Are you hearing strange noises in your walls? Have you discovered little black pellets in the back of your food cabinet? Are there tiny footprints in the dust on your pantry shelves? It wouldn’t be surprising. This is the time of year when mice enter homes to escape the bitter cold of winter. But those cold temperatures aren’t the only reason mice come in. Besides warmth, here are some of the things mice look for inside your home.

Safety

When those little, furry intruders breach your exterior walls, the first thing they’re going to notice is that it is safer inside your home. Mice like confined spaces that give them protection. In nature, they’ll hide in a tree, log, rock crevice, or a hole in the ground to keep birds from swooping down and carrying them away. Your wall voids are the perfect hiding place.

Quiet

These are skittish creatures. In your home, they’re going to settle in locations that are secluded, like your attic, storage room, pantry, basement, or wall voids. When they hide in these areas, they can get into stored boxes, taint food, damage insulation and other items, and leave their urine and feces everywhere.

Something To Eat

Your home is filled with food options. Mice have teeth that allow them to get into cardboard or paper packaged foods. They nibble on remnants left on plates. They can leap as far as 2 feet into the air and gain access to your trash. They’re happy to dine on leftover pet food, and bread that is not left inside a bread box is fair game. These are only some of the many food resources your home can provide a mouse.

Dark

Mice are mostly nocturnal. And your home has the perfect places for these critters to explore at night. When they do, they’ll spread bacteria and disease in your home, and carry ticks, fleas, mites, lice, or some other parasite to every corner of your home.

Since your home has a lot of things mice look for, when mice get in, they don’t usually leave. Reach out to Russell’s Pest Control, if you’re in our Tennessee service area, for industry-leading mouse and rat control. We offer one-time service and ongoing rodent control as part of our year-round pest service for residential customers. For more information, or to establish service for your Tennessee home, drop us a line. Our QualityPro Certified team looks forward to assisting you.