Mice are nocturnal animals that tend to stay out of sight during the day, making it difficult for homeowners to immediately detect their presence in their homes. To keep mice out of walls, homeowners can seal mouse holes, remove food and water sources, place traps, scent the home, and keep outdoor areas clean.
When outdoor temperatures drop, mice often look for entry points into buildings in search of food, warmth, and shelter. Small cracks in foundation, holes in siding, and gaps around windows and doors are common entry points. Roof vents are another critical avenue for mice to access walls, as they use them to access vents and chimney pipes. Spaces on door and window frames can also be used to keep mice out.
To get rid of a mouse in a wall, first position snap traps along the bottom edges of the walls where you’ve heard mice. Place the food-baited ends facing the wall. Confirm the presence of mice by listening for scratching, rustling, or squeaking noises, droppings, gnaw marks, and a musky smell. Seal cracks in foundation and walls with wire/stainless steel mesh or quick-drying cement, inspect vents throughout the house for slivers between ducts and roofs or walls, cover these gaps with mesh wire, spray vinegar in areas where mice have been, or soak cotton balls in white vinegar and leave them around your home.
To block up entrance holes on the outside, seal all holes outside the house with steel wool and spray foam. The best way to get rid of mice in your walls is with a comprehensive plan that includes trapping, food bait, spring-loaded traps, glue traps, and live-catch traps. Pipes running from the outside to the inside of your home usually have a layer of fluffy insulation around them, which can help keep pipes from getting trapped. To insulate the wall, custom-rip unfaced rigid foam-board insulation for each stud bay and pack the entire depth of the bay solid.
📹 How to keep out mice and other pests! How to seal up exterior! Easy!
Hey Home Menders! Dustin shows us how to check for possible entry points for rodents and pests and how to apply exterior grade …
Does Irish Spring repel mice?
The question of whether soap can repel mice is not definitively answered. The myth suggests that soap is made from animal fat, which mice eat, and placing it around your home would cause them to eat it and die. However, the amount of soap required for one mouse to be affected would be large, and it is unlikely that all mice would consume enough soap to be exterminated. Therefore, soap is not a viable DIY solution for pest control. Therefore, it is not a viable solution for preventing mice from entering your home.
What do mice hate most?
This article presents a list of 13 scents that have been demonstrated to be aversive to mice. These include cinnamon, vinegar, dryer sheets, cloves/clove oil, peppermint oil, teabags, mint toothpaste, and ammonia. The aforementioned scents can be employed to deter mice by misting areas where they are more prevalent, utilizing a solution of water and vinegar in spray bottles, and incorporating a combination of these scents in a spray bottle.
How to seal walls from mice?
To prevent rodent infestations, seal any holes found, fill small holes with steel wool, use caulk or spray foam, fix larger holes with lath screen or metal, cement, hardware cloth, or metal sheeting, and cut material to fit around pipes. Fix gaps in trailer skirting and use flashing around the house’s base. Seal outbuildings and garages as well. If you’re concerned about a rodent infestation, contact your local or state health department or a pest control specialist. Seal up food and water sources inside as rodents are attracted to these areas.
What scent will keep mice away?
Peppermint oil, cinnamon, vinegar, citronella, ammonia, bleach, and mothballs are natural repellents that can help keep mice away from your home. Place a few drops of peppermint oil on cotton balls and place them in areas where mice are likely to enter. Cinnamon powder or burning cinnamon incense can also deter mice. Mix equal parts vinegar and water in a spray bottle and spray around your home. Citronella, a well-known mosquito repellent, can also be used to keep mice away.
Mix 1 part ammonia with 10 parts water in a spray bottle and spray around your home. Bleach, a standard household product, can be used as a rodent repellent. Mothballs emit a strong, pungent smell that mice cannot stand, so place them in areas where mice are likely to enter your home. However, these smells may not be effective in deterring all mice. If you have a serious mouse infestation, hire a professional pest control company like Eliminate Solutions for mouse removal.
What repels mice immediately outside?
Mice can find lavender, peppermint oil, vinegar solutions, and cinnamon unpleasant scents, which can irritate their noses. These methods can be ineffective when used alone, as they lack clear instructions on how much to use, how to apply the scents, how often to reapply, and how long the scents will remain effective. The strong smell of peppermint and other oils can quickly disappear when applied to a cotton ball, making the results inconsistent.
Stay Away® Rodent is recommended for its continuous protection for 30 days, while scented dryer sheets are another DIY solution, but the smells are short-lasting and inconsistent. Overall, these methods may not be effective in keeping mice away.
What’s the quickest way to get rid of mice?
Mice are a significant pest in homes, carrying disease-causing pathogens, fleas, and ticks. They can cause significant damage to surfaces, chew through electrical wires, and reproduce rapidly, producing five to ten litters per year. To get rid of mice, eliminate entry points, use mouse traps, choose the best bait, and place bait stations carefully in the house. Poor sanitation can attract mice, and good sanitation won’t eliminate them. To get rid of mice, eliminate entry points, use mouse traps, and choose the best bait for each trap. Act quickly if you suspect mice in your home, as poor sanitation will attract them.
How do I get rid of mice in my exterior walls?
Mice can be a significant pest, causing significant damage to homes and causing significant inconvenience. To get rid of mice in walls, it is essential to seal any openings that rodents could use to enter your home. Trapping mice when they come out to forage is the best way to get them out. Keep your home clean, don’t forget your yard, and call an exterminator if necessary. Mice and rats can enter your home and walls through holes and cracks in the exterior, as they can squeeze through small spaces.
Once inside, they build their mouse nest and have babies. To prevent mice from entering your walls, it is crucial to address the root cause of their entry, such as holes and cracks in the exterior of your home.
What scent will keep mice away outdoors?
Rats and mice are likely to become accustomed to human-related food and waste smells, making it difficult to effectively repel them. While spraying your yard with various repellents, such as garlic, clove, chili powder, peppermint, or cat urine, may work in the short term, the rodents may become used to the scent or ignore it altogether. Additionally, white vinegar, a potent smell that rats dislike, should be used to deter rats from entering your home.
