Mice Infestations - What to Know & Why It's Serious

Have you spotted some mice in your home and ignored them? They may appear harmless, but if you let them multiply in your home, they may cause a lot of damage. It’s imperative to get rid of them as soon as possible.  Not only will mice eat your food, but they can damage your clothes, appliances, and furniture. Besides that, droppings hidden in walls and under floors can make your home smell. Worst of all, mice can bring dangerous diseases into your home like the respiratory disease Hantavirus.

Signs of Mice in a Home

Even if you haven’t seen a mouse in your home, certain signs can show you already have these unwanted guests. Have you noticed a weird smell in the house? Or scratching sounds behind the walls? Those could be signs you have a problem.

Other indications include scratch marks on your soaps, foods, and furniture. Look carefully for small black smelly droppings, urine pillars, or grease marks from their bodies low on the walls, particularly around corners or holes that could be entrances to dens. Being nocturnal animals, you may not even see the rodents themselves until their population has outgrown their hiding places.

How Fast do Mice Multiply?

Mice have been described as breeding machines by those who have fallen victim to their destructive habits. A mouse gets pregnant 5-10 times every year and has a gestation period of about 20 days. A mouse will deliver between 3-14 pups each time it delivers.

A single mouse that gets pregnant 8 times a year and delivers 8 pups (average) per pregnancy will bring 64 pups in your house in one year! Two mice will bring more than a hundred young ones in a year. Sadly, the females start mating immediately after delivering, so you can have a new set of pups within the same month of delivering the first set.

Matters can get worse if there are many females in the litter that will also start giving birth in six weeks. Theoretically, you can have over 5000 mice from one mouse per year. If you have several reproducing mice in your home, you can end up with millions of mice in your house. 

What Is the Lifespan of a Mouse?

On average, mice that live outdoors have a lifespan of one year. Those that live in the house have a lifespan of between 2-3 years. That’s a lot of extra time to spend breeding and reproducing. In fact, if you don’t call an exterminator soon, your house will become a den of rodents within just a few months. 

Why Is Pest Control So Important?

A well-kept tidy house is comfortable to live in, but pests can deprive you of this comfort and render your house uninhabitable.

It’s essential to control mice to ensure a healthy environment for you and your family, and sanitary conditions for food storage. 

And don’t underestimate the damage they cause to property. Mice like gnawing, and as their number increases, the extent of their damage will also increase. When they chew your electrical appliances and furniture, you’ll spend a fortune on repair works. 

Do You Suspect a Mice Infestation In Your House?

If you've noticed any of these signs of infestation, seek professional pest control to eliminate the mice from your home! If you are living in Cleveland or the surrounding areas, call us at Cleveland Bee Removal or contact us online. We’ll come inspect your home, and then take the most appropriate action.