Mice chew into Rumson, NJ home.
Challenge
Recently, a Rumson, NJ homeowner contacted Cowleys after the unpleasant surprise of finding mouse droppings in her kitchen. I was dispatched immediately to take care of the problem. Upon arrival, I first wanted to determine how the mice were gaining access to the kitchen. Mice normally first enter homes through gaps or cracks around the foundation to get inside the crawl space or basement. Once inside, they will forage for food and water through the home traveling through wall voids and then entering the living spaces, especially the kitchen, through often-hidden holes.
Sometimes the holes used by the mice are conspicuous, and sometimes not! Here, I started my inspection of the kitchen and surrounding rooms. There were no potential entryways in plain view. So, I started looking behind the kitchen appliances. Both the refrigerator and dishwasher had droppings behind them, but there was not entranceway. Rodents are attracted to the appliances that generate heat like dishwashers and the motor housing underneath refrigerators. I wasn’t about to give up. I nest inspected the area behind the oven, and there it was. There were holes in the wall and floor that the mice were using to gain access to the kitchen.
Solution
I used chew-proof copper mesh to fill the holes and also placed two RTU (“Ready-To-Use”) rodent bait stations in the kitchen, one behind the stove and another behind the refrigerator. I knew that these were “hot spots” for mouse activity because of all the droppings left behind. Next, I went into the crawl space to place two more RTUs in the area directly below where they were accessing the kitchen. The homeowner should not be coming across any more mouse droppings in her kitchen.