How to stop mice from chewing through walls?
To prevent mice from entering your home, seal cracks in foundations or walls with wire and stainless-steel mesh or quick-drying cement. Repair damaged screens, seal gaps around doors and windows, store food in airtight containers, and keep counters and floors clean. Trim away trees and greenery, ensuring branches and shrubs are trimmed back at least a foot-and-a-half from your home, as they can climb and jump. This will make it harder for mice to access the upper levels of your home and prevent entry.
How do you mouse proof an exterior?
To prevent rodent infestations, it is essential to seal cracks and gaps in foundation, walls, basements, doors, window frames, caulk holes around pipes leading to appliances, and tighten seals around exterior lines leading through walls. To prevent rodents, store common attractants, sanitize indoor and outdoor spaces, and seal off access points to your home. By implementing these simple steps, you can reduce or eliminate the conditions that invite rodent infestations and ensure a rodent-free home. To access these areas, click on an area of concern and click on “Tips for A Rodent-Free Home”.
Does pouring vinegar around the outside of your house keep mice away?
Vinegar is a natural and effective method to deter mice from homes and gardens. It can be combined with other natural repellents and good hygiene practices to create a more effective mouse control plan. Lavender, known for its strong scent, can be used as a natural mouse repellent by placing dried lavender sachets or essential oil near areas where mice are likely to enter, such as doors, windows, or corners of rooms. Planting lavender around the perimeter of your garden can also create a natural barrier against mice.
📹 EASY WAY to Get Rid of Mice in Your House FOREVER – No More Mousetraps!
Mice will ruin your house. How to get rid of mice in your house FOREVER. No traps, no poison. Combine technology & know-how …
I actually do this for a living, and here are a few thoughts…. Good job first off…..but keep in mind that sometimes mice/rats will be within the structure when you seal up the hole. If you only use the foam, they can/will chew through it (especially if they get trapped inside). Rats teeth never stop growing and they are experts at chewing through things like foam, aluminum, paper……..so forth. I suggest using steel or copper whenever sealing up a mouse/rat hole. For your situation….you could fold a piece of 1/8 or 1/4 inch meshing and stuff it up there, spray with rubber coating like flex seal……and it’s a done deal without messy foam. Also…..because you may trap them within the structure, it is a good idea to set traps in the attic and sub area to make sure you get any trapped inside. If you want to be sure they are gone after sealing, put some nuts or dried fruit in there overnight and see if it goes missing. Again…..thanks for the article…….rats and mice are very tricky and intelligent (trust me lol)
I’ve had great mouse proofing results by using strips of 1/4″ galvanized wire cloth screen to plug long, wide gaps along the foundation where the siding overlaps. Cut some strips and fold lengthwise to make them tent shaped. Use a wide scraper or putty knife to push the folded strips deep into the gap. The wire cloth will lock into position. Follow up with foam injection to keeps bugs and drafts out.
I trapped mice for 2.5 yrs in a house I bought and inherited the problem with. I checked for entry points using bright lights shining on the interior walls and searched at night to locate a couple of small openings. No change. I removed the old wooden deck to replace it with paver stones and found the final entry point they were using. Being mouse free is awesome.
When you seal a hole, add copper mesh to the sealant. I use the mesh from copper pot scrubbers. Simply snip the pieces holding them together and it becomes a roll of mesh, and they’re very cheap to purchase. I also go one step further, and then add a heavy gauge wire netting along the inside. You can double this up using a 2d piece so the bars cover the spaces of each square, because many people are still amazed at the space a small mouse can squeeze through. The more work/time it takes, the less effort they will exert, and quickly move in to somewhere else… Unless they have babies inside.
I was catching mice both inside my garage and inside my house. I looked all around the house perimeter but couldn’t find how they were getting inside. I finally found their access hole by accident. It had snowed during the night and I went outside early the next morning to get something from my car in the driveway. The snow was pristine except for mouse tracks leading directly to the corner of my garage door. I waited until the snow melted, got down on my hands and knees and found the hole the mice were coming through. I blocked the hole and my mice problem disappeared.
We had same problem on a house built in 1994 when I moved in 2000. Did not use camera, lucky to have a dog that was a mouse hunter and she was chewing on outside corners of siding. This is a Vinyl sided house and all the outside corners are like a mouse turnpike to my attic where they were soring acorns like preppers. Foamed all outside and inside corners of siding and no more mice. Thanks to Mika the dog. RIP Mika.
Corner boards are notorious for letting mice in. Other areas to watch out for are around the sides of your garage doors, and those metal bulkhead doors which do nothing to keep mice out. I always recommend to my customers that they have a finish door that seals of the opening at the bottom of the bulkhead steps. Great article!
Fantastic article and spot on. Had similar issues about 5 years after my home was built. In one place the mice found a seam in the plywood sheathing above my porch and in another a little crevice created when the masons had reinforced the top of the form for the foundation. 2 additions. 1 I like to add some stainless steel scouring pad to the hole if it’s larger, that creates a second barrier besides the foam and it won’t rust. 2 some folks may need to install a 1 way pest door if the nest is in a wall etc. otherwise you are trapping the mice in the house, they will aggressively try to find a way out if trapped and stink if they die.
I just soaked cotton balls in peppermint and black pepper extract and left them near where they were getting in – worked like a charm. I couldn’t plug up the dryer exhaust vent with foam, but the smell of those extracts, especially when warmed by the dryer, overloads their sense of smell – they hate it.
This is how I’m solving my problem it’s interesting that you come to the same understanding. You can use long narrow sections of wire screen and cram it up under there and they will have a very difficult time trying to remove that. You can coat it with liquid nails and glue the wire screen up underneath those areas. There was a test done here on YouTube where they took various materials to see if mice would chew through it and they chewed through insulation foam.
When I moved into my last house we could see that it had a problem with mice as it was located next to a field and we found old droppings all over. I noticed a shrub growing next to the house and a hole in the sofit right above it. I cut down the shrub and the mouse problem got better but not 100% fixed, there were still a few that woipd get in. I was left scratching my head not know how else they were getting in. Fast forward a year and a half I had the garage door replaced with a new insulated one and the mouse problem went away. Turns out they were getting in by sqeezing between the old garage door and the weather strip on the side. I got lucky, but that camera would have gave me the answer of how they were getting in.
