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About This Project
If lovable old Mickey came from Disney World to live at your house, you and your kids would be delighted. But when Mickey’s real-life cousins move into your kitchen cabinets, well, that’s another story.
Same for the squirrel that thinks your attic is a great place to raise a family, or the raccoon that turns your chimney into a condo. They’re not so cute when they’re on your turf.
Mice, squirrels, raccoons and bats are the most common fur-covered pests that invade our homes (often when the weather starts turning cool). They really don’t mean any harm. They’re just looking for food, water and shelter. We’ll tell you here how to keep your home from becoming a varmint’s dream house.
How to Keep 'Em Outside
The large illustration above shows where mice, squirrels, raccoons and bats will most likely try to get in. And it shows how to keep these critters out.
Pest by pest, here’s what to do . . .
Mice
If you get a mouse in your house, trap it as soon as you can. There’s no such thing as only one mouse!
And don’t get upset about killing a few mice. A female mouse can have up to 10 litters a year with six or more babies per litter. (That’s why there’s no such thing as only one mouse.) However, if killing mice bothers you, there are live traps available.
One trap will do the job, but you’ll double your chances by using two traps together. A mouse can jump over one trap, but not two.
There’s no problem reusing a mousetrap either. The scent of the captured mouse that remains on the trap actually attracts other mice.
Poisons are another option for mice, including closed, baited containers with a small opening for the mouse to enter. But we’re not recommending poisons. They’re a danger to kids and pets. Plus, since poison doesn’t work immediately, the dying mouse crawls off somewhere to die and decompose, leaving a smell you will never find, but will always remember.
Squirrels
If you get a squirrel in your house, it’ll usually be in the attic. So you’ve got to get it out, and the only sure way to get it out is to trap it. Then seal up the openings so it doesn’t come back.
Begin by keeping watch around the soffits and eaves for a few days to see if you can spot the squirrel entering. If that fails, check the attic to find out where it is nesting; the entry point will probably be close by, and from a darkened attic you may be able to see daylight through the opening.
If both these methods fail, you’ll just have to check out the possible entry points suggested in our illustration and seal them up with pieces of wood or small strips of sheet aluminum after trapping the squirrel.
For squirrels, live traps work best. They use a spring-loaded door with a trip lever. Peanut butter on a cracker, set at the back of the cage, works well for bait.
Check the cage every day, although when you do catch the beast, you’ll probably know it by the racket it makes. Wear heavy gloves and use caution when moving the trap and releasing the squirrel. Then cover the entry opening.
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