Rodent service
Mice Control in Salt Lake City, UT
Mice get in through gaps most people would not call a gap, and a Salt Lake winter gives them months to look. We remove what is inside and close the openings, rather than putting bait on a schedule.
Why the calls come when the weather turns
Utah State University Extension puts it plainly: with the onset of cold weather, mice and rats move into buildings looking for food and shelter. The openings they use were there all summer; nothing was pushing anything through them until the nights dropped.
Two different mice, mostly. House mice live with people year-round and stay close to food and warmth. Deer mice - white belly, large eyes - live outside in fields, scrub oak and the vegetation around buildings, and they are the ones that turn up in a garage, a basement storage room or a cabin in the first cold weeks.
The distinction matters because deer mice carry hantavirus. The Utah Department of Health and Human Services notes it is usually spread by breathing it in from the droppings, urine and saliva of infected rodents. That is why sweeping out a basement storage room or a shed is the wrong first move, and why cleanup is done with containment and protective equipment.
A quarter of an inch, and where they find one here
A mouse needs an opening about the width of a pencil. On valley houses the reliable ones are at the basement level: window wells with no cover and a gap where the well meets the foundation, basement window frames that no longer close tight, and the rim joist above the foundation wherever gas, water, cable or the air conditioning line set passes through.
Then the garage - a door seal that no longer meets the slab, or the corner where the garage slab meets the house - and the dryer and bath vents whose flaps have stopped closing.
Why bait stations never finish the job
Bait treats the population, not the building. It kills the mouse inside your walls or your basement ceiling, which in a house closed up for the winter is something you will notice. And because the openings are still open, the next one is already on its way in.
We trap what is inside, seal the openings in material that cannot be chewed, and clean up the contamination properly - and then it is done.
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Related
The rest of the work
Rodent Control
The whole rodent job in one place: finding how mice or rats are getting in, closing it, taking out what is already inside and cleaning up after. Four parts, one repair.
Read more →Rat Control
The rat in this valley is mostly the Norway rat: a burrower that lives low, along the Jordan River, the canals and the drain lines, and comes in from underneath. We find the way in before anything else.
Read more →Free Rodent Phone Estimate
It starts with a call. Tell us what you are hearing, where in the house and when, and we tell you what it usually means and what the work would involve.
Read more →Rodent Proofing
Closing the house before the cold pushes everything outside to try it. Every gap is sealed in material a rodent cannot chew, and a sealed gap does not need renewing.
Read more →Vehicle Rodent Removal
Rats and mice nest in engine compartments, chew wiring and leave droppings and odor behind. A four-step process to clean it up, treat the vulnerable parts and discourage the next one.
Read more →We handle mice control across the Salt Lake Valley, see every area we serve, or start from rodent control in Salt Lake City.
FAQ
Mice Control: common questions
I only ever see one mouse. Is that really an infestation?
Usually it means there are more you are not seeing, because mice are nocturnal and stay in cover. Droppings, runs and nesting material tell you the size of the problem far better than sightings do.
Should I clean up the droppings myself?
We would rather you did not, particularly in a basement storage room, a garage, a shed or a cabin. Deer mice carry hantavirus and the risk comes from disturbed droppings and nesting material, so it is a job for containment and protective equipment. Leave it, and we will handle it as part of the work.
Do mice go away on their own in spring?
The pressure drops when the weather warms, which is why people assume it solved itself. What actually happens is that the house stayed open, so the following autumn it fills again. Nothing is settled until the openings are closed.
Hearing Scratching in Your Attic, Walls or Ceiling?
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