Nice thinking with the camera. Mice get in where you would never think. Always heard that they can get in very small openings so I had to find out how small. After I caught one in a trap, I was actually able to fit it into a beer bottle, smaller size then a normal plastic water bottle. I would have never thought they can fit into a opening that small, that’s why the camera is a great idea.
Another helpful article. One other common entry point is at the ends of a garage door where the door gasket, the ground and the garage frame meet. I solved the problem by screwing an “L” shaped piece of metal to the frame where I found the mice had chewed the end of the door gasket to an opening the size of a nickel.
What has worked for us now going on 4 years is using Irish Spring Original soap bars. We chop the bars into quarter size chunks and spread them all over the perimeter of rooms inside the house, focusing under bathroom/kitchen sinks and other highly probably routes they may take. I don’t think this eradicates an infestation, this is mainly a deterrent for any mice wanting to come inside the home. Something about the smell of the soap that they find highly irritant.
Brilliant For those in old homes that might not have ‘real’ foundations going 4 feet deep, or even basement depth, or have dirt crawl spaces and basements, it’s way too easy for mice to find a way under the foundation, through a crack in it, and with a bit of digging come up under your house. I’ve also been adding foam, gravel, pavers in a band around the house flashed to the building with adhesive backed metals, to keep them from easily accessing holes under ground (and to keep ground warm in winter, it’s made floors lots warmer). I covered the entire foundation with foam and metal flashing right up under siding where I sealed it to the sill plate and wow, that was horrible on my stomach, back, using cameras…. to make sure there were no gaps left. Then I had people go under house to crawlspace and ‘caulk’ 1/4 inch wire mesh 4 feet wide to foundation, then weight it down with PT 2×6’s with foam sprayed under them, at foundation wall, half way, and at edge, to again encourage vermin that tunneled in to give up. HUGE difference in mice.
Great information by all. I’d like to share some as well. This idea is extremely useful. But lacking a step. Some have mentioned trapping mice/rats inside. Also some mentioned what they can chew through. What mice won’t crew on is steal wool. It hurts them too much. However. Before plugging any holes, we need them out. Go onto your attic and if you can drop cayenne pepper down between your walls. In tough spots where they are nesting remove the base board. Drill small holes and with a straw blow cayenne pepper in. Plug the holes with steal wool and remount your base boards. The cayenne pepper will drive them out. However, for large areas like your garage cayenne pepper is too weak. Take an old rag/towel and soak it in ammonia. Put on the floor near the doors. Also in the corners and along walls. This won’t take long and you will have driven them out. Plug your holes! Note: the horrible ammonia soaked rags will only last a short while. A day or two before it looses its kick. Just make sure you are not using it between your walls. Once upon a time I had issues with mice. With the mice came snakes. I had mice living in my walls and snakes living under my home. We even found baby snakes in the house. Today I’m sure I have mice running around outside, but I’m pretty sure they are not getting in. (Knocking on wood!) If you have this problem I wish you the best of luck! Mice make horrible company.
Good advice I used the Blink 3’s too. Had one in my car-haul trailer, where my tractor was. Once I saw the activity, I used the ramp into a 5 gallon bucket. There was 3 in the trailer. I foamed and steel wooled every crevice. Mint it up periodically on the exterior. House got the same treatment. They chewed thru pipe foam, which caused a freeze up two winters ago. Frustrating mess. $$$$ too.
Great article! In New England we’ve had warmer than normal winters which has made the the mouse population explode. Last winter we started seeing them in our house and it took me a while to figure out that they were getting in through the holes in the house where the the piping for our ductless A/C(3 units) comes through. I had put steel wool in those areas a couple of years earlier and didn’t realize that it breaks down. It had decayed down to mush so the problem with steel wool is that it’s a short term solution.
One thing to touch on is mice nests have a hierarchy. Only a couple mice, some times one are leaving the nest to get food and water to bring that back to the nest (the nest in most cases is within the house and not just outside) to a certain extent you are now trapping mice in the house (which has plenty of food and water) and with out using mechanical stations or baiting (baiting is the most efficient way) you are still going to have a mouse issue in the home. They should done in conjunction of each other, Mice do not move out when it get hot and only come in when it gets cold. Great information about exclusion but just thought it should be mention exclusion alone is not going to get ride of the issue of the mice inside.
Excellent. Thank you! Everyone else’s technological solution has to do with ultrasonic sound or some slick way of killing them. Your way is to find the openings and close them. You’re using the mice themselves to tell you where the holes are. Brilliant! A lot of people use the stainless steel-wool and I always wondered if it works. To be honest, we don’t know if it wasn’t installed well enough, or the mice moved it out of the way. Regardless, your way sent a strong message. Access denied!
Tried your “candid camera” technique last week…and was stunned to see how many of the little varmints seemed eager to “watch the birdie!” But even more surprising, the morning after that first photo session I went out to check on the area and was startled to find a tiny note left nearby requesting I “please leave two 8 x 10 photos (suitable for framing), along with a dozen wallet-sized pix!” photos.
Problem is, mice can slip through holes that are so small you will never see it, especially in older homes. I’ve watched a mouse run along a baseboard and disappear under it where there is no visible hole. Also, how do you seal up, yet maintain access to crawl spaces? Even a small crack in the cement back behind pipes where there is limited, if any, access could allow them in. Not saying impossible, but not as easy as you make it sound, especially as I said in older homes.
Feral cats. Years ago people dumped cats in our neighborhood. Although I live in Pittsburgh City, Pittsburgh has a lot of wooded areas, and my neighborhood is mostly woods. The feral cat can live off rodents. An next door neighbor starts feeding the feral cats, and a charity comes and spades the feral cats. I noticed that my mouse problem disappeared. So I started feeding the feral cats.
The key is at that all possible, make sure you have a clean visual around the entire perimeter. Then once you block that hole. They will begin learning and looking for a new way in. Copper mesh to complete the surrounding. U do not want to block any vans or drainage. Copper will detour their chewing attempt.
