Mice can be a challenging pest to deal with in your New Jersey home or business, as they tend to be most active at night. In New Jersey, mice infestations are not uncommon. That's why it's vital to learn how to identify the problem, take steps for prevention, and find effective treatment options should an infestation occur.

What Are Mice?

Mice are classified as rodents and are typically smaller than rats, only reaching up to 4 inches in length with thin tails that are about the same length as their bodies. At Resolve Pest Management, our team of experts explains that the two most common mice species in New Jersey are deer mice and white-footed mice. Deer mice are mostly brown with white underbellies, while white-footed mice have similar coloring, but they're named for the stark white color of their feet. Deer mice can reproduce every three to four weeks beginning at the age of 35 days, meaning that an infestation can get out of hand quickly. White-footed mice typically breed between the months of March through October in New Jersey and can have anywhere from two to four liters throughout the year, which can result in two to nine offspring.

How to Identify Mice in New Jersey

You can identify mice by their smaller body size and long tails. With deer mice, you can identify them easily because of the clear difference in color between their bodies and their bellies. It can take longer than expected to identify a mouse problem, especially if they're in your walls because they're usually most active at night when house occupants are asleep or the office is empty. If you are finding droppings, which look like small, round pellets or grains of rice and are gray or black in color, this is also a sign that mice are invading your New Jersey home or business. Mice leave their droppings while they're on the move, so you'll find droppings in areas they travel from a food source to their nest.

When Are Mice Present in New Jersey?

Although mice can be active all year round in New Jersey, you're more likely to have infestation problems in your home or building around breeding times and during the cooler months of fall and winter, as the mice look for safe places to nest with plenty of food. If mice are breeding outdoors near your property, you're most likely to see an infestation in the fall, spring, and summer. If they manage to find an indoor space, then breeding could take place all year round. As the weather begins to cool in New Jersey around October, mice begin invading homes and businesses, looking for warmth, food, and shelter during the winter months.

How to Control Mice in New Jersey

Effective mice control in New Jersey is essential, as mice can carry diseases such as Lyme disease. If you suspect you have a mouse infestation, the best thing to do is to contact the experts at Resolve Pest Management. Our pest control technicians will identify what's attracting the mice to your property and use proper control methods to keep your home or business protected. One method is not providing the pests with a steady food source, which makes your office or home less attractive for a place to nest. Our team recommends cleaning up all crumbs, spills, and other food from areas that mice could access, which includes not just floors but also counters, surfaces, and cabinets where you typically have or prepare food. Ensure you don't have holes or cracks in walls or the foundation where there's exposure to the outdoors.

How to Prevent Rodents During a Renovation

According to statistics, mice and other rodents invade approximately 21 million homes during the winter in the US. Besides causing extensive damage, mice can also carry a variety of diseases, including salmonella and hantavirus.

If you are renovating a home or business, this can open even more opportunities for rodents to get in, especially if it is left unoccupied for certain periods without rat and mice control.

To protect your home and renovating projects from mice, our team states how to deter and eradicate them. During renovations, it's easy for the yard to get cluttered, and piles of building debris and materials can mount up, as well as any garbage from the remodeling/renovation process. Unfortunately, this can create a paradise for mice. Mice love piles of wood, unraked leaves, garbage heaps, etc. This gives mice cover to hide in before they make an entry into your home. To discourage this, our pest control experts recommend clearing any unnecessary heaps of building refuse. Stack materials neatly, rake up dead leaves, and dispose of woodpiles.

Do you have any full trash cans standing about? Maybe with food containers in them? If so, you want to empty these as soon as possible. Garbage cans can act as both a food source and a place of shelter for incoming mice. To stop this from happening, and prevent mice from invading your home and its renovations, our team recommends making it a priority to seal up your eaves, windows, doors, and vents as soon as you can in the renovation process.

How to Properly Clean After a Mouse Infestation

You might think that once the mice have cleared out of your home, the problem is solved. However, if you want to keep mice out for good, it's vital to clean the area properly as well. The rodents will have left behind nests and rodent waste, which invites other mice back to the area. Knowing how to clean rodent waste properly requires some level of expertise, as you need to thoroughly sanitize the space and remove any trace of a mouse infestation.

What's more, an unclean space also leaves behind any germs or diseases that the rodents might have brought with them. Professional and in-depth sanitation is the only way to protect yourself and your family from potential infection.

At Resolve Pest Management, our team offers a Disinfection, and Sanitization service to avoid this situation entirely. Our Disinfection and Sanitization Treatments use a combination of several indoor disinfectant cleaning methods to reach and disinfect common and complex-to-reach areas in your New Jersey home or business. Our professionals will wipe down, mist, and use aerosol devices to fog your property from floor to ceiling with our disinfectant solution during each sanitization treatment.

Protecting Your Home or Business from Mice with Resolve Pest Management

At Resolve Pest Management, we offer expert treatment designed to effectively and efficiently control and prevent mice from invading your home or business in New Jersey. Our use of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) techniques focuses on finding the core of the pest concern and controlling mice from the source. Through IPM, pest control materials are selected and applied in a manner that minimizes risks to human health, pets, and the environment. Schedule an appointment today, and let us help you keep your property protected from mice and other pests.