Mouse Extermination and Mouse-Proofing in Metro Atlanta

There are many species of mice, but the ones we most encounter as pests in the Atlanta area are commonly known as house mice because they've adapted to living in human homes. They're the same specie of mouse most commonly found in other buildings used by humans, such as factories, stores, restaurants, and so forth. They've adapted very well to living among humans.

This adaptation, in fact, is one of the things that makes mice so dangerous from a public health perspective. Mice live much closer to humans than most other animals do, often getting into our pantries, the drawers where we store our cooking and eating utensils, our nightstands and dressers, and other areas where they can contaminate items that humans eat, drink, and touch.

This close contact with areas and surfaces that we use makes it much more likely that we'll be exposed to any germs, parasites, or other diseases that the mice carry. Other disease-vectoring animals, such as rats, tend to stay farther away from us; so even though rats carry many of the same diseases as mice do, mice bring those disease-causing organisms closer to where we live.

In fact, mice are known to be involved in the transmission of quite a few diseases. Some of the more serious ones include:

• Lymphocytic Choriomeningitis Virus
• Leptospirosis
• Salmonellosis
• Dysentery
• Lyme disease
• Hantavirus
• Murine typhus
• Bubonic plague

The Wrong Way to Control House Mice

Mouse poison in an attic, left by one of our competitors

There's a right way and a wrong way to approach a mouse control job. Unfortunately, the wrong way is how most mouse exterminators do it. The wrong way to do a mouse control job is to toss, throw, and tuck mouse poison anyplace you think a mouse might happen to find it, like one of our competitors did in the picture on the right.

Relying on poisons for mouse control is not a good idea. Here are some of the reasons why:

• Even when rodenticides are necessary for mouse control (which actually is rarely the case), they're only part of the job. The more important part is sealing the mice out of the house.
• Mice are hoarders; and sometimes they carry the bait to other parts of the house, such as your pantry or the kitchen drawer where you store your silverware and cooking utensils. Mice also can track poison around the house on their fur, even when meal-type baits that are harder for them to hoard are used.
• Many rodenticides are secondarily toxic, meaning that a pet or other animal who eats a poisoned mouse may also be poisoned.
• When mice die, they stink. Because their bodies are smaller, they don't stink as much as, say, a rat; but they don't smell like daisies, either. In addition, there's also the possibility that a larger animal like a squirrel or rat might eat the poison, die, and really stink up the place.

Long story short, rodenticides shouldn't be the core of a mouse control job. Sometimes they're needed, but usually not; and even when they are, rodent exclusion -- "mouse-proofing" the house -- should be the focus of the mouse extermination program. It's safer, more effective, and more permanent.

The Right Way to Control House Mice

At the Metro Atlanta Regional Office of Rid-A-Critter, we prefer performing mouse control using no poisons at all. We trap and remove the mice that are already in the home, and seal up the house against mice so new ones can't get in. This is called "mouse-proofing" or "mouse exclusion," and it means structurally sealing mice out of a home or other building.

As you might imagine, mouse-proofing is painstaking work. Mice are very small animals and can slip through very small gaps, so we have to be extremely thorough. But it's well worth it. In the end, not only will you have solved your mouse problem, but other rodents such as rats will also be sealed out of the home.

In addition, you won't have to worry about hazards such as mouse poison being carried through the house, or a pet cat or other animal eating a poisoned mouse. Our method is just a better, more responsible approach to the problem.

Rid-A-Critter provides environmentally-friendly mouse control to homes and businesses throughout the Metropolitan Atlanta area. Please contact us for more information and an on-site inspection and consultation about how we can help you solve your mouse problem.

Metro Atlanta Mouse Control Gallery

Here are a few pictures of mouse-control jobs we've done in and around Metro Atlanta.

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The Atlanta, Georgia office of Rid-A-Critter provides long-lasting mouse control in all of Metro Atlanta including the City of Atlanta and the communities of Berkeley Lake, Buckhead, College Park, Conyers, Decatur, Douglasville, Duluth, Fayetteville, Hull, Johns Creek, Lilburn, Lithonia, Loganville, Mableton, Marietta, McDonough, Newnan, Norcross, Peachtree City, Powder Springs, Sandy Springs, Smyrna, Stone Mountain, and Vinings.