The camera is a great idea! Here’s what we did: I kept seeing a feral cat hopping up the wall to a certain spot on our roof so when the pest guy came we told him to check that spot, sure enough, that’s where mice 🐭were getting in. He sealed the hole, no more mice! Cat was hunting mice there and that’s what tipped us off!:cat-orange-whistling:
I found a way to get rid of mice in my house. My neighbor’s outdoor cat has moved in with me. No mice for a year now. When he moved in he got busy and killed one or two every night until there were no more and there have been no more since. He still goes out as much as he wants, but when he comes home, he comes home to me. He knows a good thing when he sees it. He’s sleeping on the couch right behind me right now. He has a few drawbacks: he is a bliss drooler. You will get wet when you pet him. But he loves lovin’. He’s paw-protective but he’s getting over it. And his hunting instincts are so strong I have to be careful how I pet him or I become pray. I’m adjusting.
I guess I am lucky. My house is stucco with no exposed insulation between the bottom of the stucco and the basement wall. I did have a problem with mice getting in through the basement wall where a pipe went in. Workers had not sealed around the pipe,and left a mouse sized space between the wall and the pipe. Stuffed steel wool in the space with a screwdriver and topped with fast setting cement,which fixed the problem.
that foam melts with water exposure, that foam disintegrates when wet down from rain, snow, fog, high humidity. you can also melt this foam off with acetone. he had a mouse problem to begin with because that house was built with fiberboard which is a fancy word for splintered wood so fine you put it in a tub of watered down glue, spread it out into a sheet and slap it down with a simple roller press and then run it into a drier and then you cut it to 4×8 sheets and band it up and send it to the HomeRepot so you can do it, and they can help. rodents can chew thru fiberboard like it’s kleenex because that’s all it really is is a box of kleenex pressed and glued together. mice can chew thru sheetrock/drywall/plasterboard. they can even chew thru particle board and chipboard. over a hundred generations they can even chew threw 2Xlumber mice don’t live long so 100 generations is easily 10 years. his house is 30 years old. that’s 300 generations of mice, easily. the tortoise maybe slow, but eventually slow and steady will get you there…eventually. former residential construction worker for lundgren brothers, wayzata, minnesota.
I live in NH too and years ago I lived in a house in the woods with a mouse problem. I found where they were coming in through the wire holes in the garage leading into the house. So I took some spray insulation like you used to plug up the holes. Well. Little did I know that the mice were actually living in my house (in the ceilings) and going outside every night. So come dusk time I was in my kitchen and heard a blood curdling screech. The mice figured out they couldn’t escape and they all came into my living space. Needless to say it was a very stressful night. Thankfully my previous cat was able to handle most of them. It was awful, so something to think about too before you plug up holes LOL.
Hi. I want to thank you for bringing this camera system to my attention. They look decent and affordable. If I may ask a few questions, please. I Was wondering, do you still like the wireless camera? Would you still highly recommend it? It’s high quality or junk? Does the battery life last long? Is the picture quality sharp in daytime? Seems like it works fairly well in the dark. (PS if you went with a better quality camera, please tell me which model.) Thank You.
Good article and it may help you with pest in your home but sadly I will have to stick to my contact blox and bait boxes. Mice have done damage to my cars, snow blower, log splitter etc. My coworker had 20 thousand dollars of damage to his Toyota Highlander hybrid. Since the Contact Blox nothing. Shawn Woods has a pest control website and has shown mice can and will eat through the spray foam. He suggest calk or special steel or copper wool. I think your camera idea is great idea but if you live in a rural area it’s truly a war with mice. Anything they can ruin they will. I spent well over a decade fighting the battle and losing until my friend who is a professional exterminator turned me on to Contact Blox. He would also tell you to seal up your home. The camera is a great idea, thanks. Also thanks for putting in the setting. Take care
My story. It was a rat, not a mouse. A quite savvy mouse that took me months to beat. I named him Ravi the rat. He lived in my garage and was determined he’d never leave. I article taped him doing amazing things to escape traps. The camera helped me locate his food source, so I blocked it and set a trap outside of the entrance. It still took a couple of weeks of Ravi not being able to get to his food, that he made that first glance at the now, dried up food on the trap. He’d escaped traps many times before, but this time he made a miscalculation and that was the end of Ravi. Found him the next morning in a fetal position, you guessed it, still not dead and he’d still escaped the trap, but mortally wounded. I paid him the respects that you’d give a formidable foe, took him to the green belt and told him, if you recover and escape the raccoons, you deserve to live. Bottom line, without the Ravicam to track his moves, he’d still own the garage today. Thank you for another great article!
Shawn Woods here on YouTube has shared a great idea for mouse traps. Get the old fashioned simple wood snap trap. Bait it with peanut butter because mice are attracted to the protein and such. Additionally, slide a small section of a beef Slim Jim snack up the trigger bar. Should a mouse not trigger the trap by eating the real bait, chances are he isn’t going to just ignore the other snack which will trigger the trap if you set it up properly. I have successfully killed 3 very elusive shop mice with this technique. One of them was living in a customer vehicle when it was brought in. It’s not easy to capture the mice living in an old car
Get a couple of ferrets. They hut mice and rats really well and the smell of them works as it’s own deturent. We had rats in our house and chicken coup. After two weeks we havent seen a single rat or mouse, and all the signs that they are around are gone. Plus you get a really fun and loving pet that will out live most dogs.
I am no expert but I do live in the country on a small half acre. My mil owned the house but it got too much so we bought it. She had mice. She put garbage outside in flimsy cans, grass cut by lawn guy at 3.75″, she kept the garage door open and side doors a few hours a day. I do none of what she did…I keep my garbage in new, ultra tight cans, I double/triple bag, in the garage., I cut my grass at 2.75″-3.25″, I do not keep the garage doors open unless I am taking out a car or cutting the grass and then I close it right away. I also got rid of all the bushes that touched the house that she had…there were 5. No critters in 10 months…….I hope to keep it that way for 10 years or more…..
