Field Mice Come
To Visit
This is the time of year when many creatures normally found outdoors come inside and want to spend the winter. They like the warmth and often help themselves to foods stored in our pantry, such as boxes or bags of cornmeal, nuts, cereals, or dry pet food. They also may chew holes through walls, boxes, and sometimes electric wiring.
These little furry friends may be more than just a big nuisance. Several wild rodents that come into homes in the Autumn or Winter spread strains of Hantavirus that can kill people. The biggest source of this virus is the very wide-spread, yet harmless-looking Deer Mouse, Peromyscus maniculatus. Wild and domestic rodents have been reported to harbor and spread as many as 200 human diseases.
They eat and contaminate our food and chew up our woodwork. They may interrupt our Internet access and even start fires by chewing our electric wiring. More than 1/5 of the "fires of unknown origin" are caused by rodents' gnawing matches or wiring.
You can help prevent these problems by:
- Cleaning up thoroughly and often any spilled food, garbage, pet food or grain that might attract rodents. Don't forget those Fall decorations hung on doors or walls.
- Keeping all garbage in tightly-closed, metal cans, and keeping the cans and area around them clean as well.
- Being sure all outside doors, windows and vents fit snugly, with no gaps, and are kept closed, especially at night. A mouse needs only a 3/8-inch crack or hole to get inside.
- Sealing up any holes or cracks in the outside of any building big enough for a rodent to enter. Pay special attention to places where wires, pipes, or other utility lines enter a building.
- Keeping plants and shrubs trimmed back at least 12 inches from the outer surface of any building. These can provide rodents food, shelter, and an easy way up to higher entry points.