Contrary to what we are told as children and to what we tell our own children, mice are not furry little friends from nursery rhymes.
There aren’t three blind ones to egg on, nor will you find a sweet dormouse to befriend. And you certainly don’t want to come across a house mouse like the one in Hickory, Dickery, Dock.
Mice are unhygienic, unpleasant and unwelcome invaders of family homes and businesses all over. In urban areas, they are the second most populous species, next to humans; surprising when you consider they are most often associated with the countryside, whilst rats are synonymous with London.
But rodent populations are nowhere near this clean cut, and wild mice are a pest, not a pet.
Not convinced? Then read on to see exactly what you can expect when your furry “friend” makes its home in your property.
Damage and destruction
Damage and destruction go hand in hand with mice populations. You can expect damage to personal property, due to their incessant chewing and gnawing, as well as their general lifestyle that will include damaged items sacrificed for nests and so on.
You can also anticipate more serious, and in most cases, more expensive damage to electrical wires, structural features, and anything they can gnaw on or burrow through.
There will be noticeable physical damage to the building, and in some cases, such damage can cause fires and floods, which pose a significant threat and cost to humans.
Adversaries of agriculture
Don’t be fooled into thinking mice are only a nuisance on a small domestic scale, because they can spell big problems for businesses and industries too.
A small population can destroy fields and fields of crops, as well as jam or damage expensive equipment to such an extent that it malfunctions. And this is just an example of how mice can launch an all-out war on agriculture.
Even a single mouse can be the cause of great loss for farmers who have to declare all processed food and unprocessed crops unfit for human consumption, if contaminated by a mouse or mice. And naturally, such a call means the farmers’ livelihoods are at stake because there’s nothing to be sold or make a profit on.
Isn’t it surprising how much damage one tiny rodent can cause…?
Disease and poor hygiene
One of the biggest problems with rodents of any kind is the threat they pose to human health.
Whilst they are not incontinent as the old wives’ tale suggests, they do exhibit plenty of unpleasant and unsanitary behaviour, and they do leave scent trails everywhere which, though not as revolting as urine trails, is still an unpleasant thought.
In addition, they carry all manner of parasites that children, adults and pets can be exposed to through contaminated food and unhygienic surfaces soiled by droppings and the like. And on top of parasite transmission, mice are also responsible for carrying nasty diseases and viruses like salmonella and listeria, which can, again, be passed to humans via contaminated food and surfaces.
Not quite so cuddly and loveable now are they?
Containment issues
Mice breed fast. From the age of four weeks, they can have litter sizes of 9-12. So that pair of mice living in your kitchen cupboard could very well become a nest of 14 within a couple of months. Within another month or two? You could be looking at a minimum of nearly 80 mice – probably more! And with each mouse’s life expectancy at around 9-12 months, you’re likely to have a pretty sizeable infestation in less than 6 months’ time.
Being most active at dusk and dawn, you’re unlikely to spot rodent activity in the home, which is why the tell-tale markers of droppings, chewed food and gnawed furniture are the most common ways of spotting an infestation.
These rodents are good at staying away from humans; they can burrow, climb and swim. With the exception of sight, their senses are remarkably keen, and their ability to get into anything that isn’t sealed airtight means you can go to bed one night and have absolutely no idea that a mob of mice are helping themselves to the kids’ cereal, your secret chocolate stash and the fresh laundry on the side.
With so much damage, hassle and health risk posed by mice, is it any wonder that more and more people are calling for the help of professional pest control services like those provided by Empire Pest Control?
Just be sure you are one of them in the event of a mice infestation; don’t be fooled by the nursery rhymes and story books. Rodents don’t belong in the home, and nor would you want them to.
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