Mouse Control in Akron Homes

If mice are in the house, yes, call. Mouse control in Akron is the most common thing we hear about, and a tech can trap the ones inside and close the gaps they used.

The house mouse is small, gray-brown and quick. It nests close to food and warmth, behind the stove, under the dishwasher, inside a wall near the furnace. In Akron the calls spike once nights drop below freezing in the fall, and older homes take the brunt of it. Houses near woods and parks also get white-footed mice, which look a little bigger with clean white bellies and spend more time in garages and cabins.

Why Akron mice show up in October

Mice live outside all summer in tall grass, woodpiles and garden edges. When the first hard cold comes, they look for a building. Akron houses from the rubber-boom years make that easy: settled stone foundations, block walls with open cores at the top, gaps where the sill plate sits on the foundation, and old holes around the gas line and the dryer vent. A mouse can fit through a hole about a quarter inch across.

Once inside, they follow the walls and pipes. A mouse in the basement in October is often a mouse in the kitchen cabinets by Thanksgiving, and in the attic by January. Homes in Firestone Park and Goodyear Heights see this pattern year after year, and so do newer houses in Stow and Tallmadge where the garage door seal has worn out.

How you can tell it's mice

Mice give themselves away in small ways first. Most people notice one or two of these and wait. A week later they're seeing all of them:

• Droppings about the size of a grain of rice, pointed at the ends
• Light scratching in a ceiling or wall at night
• Chewed corners on cereal, crackers or pet food
• Shredded paper towel or insulation tucked into a drawer or behind boxes
• A sharp, stale smell in a cupboard or closet
• Tiny tracks in the dust on a basement shelf

Mouse removal that lasts past one winter

Traps alone are a holding action. The tech on a mouse job looks for where they're getting in, from the garage door corners to the gap behind the furnace flue, then sets snap traps along the walls where they run. Bait, when it's used, goes only in locked, tamper-resistant stations. Then the openings get closed with steel wool or copper mesh, sealant, and metal where it needs to be stronger. Spray foam by itself doesn't stop mice. They chew right through it.

Most mouse jobs need a follow-up or two to check traps and look for fresh activity. A light fall problem in a tight house can be done in a couple of weeks. An older house that's had mice for a few winters takes longer, especially if they've moved into the attic insulation, which may need attic cleanup and sanitation. Price depends on the house, how long it's been going on and how much sealing is needed. The tech quotes it before any work starts.

For the full sealing job, the rodent exclusion page goes through materials and the usual gaps. If you'd like to start on your own, the guide to mice before winter has a walk-around list.

Cleaning up mouse droppings without making it worse

Don't sweep or vacuum them dry. That puts dust in the air. Wear rubber gloves, open a window, spray the droppings and any nest with disinfectant or a diluted bleach solution, wait about five minutes, then wipe it all up with paper towels and bag it. Wash any dishes or utensils that were in the drawer.

Then call. Tell us where you're finding droppings and how long it's been going on, and we'll get things moving.

Related: Rodent Exclusion and Sealing, Attic Rodent Cleanup and Sanitation, Basement and Crawl Space Rodents

Serving Highland Square and West Akron, Firestone Park, Goodyear Heights, Kenmore, North Hill, Ellet, Merriman Valley, Cuyahoga Falls, Stow, Barberton.