Another tip and it works…. Check your main sewer pipe that goes through the concrete in your basement if you have one. Usually their is a space between the pipe and concrete. Mice use that as a highway. Try filling it with broken glass like the glass used in those fancy fire pits. It took 30 pounds of it to fill mine. No mice since I did that.
Great article I like that way you caught those mice going into to your home 🏡. I called an exterminator that delt with homes in country, I told him my house is all brick. He came over walked around the entire house and said the mice are coming in from these locations, the weep holes for the water we installed the stainless steel screens. Have not seen any more inside.
You should put a disclaimer that it only works with mice, that won’t work with rats they will chew through the foam and get right back in the house. I’ve used it before and the only thing that works is either steel wool or copper. What you can do is put the steel wool or copper up there and then inject it with foam, that way it stays there And nothing can chew through it. Just a thought 🤔
I was lucky — my mouse entry point was relatively simple to find. The seal strip under my garage door was torn and I could see light coming in under the door. I replaced it. Let’s see what happens next winter. Your idea is great for more than just mice, though. Deer! Rabbits! The bane of gardeners everywhere. You gave me the idea to see where they’re wandering around. Thanks.
Pro Exterminator. Steel wool is best but you have to properly use it. They can’t chew through steel wool because it’s extremely painful if they keep chewing it, they will not keep coming back like the do with foam. Eventually they’ll chew right through that foam over a period of time IF they can’t find another entry point. Mice chew on very hard objects like PVC pipe, wood, 2×4’s etc because their teeth never stop growing so they chew on hard objects to keep their teeth in check and then they’ll chew on semi hard stuff like THHN wire, Romex and nylon ice maker hose for your fridge to sharpen them. This is why mice are the #2 cause of house fires.
Subbed and favorited. This is why outdoor cats are better. I’d also set traps by the entrance after blocking. Maybe that’s wrong. Also I have blue iris and a BIG hard drive so I could rig up an IP c record 24/7 with motion flags. Motion detection on ceras isn’t always the best and is delayed so by using 24/7 you get that first half of the movement that camera missed, at least with ip cams. ALSO those bore scope cameras are getting cheap on Amazon. I have that has two cameras on the head
I watched a mouse one day scurry 25ft up the brick wall of my 2 story home and disappear into the soffit area where the chimney meets the roof. I filled that area with expanding foam but I still trap the occasional mouse in my attic every few months (wifi trap). I’ve been thinking of trying this type of camera method to figure where else I might need to fill.
Yeah, I just got Terminix charged me like 1200 bucks for them to come one day and walk around the house with a mirror and foam can and just fill possible holes around the house and put glue traps in the basement… if I knew that’s all it’s to it, I would have done it myself and pocket the 1100 buck for any other house repairs…
Kept finding digging signs(scraps of wood) on the kitchen floor under where the ac unit is located…WELL something told me to check behind the filter cover..saw a large HOLE in it..they are chewing through the damn filter smh..i taped the whole ac vent on the sides with duct tape so they cant slip from out of there😢😮
First, thanks for doing these DIY articles on YouTube. I watched the Fanttik tire inflator article but didn’t listen to your warning about knock offs. Had to return 2 units from another vendor and then purchased the Fanttik. I now own 3 inflators and later bought their jump starter. So far, I have been very happy with their products. I have been dealing with mice getting into an area of my house for years. Finally went with a pro who advised they don’t try to find the entry points but just set out bait stations. That’s OK for the interior of my garage as I don’t want mice invading my vehicles. So I followed your method and purchased a Blink camera. I had 2 first generation Arlo wireless cameras that I set up on the side of the house along with the Blink. The Arlo cameras caught cats migrating along the side of the yard. Last night, the Blink caught a mouse on article along the side of the house which is where I have suspected they enter. Unfortunately, I had the camera settings at stop recording with no motion. The Arlo cameras did not record any activity. I went to the last point of the article clip and noted some foam backing rod I had installed prior to seal the siding gaps dislodged. It also appeared that a cat did its spray on that area of the siding. With my mirror I found a gap or probable entry point. Sealed it up as best i could with the expanding foam. A bit messy. Will continue to monitor the area. Your idea was genius in my opinion. Why didn’t i think of that I ask myself ?
Well, I have seen it before because I’ve used it in the past. I basically went around my house and looked all the spots they could get in. Didn’t really need the cameras clogged the holes boom done and I also put some rat poison around just for the heck of it to kill them off, never saw a mouse again.😮
Great article about setting up the camera, BUT the foam doesn’t work at all. WE have a roof filled with foam like these as a layer for isolation, they just bite these through and makes a tunnel out of it after some time. Your mouse in the article was very small, wait until you deal with mice as big as your arm…. They are like moles but then from above the ground crawling everywhere they want!
The steel wool stops rodents from getting in and chewing through but it only works if foam is injected into the steel wool to hold it in place in the hole. The thing you did? Just spraying the foam itself in there without the steel wool? Well, rodents will chew through that eventually once they know they can. So both of you were only half right. Next time, stuff steel wool in there and THEN foam it. I deal with rodents professionally.
0:35 I have more of a turkey problem than a mouse problem. The turkeys will jump on my vehicles and do a happy dance on the hood and peck at the windshield because to them, it’s a mirror, and they see what they think is their “mating partner”. Excellent tip on using the hose for spraying the foam up behind the siding.
I did everything you said before I even saw your article, I have that same foam though Loctite is less messy. I took advantage of a blink sale on a pack of 2 cameras and today positioned one where one came in back in February and now in October. Though I filled gaps when I trapped that first one, this new one appears to be coming from the same area! The other camera is on a humane trap that I set and it avoided it so far but I believe it’ll be back. Another problem; it’s an apartment complex so it’s inside my apartment! 🫣Also I thought exterminators are supposed to fill the gaps because I can buy a trap myself if that’s all they’re going to do and I have (bought traps) but a trap that they left caught the first one. Once this one is caught they should seal the other gaps!
