occasional kitchen visitors. They lead complex lives filled with specific routines, social interactions, and survival strategies that have helped them thrive alongside humans for thousands of years. Let’s take a peek behind the walls and under the floorboards to discover the unseen daily behaviours of these tiny mammals that might be sharing your Ottawa home.

The Daily Rhythm of Mice: Nocturnal Creatures by Nature

Most homeowners are surprised to learn just how structured the daily habits of mice truly are. These small rodents follow predictable patterns that have evolved over centuries to maximise their survival chances.

When Mice Are Most Active

Mice are primarily nocturnal animals, meaning they’re most active when you’re asleep. Their daily schedule typically follows this pattern:

1. Dusk to dawn: Peak activity periods when mice leave their nests to forage for food, explore new territory, and search for mates.
2. Early morning hours: A secondary activity period, especially in quiet, undisturbed environments.
3. Daytime: Mostly spent resting and sleeping in their nests, though they may occasionally venture out if they feel secure.

Mice evolved to be active at night to avoid predators like hawks and cats that hunt by sight during daylight hours. Their exceptional hearing, sense of smell, and whiskers help them navigate effectively in darkness. This nocturnal behaviour explains why many homeowners hear scratching and scurrying sounds in their walls and attics, primarily at night. When the city sleeps, mice throughout local homes begin their busy routines.

Home Sweet Home: Where Mice Spend Their Downtime

Understanding mouse behaviour and activity means knowing where they spend those quiet daylight hours. Mice are homebodies at heart, creating elaborate nesting sites where they spend much of their time.

Preferred Nesting Locations

Mice find comfort in:

• Warm, undisturbed spaces. Attics, wall voids, and basement ceiling cavities are prime real estate.
• Locations near food sources. Mice prefer to nest within 30 feet of reliable food and water.
• Protected areas. Locations that provide security from predators and human activity.

When nesting, mice collect soft materials like shredded paper, fabric, insulation, and dried plant matter. These materials not only provide comfort but also help maintain body heat in colder winters. A typical mouse nest is approximately 4-6 inches in diameter and may house a single mouse or a family group.

Did you know? Mice are constantly remodelling their nests, adding new materials and repairing damage. This ongoing construction is one reason homeowners might hear intermittent scratching sounds even during daytime hours.

Food Gathering: A Major Part of a Mouse’s Day

Food acquisition is perhaps the most time-consuming daily activity for mice. Despite their small size, mice need to eat frequently—consuming approximately 15-20 meals throughout each 24-hour period.

The Mouse Grocery List

What do mice do all day when they’re hungry? They’re looking for:

• High-calorie foods like seeds, nuts, grains, and fatty foods.
• Protein sources such as insects, meat scraps, and pet food.
• Carbohydrates including cereals, bread products, and fruits.
• Water, though they can extract moisture from food if necessary.

During their active periods, mice typically make multiple short trips from their nest to food sources, carrying items back to their home base rather than eating in exposed areas. This behaviour minimises their vulnerability to predators and explains why you might find food items in unusual places around your home.

Social Lives: Mice Are Community-Oriented

Mice, despite often being seen alone, are inherently social creatures with intricate interactions and well-defined hierarchies. They establish complex social structures that revolve around family groups, typically consisting of a dominant male, several females, and their offspring. Within these groups, males play a key role in marking their territory, using urine to define boundaries and assert their status. 

Communication among mice is equally diverse and sophisticated, involving a range of vocalizations, some of which are inaudible to the human ear. These sounds serve various purposes, such as signaling danger, indicating mating availability, and issuing territorial warnings. 

Another vital aspect of their social lives is grooming. Mice dedicate a significant portion of their day to grooming themselves and each other, a behavior that not only reinforces social bonds but also ensures hygiene within the colony. This combination of structured family dynamics, territorial behaviors, and communal grooming highlights the deeply social nature of mice.

The Impact of Seasonal Changes on Mice Behavior and Activity

Living in Ottawa means experiencing dramatic seasonal changes, which significantly affect mouse behaviour and activity patterns.

Seasonal Adaptations

• Winter: During colder months, mice focus on finding warm shelters indoors. Their activity becomes more concentrated in homes as they avoid harsh outdoor conditions.
• Spring: Breeding activity increases dramatically, with females potentially producing a new litter every 21 days under ideal conditions.
• Summer: Mice seek cooler locations during hot summers, often hiding in wall cavities, basements, and crawl spaces to escape the heat.
• Fall: Mice begin increased foraging and nest-building as they prepare for winter, leading to more home invasions as outdoor food sources become scarcer.

The Hidden Damage: What Mice Are Doing When You Can’t See Them

While understanding what mice do all day is fascinating, it’s also important for homeowners to recognise the potential damage these activities cause.

Property Impacts of Daily Mouse Activities

Mice can cause extensive damage, such as:

1. Constant gnawing on materials like wood, plastic, and even electrical wiring.
2. Tearing up insulation for nesting material, which reduces your home’s energy efficiency.
3. Contaminating surfaces and food with droppings and urine.
4. Compromising structural elements through tunnelling and gnawing.

Most concerning is their tendency to chew on electrical wiring, creating serious fire risks in homes. Skedaddle technicians frequently discover this hazard during home inspections.

Signs That Mice Are Sharing Your Space

Being able to recognise evidence of mouse activity helps homeowners identify problems before they become full-blown infestations.

Common Indicators of Mouse Activity

Look out for:

• Fresh droppings resembling small, dark rice grains (3-6mm long).
• Gnaw marks with rough edges on wood, plastic containers, or food packaging.
• Grease marks along baseboards and walls where mice frequently travel.
• Unusual pet behaviour indicating interest in certain walls or appliances.
• Scratching sounds particularly noticeable during quiet nighttime hours.

Checking your kitchen floor first thing in the morning often reveals fresh signs of overnight activity that weren’t there when you went to bed.

The Skedaddle Approach to Mouse Management

At Skedaddle Humane Wildlife Control, we’ve spent decades studying mouse behaviour and activity patterns to develop effective, humane removal techniques for Ottawa homes.

Our Mouse Control Methodology

Our approach is different from traditional pest control companies because we focus on:

1. Thorough inspection to identify all potential entry points, from foundation to roofline.
2. Complete exclusion by sealing entry points with heavy-gauge steel screening and our exclusive wildlife exclusion sealant.
3. Humane removal using one-way doors that allow mice to exit while preventing re-entry.
4. Decontamination by cleaning and removing hazardous materials left behind by mice.

The key to our approach is understanding that these small creatures can enter your home in several ways, and taking steps now will help protect your property in the future. If you suspect mice are sharing your home, don’t wait until their numbers grow and cause significant damage. Contact Skedaddle Humane Wildlife Control in Ottawa today for professional, humane solutions tailored to your mouse problem, and safeguard your home from future invasions.