Hide and Seek: Where Mice Like to Nest

Mice are among the most annoying vermin you can find in your home. They’ll chew through all your belongings and possibly even the very foundation of your home. To prevent them from doing significant damage to your home, you have to learn where they’re likely to reside. Here’s a guide to where mice like to nest.

Natural Habitats

When living outdoors, mice prefer nesting in habitats that include a lot of nearby sustenance. They want to stay near ready sources of food such as insects, seeds, and weeds. Grains and fruits are also popular, but mice can make do in many circumstances. They are skilled scavengers who can find edible options no matter where they are. Mice also eat similar foods to humans, so they can live off the scraps that people leave behind.

Each breed of mouse has a different preferred living environment. Some, such as pocket mice, like to nest in arid climates. The average mouse, however, prefers moist areas featuring humid conditions. For this reason, they often try to reside near water sources when possible. Mice are perfectly comfortable living outside during the summer months. But when the weather turns, they try to find indoor lodging. Their fur isn’t thick enough to protect them from the harsher elements of winter weather.

Attics

Mice seek several creature comforts when they’re looking for a new home. Your attic will appeal to them because it’s warm and dry. There’s also little danger from natural predators in your attic. Once they identify that this spot matches all their primary criteria, all they need to do is discover a few food sources to survive and prosper. The option is particularly enticing during the fall and winter when cold weather makes the great outdoors less comfortable. The only problem with attics is that they’re not always easy for mice to reach.

Basements

While basements are neither as warm nor as dry as attics, they’re still better than most exterior options. The outdoors doesn’t come with any sort of automated heating system or a ceiling. Also, the basement has an advantage over higher parts of your home. Mice have little problem infiltrating your basement due to all the pipes you have under your home. There are also nooks and crannies that the relentless vermin can access simply by chewing their way in.

Inside Walls

For the same reasons as above, mice can wind up in your walls. By following those same pipes, nooks, and crannies, they might wind up inside the walls rather than out in the open. Vermin won’t care about whether they’re in an open space or tight quarters. All that matters to them is whether they feel safe in the environment. Once the walls pass the survival instinct test, mice will consider the walls of your house their new home. It’s creepy but true.

Do you have a problem with a nest of mice? If so, you can see that you must address the issue immediately. Call a professional at Beeline Pest Control at 801-544-9200.