How to Get Rid of Mice or Rats

Mice and rats constitute a serious health threat in your home.

There’s no reason any homeowner should put up with mice or rats, and keeping your home free of vermin is more than just an issue of cleanliness -- it’s a matter of health. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, these unwanted house guests can carry numerous diseases. Take care of any rodent problem using a two-pronged strategy. Eliminate the rodents in residence, and then change the conditions that attracted the vermin in the first place. Be persistent; where you catch one mouse or rat, there are likely others.

Things You'll Need

• Snap trap
• Bait
• Gloves
• Trash bags
• Glue traps
• Cage-style live trap
• Escutcheons
• Exterior caulk
• Latex cement-patching compound
• Door sweeps

Instructions

Elimination

1. Identify the rodent. Because both rats and mice are most active at night and move under the protection of cover, the first evidence you’re likely to encounter will be droppings, or food containers that have been chewed through. Mice feces are the size of fingernail clippings, while rat feces are about 10 times larger, around the size of pencil eraser.

2. Bait a snap trap sized for the rodent you're trying to catch. Trap rats using salted pumpkin seeds skewered on the trigger hook, with a dab of peanut butter smeared around the edges of the trigger. Bait a mousetrap with a cracker slid under, or a small chunk of apple speared on, the trigger hook. Add a dab of peanut butter. If you know what the rodent has been eating in your cabinet or pantry, use that food as bait.

3. Position the trap in an inconspicuous area in the kitchen or pantry, out of view. The trigger end of the trap should be placed against a wall, so that the trap is perpendicular to the wall. Set more than one trap and check them every day.

4. Discard the trap and dead rodent. Wear gloves to place the trap and body in a double-bagged plastic trash bag, and then into a garbage can with a tight-fitting lid.

5. Trap a rat or mouse with a glue trap if you prefer not to deal with a dead body. Bait, position and check the trap as you would a spring-loaded trap. It’s wise to secure the trap by duct-taping it to the floor.

6. Dispose of a glue trap and trapped rodent in the same way you would a spring-loaded trap, being careful to pick up the trap opposite the side on which the animal’s head is located.

Relocation

1. Bait a cage-style live trap with the same bait you would use in a kill trap. Use the correct size trap for the rodent you want to catch.

2. Place the trap parallel to a wall, out of view. Check the trap daily, in the morning.

3. Release a trapped rodent miles from your home, in a large wild area such as a state park. Open the trap door and step away from the trap. Wash, dry and bait the trap for reuse as necessary.

Relocation

1. Bait a cage-style live trap with the same bait you would use in a kill trap. Use the correct size trap for the rodent you want to catch.

2. Place the trap parallel to a wall, out of view. Check the trap daily, in the morning.

3. Release a trapped rodent miles from your home, in a large wild area such as a state park. Open the trap door and step away from the trap. Wash, dry and bait the trap for reuse as necessary.

Deterrence

1. Clean the kitchen and any other room in which food is eaten. Do not leave food out on counters, or in opened bags or boxes. The more you seal food away, the less attractive your home will be to rodents. Store food as high up as possible.

2. Block openings around pipes -- both those that are routed in from outside and those that run between interior spaces -- with escutcheon plates caulked in place.

3. Install door sweeps on all exterior doors.

4. Seal holes and cracks in the foundation or exterior walls. Use exterior caulking, or latex cement patching compound for larger cracks.

Tips & Warnings

• Covered, spring-loaded traps are usually well worth the extra money, especially if you have children or pets in your home. The trap is contained within a plastic housing; an indicator on the housing lets you know when the trap has been sprung. You can dispose of it without ever seeing the animal.

• Given the several other effective means of removing rodents from your home, it’s rarely worthwhile to use poison. This is especially true if you have children or pets that could consume the poison by accident. In addition, poisoned rodents tend to die in out-of-the-way places such as wall cavities, where their decaying bodies can create extremely unpleasant odors.

• If your household includes children, the elderly, or anyone whose immune system is compromised, it’s best to call in a professional to eradicate vermin before they have a chance to spread disease to the vulnerable members of the household.

References

• New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene; Preventing Rats On Your Property
• Ask the Exterminator: Tips From a Real Pest Control Expert; Rick Steinau
• New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: How to Control Pest Safely; Getting Rid of Roaches and Mice

Resources

• Centers for Disease Control; Rodents
• Popular Mechanics; Stop Pests from Invading Your Home this Autumn; Stephanie Warren