Why do mice come in the house in the summer

Traditionally, summer is a season of leisure and enjoyment. But nocturnal animals are also having a good time at night, perhaps even inside our houses, while we’re having fun in the light during the day. Why do mice enter my home during the summer is the true mystery. Rats are also involved, so it’s not just rodents.

The idea that mice and rats only enter homes during the winter is a prevalent one. These rodents frequently seek out cool areas to avoid the summer heat, including kitchens and food pantries.

Our homes are the ideal location to give mice and rats all three of the things they need: food, water, and shelter. Compared to other times of the year, the summer is when rodents prefer to move around more. They must move from their winter and spring nests into locations where they will be more comfy during the summer heat in order to survive.

How do rodents and rats initially enter my house?

You wouldn’t believe it, but mice and rats can fit through holes that are only a quarter of an inch broad. In order to avoid the summer heat, they will set up residence in your attic, the crawl area under your house, and even behind your refrigerator.

They’re more than capable of chewing through drywall, insulation, and timber if there isn’t a hole for them to enter through. Additionally, mice and rats will gnaw through electrical and automotive wiring, raising the danger of fires.

Why is having a rodent issue bad?

In addition to eating food and trash in your kitchen and being unsightly, rodents are terrible because they are known to contain several diseases that they can pass on to you.

At least ten distinct diseases are known to be carried by mice and rats, which can be transmitted through their feces and urine and easily infect surfaces and floors.

It is crucial to be conscious that they are carriers of the Hantavirus, which can develop into Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome. (HPS). In humans, HPS is a serious, occasionally deadly, respiratory condition. To learn more about HPS from the CDC, click here.

What else ought I to understand about rodents?

Typically nocturnal creatures, rodents are most active just after twilight and again just before dawn. They frequently become busy inside occupied buildings within 30 to 60 minutes of the evening’s peak in human activity.

After giving delivery, mice can become pregnant again in as little as two days. In the summer, their young can chew on just about anything and create a significant infestation.

In reality, the National Pest Management Association reports that up to 20% of accidental fires in the US are thought to be started by rodents each year.

How can I keep mice away?

There are several things you can do as a homeowner around your house and property to keep rodents out and avoid an infestation.

1. Trim and prune your grass and shrubs regularly. Rodents prefer to build their nests in outdoor spaces.
2. Keep all vegetation, particularly tree limbs, away from your home’s roof and even from touching it. Rodents can use tree branches that are in contact with your roof to climb up and into your house.
3. To stop rodents from building nests on your land, clear out all the trash in your yard, including wood piles and other debris.
4. Nothing should be stacked outside your house or in the carport.
5. Use airtight receptacles to store food. Rodents can chew through plastic and cardboard packaging.
6. Maintain and clean out garbage cans.
7. Make sure the drainage system and gutters are working correctly and aren’t backed up.
8. Rodents can hide in vegetation and overgrowth, which offers shelter. Maintain short-cut lawn and prune your shrubs. Vegetation should be kept at least five feet away from the house, if at all feasible.
9. Look for openings that rodents could squeeze through around windows and doorways. Replace worn weather stripping and caulk any holes you discover.
10. Check the windows’ displays. These ought to be undamaged and without any rips or holes. Small rips and gaps might be patched up, but if they’re big, the whole screen needs to be changed. As a substitute, opt for high-quality aluminum screens that are more difficult for mice to chew through.
11. Verify the exterior of your house for any cracks or holes. Pay close attention to any locations where pipes or utility wires penetrate. Steel wool can be used as a temporary fix until you can implement a more long-term fix to close in the gaps.
12. Sweeping floors and frequently wiping down counters will help get rid of food leftovers. For a rodent, even tiny crumbs can be a feast.

It’s best to hire a professional to place traps, trim back vegetation, seal potential entry points around your house, and perform additional pest-proofing. They are able to stop the infestation because they are familiar with the areas around your house that rodents are most likely to frequent.

Rats and mice do not hibernate during the winter like many other animals do. They are constantly moving, but if they can find sustenance and shelter inside of human habitations, they don’t go out to forage where there might not be much to find. Once they’ve established a cozy home base, they might venture outside more frequently as the weather warms up again to forage, but they are unlikely to forsake it entirely. The requirements of the mice alter as the environment does. Mice and rats no longer require warm homes as the temperature rises. As a result, rodents that are already present in the house could move from a warmer location, like the attic, to a cooler one, like the cellar.

As food becomes more accessible, mice and rats outside may become more busy while scavenging. However, they are susceptible to the same negative effects of hot conditions as people are. Although they may still seek shelter from the heat rather than the cold inside of houses.