When Winter Strikes, Mice Strike Back: How Cold Weather Turns Your Home Into a Rodent Hotel
As temperatures plummet and snow begins to fall, homeowners across Franklin, New Jersey, and throughout Sussex County face an unwelcome reality: each fall, mice and other rodents invade an estimated 21 million homes in the United States, typically entering homes between October and February looking for food, water and shelter from the cold. This seasonal migration isn’t just a minor inconvenience—it’s a serious invasion that can cause significant damage to your property and pose health risks to your family.
Why Winter Weather Creates the Perfect Storm for Mouse Invasions
Mice do not hibernate. They are relatively cold-tolerant but survive winter due to their ability to forage. When their hoards run out, they start looking for warmer spaces to call home. When it’s warm outside, most mice will live in an outdoor habitat like the roots of a tree, bushes, tall grass, or hollow logs where nuts, berries, seeds, and other varieties of foods they prefer are easier to come by. But when the weather turns too cold to withstand and their food sources disappear, mice need to find someplace where they can survive until spring.
The problem becomes even more pronounced due to structural changes that occur during winter months. Low temperatures cause building materials to contract. The winter can create cracks, crevices and holes that may not have been there before, meaning it’s simply easier for mice to get into your house when it’s cold. This means that even homes that were previously secure may suddenly become vulnerable to invasion.
The Hidden Dangers of Winter Mouse Infestations
Once mice establish themselves in your home, they rarely leave voluntarily. Once inside, enjoying the climate-controlled safety of your home, they “rarely venture outside again”. The health implications are serious and immediate. House mice have two different proteins that they actually shed. One’s in the urine, and another is in the dander of their hair. And mice defecate a couple hundred times a day.
Within a few months, you can have a major issue of a high number of mice defecating regularly inside your home. So the quantity of these airborne proteins builds up very quickly and start to have some pretty nasty side effects on your breathing. Additionally, oversize front teeth do a job on walls, electrical wires, water pipes and gas lines, creating potential fire hazards and costly repairs.
Identifying the Invasion: Key Signs to Watch For
Mice are nocturnal so homeowners rarely see them crawling around homes. However, there are telltale signs of their presence. These pests are also messy and tend to leave droppings in their wake, practically everywhere they go. Trails or piles of what looks similar to chocolate sprinkles is a tell-tale sign of mouse activity.
Other warning signs include scratching or running noises in walls and ceilings, particularly at night, and streaks of urine or greasy-looking gray or brown smudges along baseboards, walls, and other heavily traveled pathways and entrances.
Strategic Defense: Sealing Your Home Against Winter Invaders
The most effective approach to managing winter mouse invasions is prevention through comprehensive exclusion. Mice can fit through a hole the width of a pencil (1/4 inch or 6 millimeters in diameter), making thorough inspection crucial.
Key areas to inspect and seal include:
- Corners (especially homes with vinyl siding), gaps at the sides of the front steps, oil filler pipes, AC lines, roofline trim, chimney flashing, gaps at the roofline including where the chimney goes into the soffit, garage door frames and weather-stripping
- Crawl spaces, attics for any cracks or holes, floor and dryer vents for openings, laundry rooms floor drains for gaps, and gaps in and around the fireplace structure
For effective sealing, use appropriate materials: Fill small holes with steel wool. Put caulk around the steel wool to keep it in place or use spray foam. Use lath screen or metal, cement, hardware cloth, or metal sheeting to fix larger holes.
Professional Intervention: When DIY Isn’t Enough
While homeowners can take many preventive measures, professional mice pest control services offer comprehensive solutions that address both immediate infestations and long-term prevention. The most effective plans involve a complete inspection, placement of rodent bait stations in strategic locations, and several return trips to the property to monitor mouse activity. This should be followed by the sealing of all gaps where mice can enter the structure.
At Prestige Pest Unit & House Wash, serving Franklin and surrounding areas in Sussex County, New Jersey, we do our best to show up on time, treat your home with respect, and get rid of your pest or rodent problem right the first time around. We use environmentally conscious methods and effective tools to address pest problems without compromising your family’s safety. When you work with us, you’re choosing a local team that values your home as much as you do.
Beyond Sealing: Creating an Inhospitable Environment
Effective mouse control extends beyond physical barriers. Keep food sealed in thick plastic, metal, or glass containers with tight lids. Clean up spilled food right away. Wash dishes and cooking utensils soon after use. Put pet food away after use.
Outdoor maintenance is equally important: Keeping plants very close to your house, and not raking up leaves that pile against the foundation is an open invitation to small rodents. They can hide in the vegetation while searching for an opening and you may never notice them. Instead, keep plants and accumulated leaves at least 2 feet away from your home, trim weeds and never allow debris to collect against the house.
The Time to Act is Now
While mice may merely be trying to survive the cold, they cause a great deal of damage to homes and are also carriers of disease, so don’t hesitate to act immediately. With reproductive numbers like that, even a small mouse problem can quickly grow into a large-scale infestation.
Don’t let winter weather turn your home into a rodent refuge. Take proactive steps now to seal entry points, eliminate food sources, and consider professional pest control services to ensure your home remains mouse-free throughout the cold months ahead. Remember, in the unlikely event you’re not satisfied with your most recent service, simply give us a call. We’ll come back and retreat your home at no additional cost to you, we 100% guarantee it!