That version of Great Stuff has a bittering agent that mice will not like to chew/taste. Steel wool works too, but it’s hard to get a complete seal. Mice will not try to chew steel wool, it cuts up their mouths and tongues. I wish great stuff put tiny steel wool fibers in their pest proof foam – the best of both. I have Hardyplank siding, which looks like wood but is actually concrete planks. Mice will not chew through it. I went around the perimeter of the whole house and glued in Hardyplank strips under the drip edge around the entire house. I used quick grab heavy duty construction adhesive to hold it in. Now it is concrete foundation, to Hardyplank strip, to Hardyplank trim and siding. No more than a millimeter gap… all concrete. All soffet, gable, and ridge vents have heavy duty 1/4 inch galvanized mesh inside. I even made mesh covers for my plumbing vent pipes. I put in high tech fiberglass core doors. They look and feel like wood, but they don’t expand, shrink, or warp…I have a tight seal around all doors and windows. All trim/sils is either Hardyplank or Azak… never rots, shrinks, expands, or warps. If you build a new home or re-side an existing home, use these modern materials, they cost a bit more, but well worth the lower maintenance, longer life, and mice proofing. My cat can’t wait to go outside to hunt, because there is nothing indoors.
I find that overhead garage doors are hard to mouse proof. Look carefully, the door guides are NOT perfectly vertical, the get slightly closer to the door frame as they run to the floor. This allows the doors some clearance as they move up/down but at the last inch of travel closed, the door is pushed up against the inside door frame. But they never seem to be a perfect seal, mice seem to get into the garage through the two bottom edges of the door. And ideas? I have reusable mice cages at each door end. They work great. I put a little battery, switch, and alarm on each trap. When the trap doors closes, it pushes on the switch and sounds the buzzer alarm so I don’t have to look at the trap every time I pass by. My wife insists that I set each caught mouse free, so it’s a two mile drive to the local hiking trail. Mice got into my Benz and Fiero. After my mechanic cleared them out (and replaced the plastic fan guide that they ate), I made a magnetic 1/4 inch galvanized mesh cover to keep them from getting into my Benz’s vent system – it just “snaps” magnetically in place with strong Neomydium Magnets glued inside each 1/4 inch square all around the edges – my mechanic is telling all his customers to contact me – we have a LOT of mice in rural New Hampshire. They seem to love the Fiero’s engine area… ate right through a sensor wire. Now I cover all wire harnesses with heavy duty stainless steel braid.
They REALLY are INSANELY intelligent, which makes in so infuriatingly annoying!!! This was EXACTLY what I was thinking I needed to do. I just wanted to be able to find something that I don’t have to watch hours on end of essentially waiting to see when their actually getting inside the house. Plus I’d need multiple cameras getting every angle of the damn house.
Your advice is very good, and your only errors are errors of omission. To this point, the camera you suggested is minimal. I have used numerous hard-wired cameras that have inboard SD cards (for motion-activated article recordation) and an NVR (occasionally necesary), to detect roof rat intrusions. No money was spared, on this equipment, and I spent a year eliminating the problem, in my spare time. So you are CORRECT to express skepticism of most hired professionals, who simply cannot dedicate the time necessary to eliminate rats and mice from properties where intrusions exist, or persistent backyard problems persist. House exterior walls (in recent, inspired times) are, indeed, designed to have an air gap; this can be exploited. So any insinuation that gaps are to be filled up is wrong. But perimeters must be secured! Rather than spray foam: I used galvanized steel hardware cloth to seal entrance (and therefore exit) points. Sure enough, one rat died of starvation inside my attic, and I had to find it in that complex, dingy space. MOREOVER, you allowed your “mouse” to escape, when you could have used a superior trap (various) to catch and kill the vermin. But you had your reasons: to publish evidence on the persistent behavior of “mice.” Finally, RATS are much smarter than MICE. They are different species, and roof rats really, really love to live up to their names. Especially as winter approaches.
Great article thank you ! Will you please advise me ? I am recovering from hand breaks and unable to access my attic and last year the entire attic floor was pumped in with new insulation loose pink almost 2 feet. For the past two weeks I haven’t been able to sleep as mice scratching hours at my bedroom ceiling and contacted pest control $700 to come here and put sensors in attic and basement (sensors tell them hours of mouse activity useless I learned) and put poison blocks in attic and insisted the mice would leave the house yet everywhere I read it says the mice will return to their nests and die and their nests are in my new insulation and the techs won’t walk on it and use a tarp or wood board so this means all these dead mice are dead in my new insulation so now it all has to be removed from the attic !!! Is there an option I’m a senior and this is horrible. They knew the mice are over my bedroom ceiling yet never closely looked at that corner of the colonial house to locate an access hole! They lied to me and told me all the mice that eat the poison will leave the house and will cost me thousands of dollars in insulation removal
We’ll that’s a great article…. My issue was where the previous owner has cut holes under the bay window in the front of the house to run a electric cord out for Christmas lights. So that was the entry point, but something Elese was following them in. Can you guess ❓……. Black rat snakes… LOL… Yes I couldn’t believe it when I saw my first one. I’ve actually caught two of them. But now that I’ve sealed the hole up no more mice and no more snakes….. They’ve moved to the shed out back… 🤷….. As long as they can’t get into the house anymore…..
I wish I’d known this solution when I lived in my house. Located next to a huge cornfield. I had a terrible mouse infestation in my basement. They ruined so much stuff with their poop & pee. Had to get rid of old pictures, baby clothes I was saving. Family treasures. They were on everything. What a horrible mess to clean up. Was worried about contracting some horrible mouse borne disease. Luckily that never happened. Finally, when I moved I found out there was a hole in the house sill under the front door. Couldn’t see it from the outside. Home inspector found it. Nightmare.
We bought a new home 2 yrs ago which has been a nightmare with fleas, and a huge mouse problem. This is a great idea but would like to add we found in our research and other project learning….spray foam degrades in about 5 years where the mice may start chewing through again. Best method the exterminator said was use copper mesh that’s treated with a chemical, mice wont chew through copper and the added chemical guarantees they won’t. You can pinch it to fit in any small hole. Great articles, thank you!
