Mice easily find way into Spring Lake home - Spring Lake, NJ Mice control and removal

Challenge

A Spring Lake homeowner contacted Cowleys, frantically reporting mice activity in her kitchen. For the pest control technicians at Cowleys, mice are the most common rodent infestation. They are overwintering pests that try, and often succeed, to enter our homes during the winter for food, warmth, and shelter. Because of their skeletal structure, house mice easily squeeze through the tiniest of holes and gaps, even a hole the size of a dime. Since mice don’t have collarbones, their only limitation for squeezing through holes and gaps is their skull. They prefer to nest in dark secluded areas where there is little chance of disturbance, and in areas where nest bedding material like insulation is readily available. Upon arrival, I talked with the homeowner to get a better understanding of the extent of the problem. The house was fastidiously clean and there were clearly no sanitation issues contributing to the infestation. She was at a loss as to how the mice were able to get in.

With mice and other nuisance wildlife infestations, it is critical to find the entry points and seal them; otherwise, the problem will never be permanently resolved. EXCLUSION is paramount! Exclusion is a process pest control technicians uses to find any entry points and seal them for good. So, I put on my detective cap to figure out how these sneaky little rodents were gaining access to the kitchen. Often, when you see mice in a living space they are not getting there directly from the outside. There is usually a more indirect path from down below. The mice first enter the basement or crawl space and then find their way to the home’s living spaces to find food and scare the occupants of the house. 

Solution

This Spring Lake home had a crawl space, so the first order of business was to inspect down below for entry points and mouse activity. I immediately noticed some frayed insulation. Mice love to use insulation for nesting. Also, they often destroy it with their waste. Fortunately, with this home, the insulation damage was minimal. Upon further inspection, I found significant entry points where the mice were easily able to access the kitchen. Often, mice don’t have to work very hard to find gaps and holes. They are there for the taking. A majority of the time, plumbing or HVAC pipe penetrations leave entry points (as shown in the attached photos) that, for a mouse, are as big as the Lincoln Tunnel. I used copper mesh to seal the entry points. With the only access points to the kitchen sealed, and an indoor baiting system in place to kill any remaining mice, this homeowner should not have any more mice problems. The Spring Lakes homeowner was grateful that I quickly took care of her mice infestation and that the mystery of how they were able to weasel their way into her spotless kitchen was not only solved but also permanently corrected. I don’t want to say that this particular homeowner had musophobia, an excessive fear of mice, but she sure made clear to me that she didn’t like those little hairy things running around her kitchen. Being a pest control technician is not just about getting rid of pest infestations. An equally important part of the job for me is removing the stress and anxiety to homeowners that is caused by these infestations.