Q. Every fall we get mice in our home. Then we put out mouse bait and some of them die. And then our house smells horrible for several days. This cycle goes on for awhile. How can we get out of this mousey loop? I’m tired of it.

A. It’s true that fall is when mice most often move indoors. Who can blame them? It’s getting cold out there and their food supply is dwindling. Instead of putting a band aid on your mouse problem by killing them once they’re inside, you should be preventing the mouse problem in the first place. You need to keep them from getting in and the way to do that is by mouseproofing your home.

Mouseproofing means finding and sealing or screening all those little openings that the mice are using to find their way inside. It’s not an easy job. In an older home, especially, there can be lots of openings. Mice can enter through openings on the outside of your house around gas lines, cable TV lines, telephone lines, etc. They can enter through openings under and around doors. They can come in through any small crack in the foundation, or deteriorated mortar joints, or warped siding. They can climb exterior walls and enter through bathroom or dryer vents, or gaps around window-installed air-conditioning units. On the other hand, if you’re lucky, mouseproofing your home could be fairly simple. All of your mice, for example, could be coming in under a garage door that just needs a new seal.

You can try to do the mouseproofing yourself, or you can hire a contractor. Really savvy homeowners will hire a pest control company, like Colonial, that does mouseproofing. Because our technicians spend a lot of time controlling mice, they think like mice! They know where to find those mouse entry points. We use only the best materials and methods to permanently mouseproof your home. If your garage door needs a new threshold seal, we can do that.

Secondly, if the odor of dead mice is a problem, you need to stop using rodent baits to kill the mice. Baits work great in certain situations but you can’t control where the mouse will die. Unfortunately, it’s often in a wall void or other inaccessible area where you can’t retrieve and dispose of the carcass. So, you have to put up with the odor for days while nature runs its course. Instead of baits, use the good old snap trap. When a mouse is killed in a snap trap, you have the carcass right there and can dispose of it. No more odor.

If you can get your home sealed against mice, there shouldn’t be any further need for mouse baits or traps. Give Colonial a call today.