When faced with the problem of mice living in your home, it can be difficult to know what to do. You want to be as humane as possible, but you also want the problem solved, and it can be hard to know what exactly constitutes a humane process. Choosing an ethical and humane removal process is important; while you don’t like having mice living in your home, they don’t mean you any personal harm. Additionally, the humane process is actually more effective than other, less humane, means of removal. As you navigate this difficult process, let us guide you through what exactly constitutes a humane mouse removal process.
Poison and Snap Traps Are NOT Humane
While this may seem obvious, many people still rely on poison and snap traps to remove mice from their home, yet these methods are not only inhumane, they’re also entirely ineffective. Mice live in your walls and in your ceiling, so traps that are set up in your living space aren’t really dealing with the problem. You may catch some mice that enter out from the walls, but these don’t reflect the actual number still inside your home. Even if you did manage to get rid of your mice problem with traps, all the original entry points into your home would be left open. Since mice leave droppings and trails behind that will attract more mice in the future, you’re basically guaranteeing subsequent mice infestations. Poison is also dangerous because it has a larger effect on you local ecosystem. The poison you use to deal with mice can in turn poison other animals in your area, including owls, hawks, and foxes. It can also be dangerous for any pets you have in your household.
Part of the problem is that poison and mouse traps have become so ubiquitous when it comes to talking about mice removal, that many people don’t realize these are not the only solutions. In reality, there are other options, and ones that don’t require injuring or killing mice in the process. Not only are these methods more humane, they are also actually effective.
Inspection and Eviction
The humane process involves evicting the mice and relocating them safely outside of your home. In order to do this, you need to consult with wildlife removal experts that can determine how the mice entered your home, and how to prevent them from doing so in the future. This requires an inspection of your home that will establish the points of entry. Wildlife removal experts will inspect your walls, bricks, mortar joints, gables, vents, roof, chimney, garage doors, for both signs of entry, and for a clear idea of how the mice have been navigating your home. In the process, they’ll also determine any damage that’s been done to your property. Once the entry routes have been established, they will install a one-way door system, screening off all of the potential entryways into your home. This includes installing drip edge, wrapping roof vents and plumbing systems, and caulking gaps. Once this has been done, the mice can be safely removed from your home, with no harm to the animals.
Prevention and Decontamination
Physically removing mice from your home is not the end of the removal process. If you’re only concerning yourself with getting them out, but not with how to make sure they don’t come back, then you’re leaving yourself vulnerable to further infestations. Mice only need a hole the size of a dime to get into your home, and they’re also attracted to the scent of their own urine and saliva. Once you’ve evacuated mice from your home, you need a thorough inspection to determine how they got in, and how to prevent them from getting in again.