Story time. I have adhd so hang with me. I’ve been in my home for 10 years. Never a single mouse until last year. I stored some rice in my garage temporarily while I organized the food closet and I missed a box of it… I set an arlo camera in the garage and caught the article of getting the mouse. Mission accomplished….or so I thought. Fast forward from last year to last Wednesday (8/10/22). My son was in the garage and said he saw a mouse. I got around to dealing with it on Thursday. So there I was…in my garage doing what men do….Organizing, planning, etc. plotting the execution of this problematic mouse… I was at my red craftsman tool box (six foot high, but not too wide). I reached for my drill bit kit to put my gate back on my new fence post I had just set a few days prior. As I move to the drill set, my eye caught movement on top of my tool box. Eye level. It was a foot from my face. Maybe closer. I jumped back. Screamed like a inner city metrosexual. There it was…with the same mission as I….24 inches of silent slithering death. I immediately retreated in defeat almost crapping myself and having a heart attack to boot. Side note…for added affect…I am a USMC infantry vet with two tours to Fallujah and a Purple Heart. I would rather fight the Taliban again than deal with any snake of any size. Before I could take it prisoner..it was gone. It had snuck in the crawl space near my ac unit drain line. Bastard found a weak spot in my defenses. Nonetheless I had to get the mouse…and now a snake.
Myeah.. living in a bad part of a bustling city, I’m not leaving camera’s outside by night. Believe me, they’ll be gone by morning. But you are right. Having dealt with mice before, the key is to block the entry point to the house / building (and making sure there is a food shortage inside the house). They’ll have no choice to enter your live mouse traps or deadly mouse traps if you bait them with food, and the problem is solved.. until they find / create a new entry point… My neighbors don’t seem to understand the importance of not leaving food outside for pests, soooooo they’re going to keep getting in, and I’ll have to keep pushing them back out \\o/
I’m a beaver trapper, I take beaver where they cause problems to private property. I had a rat problem in my bird room where the seed is available in the bottom of cages. First, I started with Victor snap traps, they knew to avoid them. Then I used cage traps and caught 2 before they started to avoid them. I knew there were a few rats still remaining, and racked my brain on how to catch them. Beaver are very smart animals, and quickly learn to avoid traps. Quite frequently you will have an educated beaver to deal with, especially if another trapper came before you. The client doesn’t want to hear ” I got all I could”. One trap & set gets them everytime, it’s a Blind Set with a foothold trap. Sometimes they alert on the bait, knowing it’s neatly placed and avoid the area. But with a blind set there is no bait, and the trap is place where they go and covered with material in the area, in my case I used seed hulls to bury the trap with. I used 6 traps, but one trap in the same place caught all 7 rats. They saw their friends caught in the trap, knew about where the trap was, yet it caught 1 a night until they were all gone. I like your idea of how to keep them out, but when there is plenty of food and water with AC, the likelyhood of them leaving is slim to none. For those who come to stay a Bridger #1 is my go-to trap! fntpost.com/Products/Bridger+Coil+Spring+Traps/+1+Bridger+Coil+Spring+Trap
@SilverCymbal Thanks so much for your article, I am going through a similar case right now. Few years ago, I got xcluder around the house, but then 1 year later they started popping up again. Does it matter Gen3 vs Gen4 ? My house is 60 feet deep, do you recommend 2 tripods or 1 would be enough for that length? Thanks so much!
I battled mice for years. Some nights would take up to 10 mice out. I bought 5 Wyze OG cameras with sd cards and set them up a few nights about 5-10 feet apart all around the perimeter of my house. You must be patient. It took me about 4 weeks to find 4 jackpots where they were coming in!! The $150 for the cameras was well worth it vs paying for an exterminator. Only u have the time and patience to figure out where they are getting in. The best is the article seeing them try to get in where u just locked them out of !! Great feeling to solve that problem. Great article and great tip!! You should also bleach the path/run into and around the hole bc they leave trails and grease to let other mice know the way in.
Wow. I barely survived a vermin infestation ten years ago. Seriously. Imagine being at Mayo Clinic and being told you have typhoid fever. It’s now called “rickettsia” and four infectious disease docs missed it. Who thinks a million dollar house could harbor rats and mice. The fleas’ crap got on my cat then on me. I almost died. I’m permanently disabled. It’s no joke.
A very easy way to get rid of rodents is by feeding them a mixture of oatmeal mixed with quick set joint/patching plaster. Mix equal amounts in foil cupcake cups and place them anywhere rodents are seen. When they eat it the joint compound is activated by saliva & digestive fluids, hardens quickly and the rodents will die and dry up.
I used to catch 2-3 mice every night. When I first moved in I caught a bucket full a week. After several years of minimal success, I had black snakes move into my house. Goodbye mice! They come back in the winter but once the weather warms up, the snakes come back. I haven’t seen any snakes this year but the mice are gone. I have spent hundreds trying to find how they get in. Snakes were free.
I went batshit crazy about mice after my F350 was attacked, dump truck became disabled (pissing on fuse box), excavator destroyed with wires chewed and dead mice in heat system, and finally my wife’s BMW with a giant nest on top of the engine. I bought poison, rolling log mouse trap, Rinne Flip’n’Slide traps, Tom Cat snap traps, Victor snap traps, mouse repellent, and a couple of other bait boxes etc. About 100 traps in all. The two most effective methods were the Rinne Flip’n’Slide bucket trap and the Tom Cat press & set snap traps. I’ve caught almost 200 mice in the last two months using peanut butter and almond butter as bait. I dump the dead mice in the field next to my house as snacks for the local animals to munch on. I average about a half a dozen mice per day and still ongoing. I’ve repaired all the damages and so far no mice anywhere but the traps. Awesome.
As someone who used the foam in that exact same space under the house, I can tell you that they chewed through it multiple times. I did have success with getting a bunch of copper wool and stuffing it in the holes, then putting Dap Concrete Patch in there. Then to further make sure they would not come in any other areas, I got Kwikmesh Utility Screen Roll at my local Home Depot, and screwed it in all along the border underneath where the rats/mice would potentially come in, then I just cut off all the extra.
