Mouse Control in North Georgia

It's been said that if you build a better mousetrap, the world will beat a path to your door. And there's good reason for that. Mice have been pests of man for all of recorded history, and mouse control is one of the most in-demand services provided by exterminators throughout the world. People have been trying to keep mice out of their homes and businesses pretty much forever.

In North Georgia, mouse control is most in demand in the fall and early winter. That's when mice and rats start looking for warm, cozy places to spend the cooler months. In rural areas of Georgia, mouse control is more of a year-round problem. Keeping mice out of stables, barns, silos, and other agricultural buildings can be a real challenge.

The Common House Mouse

The adult house mouse, Mus musculus, averages about three inches in length (not including the tail) and is usually gray or brown in color, with white or light-colored bellies. They have relatively large and prominent ears, and their tails are roughly the same length as their bodies. Their ears and tails have very little hair.

Mice can squeeze through very small gaps: a hole the size of a dime, or a crack the thickness of a pencil.

The house mouse's skeletal system allows mice to squeeze through very narrow openings: An adult house mouse can squeeze through a crack the width of the thickness of a pencil, or through a hole the size of a dime. This enables mice to travel throughout a home's structural voids and pipe chases. Mice can be found anywhere in a house from the attic down to the basement or crawl space. But they usually don't wander very far from their nests and food sources.

Part of the reason mice like to stay close to home is that they have relatively poor vision, and navigate mainly by smell and touch. They feel their way along walls and other vertical surfaces and are uncomfortable in open spaces where they are more vulnerable to predators.

On the other hand, however, mice are very curious creatures who readily explore new objects in their environments, including mousetraps. In fact, professional mouse exterminators often use no bait at all on certain types of mouse traps, relying on the mouse's natural curiosity instead.

Mice and Public Health

Mice can spread serious diseases when they get into stored foods.

A lot of people don't realize this, but mice pose a very serious risk to public health.

Mice are directly involved in the transmission of several serious diseases including Lymphocytic Choriomeningitis Virus, leptospirosis, salmonellosis, and dysentery. They're also hosts to parasites such as ticks and fleas, which in turn are involved in the transmission of serious diseases including lyme disease, murine typhus, and plague.

In addition, because of their small size and inquisitive nature, mice come into closer contact with humans than do their larger cousins, the rats. Mice often get into kitchen cupboards, for example, where they gnaw through food packages to get at the goodies inside, contaminating the food with their saliva, hair, and filth in the process, and spreading germs everywhere they go.

Mice also get into drawers, closets, and other storage spaces more easily, where they damage and contaminate stored items. Mice are gnawers and nibblers, and it's common for them to gnaw little pieces out of every garment in a drawer, while also contaminating and staining the clothing with their droppings and urine.

Rid-A-Critter's IPM Approach to Mouse Control

Mice chewed through insulation at this Monroe, Georgia mouse control job.

Most mouse exterminators rely primarily on poisons to control mice. A pest control technician places bait trays or boxes in strategic areas throughout your home, and then comes back on a usually monthly basis to refill them -- pretty much forever, in most cases. That's because although the mice die after they eat the rodenticide, new mice usually move in to replace the old mice.

That's not how we do things. Consistent with our emphasis on Integrated Pest Management (IPM), Rid-A-Critter emphasizes non-chemical mouse control over the use of rodenticides. We trap the mice, remove them from your home, and use exclusion techniques to keep the mice out.

In most cases, in fact, mice can be eradicated and kept out of your home without using any chemicals at all. Our non-chemical mouse control program emphasizes habitat modification, trapping, sanitation, sealing, and exclusion as the primary mouse control tools. In some cases, however, some limited use of rodenticides may be necessary.

Our "green" approach to mouse control is more environmentally responsible because it drastically reduces the need for pesticides and the risk of accidental poisoning of pets or non-target animals. It also results in a more permanent mouse control solution because it helps prevent "new" mice from getting into the building after the "old" mice are removed.

In the long run, our IPM approach to mouse control is also more economical because it's a more permanent mouse control solution. With good mouse-proofing, there's no need for a technician to return every month to fill bait stations. The mice are sealed out of your house.

Mouse Control Gallery

Here are a few pictures of mouse extermination jobs we've done. (Stay tuned -- more on the way!)

Rid-A-Critter is the region's largest and most well-established non-chemical mouse control company. We have technicians living and working throughout our North Georgia and Birmingham, Alabama service areas. So if you're ready to try a new, more environmentally responsible, and more permanent solution to get rid of mice from your home or business, please contact us for a prompt inspection by one of our local experts.

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Rid-A-Critter provides mouse control and mouse proofing in all of North Georgia, including Athens, Atlanta, Alpharetta, Canton, Carrollton, Cartersville, Columbus, Cumming, Dacula, Doraville, Dunwoody, Ellijay, Flowery Branch, Gainesville, Kennesaw, Jasper, Lawrenceville, Loganville, Macon, Milton, Norcross, Rome, Roswell, Suwanee, Villa Rica, Winston, Woodstock, and everywhere in between.