Mouse Control in Louisville, Kentucky
This line is mostly about rats, but plenty of callers turn out to have mice, and that's fine. Same number. House mice are small, gray-brown and quick, and they move indoors in the fall when the nights get cold. Out at the edge of the county near woods and fields, deer mice (tan on top, white underneath, big ears) come into garages and sheds too.
The easiest way to tell which you have is the droppings. Mouse droppings are about the size of a grain of rice. Rat droppings are closer to a raisin. If yours are the bigger kind, see rat control.
Where Louisville mice show up
Kitchens first. Behind the stove, under the sink, in the back of the pantry and in the drawer with the dish towels. Then basements, especially storage rooms, and attached garages. In older houses mice travel up inside the walls, so you may hear them in a bedroom wall or ceiling even when the nest is downstairs.
- Rice-sized droppings in drawers and along baseboards
- Chewed cereal boxes, bread bags or pet food
- Shredded paper or insulation tucked in a corner
- Light scratching in the walls at night
How mouse work goes
The tech looks for where mice get in and where they're nesting, then sets snap traps along the walls in the kitchen, basement and garage. Mice are more curious than rats, so traps often catch quickly. After that, the job is sealing. Mice fit through much smaller gaps than rats, so this means closing small spots around pipes under sinks, at the dryer vent, along the sill and at the garage door corners with mesh and sealant.
Bait, if used, should stay in locked stations outside. Mice that eat bait indoors can die inside the walls, and then you're dealing with odor. If mice have been in the attic for a winter, see attic cleanup.
Doing a little yourself
If you saw one mouse and caught it, you may be done. Put dry food in hard containers, set a few snap traps along the kitchen wall where kids and pets can't reach, and check the garage door seal. If you keep catching them for more than a couple of weeks, there's an open gap and you'll want someone to find it. Clean droppings wet, never by sweeping. The droppings guide explains how.
Common questions
Do mice and rats live together?
Usually not in the same spot. Rats will kill and eat mice. A house can have both, but they keep to different areas.
What time of year is worst for mice?
Fall into winter, when nights get cold and mice move indoors. Some keep showing up through early spring.
Are deer mice a concern here?
Deer mice can carry hantavirus. Cases are rare, but it's one more reason to clean droppings wet with gloves on, especially in sheds and cabins that sat closed.
Serving Old Louisville, The Highlands, Germantown, Crescent Hill and Clifton, St. Matthews, Jeffersontown, Middletown, Prospect, Shively, Okolona, Pleasure Ridge Park and Valley Station.