How to Get Rid of Mice in an Apartment

Mice are an especially common problem in older apartment buildings because they often find easy access into the building. If you do have mice in your apartment, it may not be your fault---it could be your neighbor's or just the condition of the building. Still, that doesn't mean you have to accept these annoying rodents. You can fight back.

Things You'll Need

• Mouse traps
• Steel wool
• Tupperware

Instructions

1. Purchase mouse traps from any hardware store, grocery store, pharmacy or big box store.

2. Lay out your traps wherever you have seen mice and wherever in your apartment is the most logical place for mice to hide. Healthy mice will avoid open areas where people can see them. They will run from room to room along walls, behind doors, in corners, under low furniture and in warm and/or dark spaces. Be on the lookout for gathering mouse droppings. They will be smooth, small and black and shaped like miniature grains of rice or tiny cigars. Where ever you find the droppings, lay a trap.

3. Stuff steel wool in the wall holes larger than a quarter of an inch. Check your apartment carefully for entry points in your walls. Look under sinks and near radiators, in closets and vents. Pay careful attention to areas where pipes enter your apartment from the walls; frequently, the holes cut in the wall are not snug, leaving ample space for mice to slip in and out undetected. Check all baseboards for holes that mice may have chewed through your dry wall.

4. Clean your apartment thoroughly. Keep it clean. Sweep often under tables and in the kitchen.

5. Speak with your neighbors to find out if they, too, are having problems. You may be able to determine, based on who is having problems and who is not, what walls and areas of your apartment to concentrate your attention on.

6. Lay a towel beneath your front door to block any entry point into your apartment from the hallway.

7. Speak with your landlord to make an appointment for a visit from the pest control company. Some management companies may be responsive and others may not be. Be polite but persistent.

8. Put food contained in plastic bags or cardboard boxes into hard plastic containers such as Tupperware. Do not leave fruit sitting in bowls on the counter. Put anything even remotely edible (including tea bags, seeds and uncooked grains) into a hard container. Even food you keep in cabinets or in your pantry should be put into a vessel that can be sealed. Assume nothing is safe to be left out.

9. Dispose of any piles of papers lying around your apartment.

10. Check your traps with regularity. Spring traps will need to be inspected once every day or two days. Glue traps may be checked less often. In the case of a glue trap, the mouse will not die right away. Mice are usually caught at night when the lights are off because they are nocturnal and want to avoid people. If you catch a mouse on a glue trap, you'll most likely wake up in the night to hear it squeaking.

Tips & Warnings

• The most common trap the spring-loaded bar trap. Bait is placed on a platform in the center of the trap, the bar is cocked and the trap is carefully laid on the floor. The traditional bait to place on these traps is smelly cheese, but peanut butter typically works better. When the mouse steps on the trap, the bar instantly releases and breaks the mouse's neck. These traps do work, but they can be problematic. Some mice may be smart enough or small enough to get the bait without springing the bar. Other times, the bar springs on the mouse but fails to break the mouse's neck. Instead, the mouse gets caught by the tail or leg, and in that case, flings itself, panic stricken, around your apartment with a trap stuck to its body. Glue traps are also common and come in two types. The first kind is typically supplied by pest control specialists. It looks like a large sheet of white paper with a thick film on one side. The second kind is more commonly found available in stores---and is usually better for catching mice. It looks like a black plastic tub filled with glue. This is a relatively reliable type of trap. If you catch a mouse on a glue trap, you may try to release it. There will be instructions on the glue trap for doing this. Not to be crude, but most people want to dispose of mice by killing them, so the mice can't sneak back in the house. If this is your preference, keep a bucket of water available. Once you've caught a mouse, pick it up, still on the trap, with a towel or rag (to prevent the mouse from biting you). Drop it---rag, towel and all---in the bucket. Pest control companies can only do so much, so don't rely on them too heavily for help. Prevent yourself from getting mice by keeping your food locked in containers, by stuffing holes in your walls with steel wool and by keeping a clean apartment. It's much better to never get mice than it is to get them and have to fight them off.

• The use of poison was not discussed in this article---poison is dangerous to people and pets. In addition, mice that eat poison can easily die in your walls and stink for days as they decompose. However, if you do use poison, never leave it someplace where children or pets are likely to find it. Follow the given directions carefully.