Thank you ! I actually found an app called ‘Alfred camera’ which can be used for free with an old cell phone just like your camera from Amazon. I tested the free option with motion activation inside my house and it worked perfectly! Now I just have to set it up outside when it isn’t going to rain and find out where they’re getting in. Although I did use some spray foam (not the brand you used) in a hole I found & the mice just ate right through it!! I know that if steel wool is used in conjunction with the foam it works better, but it must be stuffed in any opening so that if the mice want inside they have to chew the metal, which they do not like at all. How long did your spray foam work & did you replace the steel wool?
1 year of trying to figure entry out. No one came close to what you just showed me. My siding is vinyl, ordered last weekbthe tool that unclips the siding. My intention is to remove the lower piece all around the house, seal and repair anything i find. Thank you for showing me i am on the right track. My 1st view of your article, i subscribed, Thanks a million 🙂
So, I am currently fighting a mouse running through my apartment. It’s nest is probably in my couch. It clearly knows it’s way around the room. It also knows to avoid traps. Just now I almost caught it with an unexpected trap in the small door opening I left open after I heard it scratching on the other side of the door. She narrowly missed the trap while setting it off. I have now placed planks to block off most of the routes to the couch. With small openings with traps behind. She has just encountered the blockades. Still avoiding the traps. A camera and plugging a hole is not going to work.
I’m not sure if there has been in the foam but a few years ago when I was doing this same thing I noticed that there is no difference between the Pestblock foam and the regular foam in composition at least on the labels. But they do charge more than $1.50 extra for the “Pestblock” but it doesn’t claim to have any pesticicde or anything else. Just use regular foam.
I’m trying to figure out if they climb up the gutters and go through the soffit. In the past year, I also had 12 trees removed as I create a kill zone around the building and to keep the tree rats (squirrels) off the roof. My neighbor had a problem with mice and now I do coincidentally. Can you try using a Seek or Flir (entry level, not the $400 pro versions) to spot these entrances or even spot the rodents? I’ve read they need a hole the diameter of a nickle.
Don’t buy these cameras. The ones this guy had are the older gen. I got the newer ones and set them up inside looking at stairs less than 4 feet from what I wanted to record in a lit area. Also tried unlit. And recorded nothing. I even used a match box car on a string and slowly lowered it into Frame ans it wouldn’t record Jack. I messed with his setting and other settings. Had my bf mess with it. It’s a waste of money. Then you have to pay for subscription. They don’t record constantly. It’s just miserable.playback is a joke.
I use spray foam with a pot scrubber from the dollar store. Fulff up the pot scrubber and stick the spray foam nozzle into the pot scrubber. If anything tries to chew the foam, they are met with a stiff, stainless steel strip and cannot chew through it. Forget steel wool. Something was chewing it’s way into my shed. I did this and haven’s seen anything for years.
Those are the amazon cameras I used to track my mice. Though I live in a terraced house and they are getting in through the shared cavity walls somewhere. All I could do was block from the inside. They are also handy to leave overhight inside my property covering floor areas to check they have not found another way in.
I just got an estimate from a pest control inspector. $5000 to seal up my house and I don’t have that kind of money. And they did sticky traps. I can hear them and I feel awful. I’m a vegetarian and love animals but they have full on invaded. I definitely want to seal it up tight so I’m not faced with killing everything again. Ugh this is awful. I’m definitely taking notes here. Can the mice eat through the foam? Do you have to re-spray it every so often? Thanks!!
I’ve got mouse traps all over my basement and pole barn! Multiple styles ….from conventional traps to bucket traps and water traps! Works great….dead mice can’t reproduce ….over the years the mouse population has diminished to almost zero. I might get a mouse in the house once or twice a year and maybe 3-4 times a year in the pole barn. Use to be 1-3 mice a day in the pole barn and 1-2 a week in the house!
I did the same thing with some arlo cameras. Our house has vinyl siding and the corner pieces were a highway into the eaves. Blocked all the corner pieces with stainless steel pads. That got rid of most activity. Still had an occasional mouse. Finally realized the mice were climbing the chimney and onto the roof. Couldn’t figure out the roof hole so I put a 18in strip of aluminum around the chimney so the mice couldn’t climb up. Have been mouse free for a couple of years. Its an ongoing battle. Every fall I put a camera and some peanut butter into the attic to see if I get any hits. Motion activated cameras work great for tracking mice and I named one of my cameras “mouse cam” and it moves around the house.
How long will the spray in expanding foam last, I think they’ll just chew right through it. Maybe if you capped it off with a piece of galvanized tin cut to shape. Mice and rats chew through wood what makes to think the foam will work on its own? At least that’s what I’d do. The mice will probably use the chewed up foam for material for their nest.
Good old fashioned rat poison in one of those black boxes you get from the hardware store. Pets, water, can’t get into them, but rats and mice can. And they take some poisonous bait to their family. Yea, I found a couple dead rats in the garage, but it sure beats having stuff chewed up. I actually had to throw away the convertible top cover because it was chewed up, and it was stored up on racks hanging from the garage ceiling!
My uncle visited my father 25 years ago and started talking about mice. I remember what he said…The one thing that’ll always work on mice is the cheap 25 cent trap with peanut butter. I remembered that and when there were mice at my work, bought 4 traps, placed them perpendicular to the wall (mice follow the wall) and caught 16 mice in a week. I got mice in the garage, set up 4 traps. Before I closed the garage door, I heard a snap…Yep I had already caught a mouse. Two weeks later 17 mice caught. Every year I set up traps inside the house and in the garage. Nothing for 10 years. It’s nice to stop them from entering but once they’ve entered, you have to deal with the ones inside. Don’t waste money on exterminators. They don’t do shit. Use 25 cent traps with peanut butter. My friends did not believe me. They hired exterminators who did nothing and charged them hundreds. I set up cheap traps with peanut butter, caught 12 at one house, 7 at another 9 at a third.
I had same issue with a house I was renting. I could never find out how the mice were getting in. This was back in 2012 and I was poor student at the time so I got cat it solved my problem little guy was killing mice left, right and centre. Lucky I don’t seem to have problems with mice or rats at my new place if I do I will be sure to use this technique thanks.