Nobody wants mice in their home, and the best way to keep mice out of your house is to prevent them from taking up residence outside your home first.
A lot of people make the mistake of thinking that all that’s necessary to get rid of mice is to set a trap, but that’s only the beginning.
To get rid of mice outdoors, you have to think about what is attracting them, where they might be living, how to deter them, and how to trap them. We’ve compiled a list of seven things to explain how to get rid of mice outdoors.
How to Get Rid of Mice Outdoors
Getting rid of mice outdoors is necessary to prevent them from coming indoors. Here are seven steps for how to get rid of mice outdoors:
- Clean up your yard
- Remove exposed food
- Set baited traps
- Cover burrow openings
- Inspect your home
- Grow plants
- Contact pest control
More details about these steps follow.
1. Clean Up Your Yard
These are the things you can do to clean your yard if you are wondering how to get rid of mice in backyards:
- Cut your grass regularly
- Keep gardens and flower beds weed-free
- Remove woodpiles
- Remove leaf piles
- Move compost as far from your house as possible and keep the container sealed
- Clear your property of junk appliances, vehicles, or tires where they might hide
2. Remove Exposed Food
Exposed food is a temptation for any rodent. Consider making changes related to any of these types of food you might have outside your house:
- Bird food: Squirrel-resistant bird feeders are also mouse-resistant. Placing bird feeders in an area where you can sweep up spilled feed can also help.
- Pet food: Feed pets only as much as they will eat in one sitting and keep pet food in sealed, mouse-proof containers.
- Garbage cans: Make sure trash cans have closing lids that mice can’t lift. Metal cans are best.
3. Set Baited Traps
Set baited traps around the perimeter of your home and anywhere that you have seen mice or evidence of mice.
Mice usually choose to run along safe areas like walls and fences and won’t generally go more than five to ten feet into an open space to retrieve the bait.
It’s best to place traps along the perimeter of your home or property and choose traps that pets or children can’t accidentally set off or access.
4. Cover Burrow Openings
If you find any holes in your yard, it could be a burrow where rodents nest or hide. Fill them with dirt and place rocks over the openings to discourage mice or other rodents from taking up residence.
Check the old burrow locations occasionally to make sure your mice haven’t made new ones.
5. Inspect Your Home
Mice can enter your home through any opening dime-sized or larger. Thus, it’s important to inspect the exterior of your home for any holes or cracks. If you get rid of mice outdoors, it’s more difficult for them to enter your home and take up residence in your walls.
If you have a crawl space, it’s worthwhile to look for entryways to your home there as well.
If you find any holes or cracks, you will want to seal them with caulk or foam. However, adding a layer of wire mesh and steel wool is even better.
6. Grow Plants
What can you put in your yard to keep mice away? Planting mouse-deterring plants around the perimeter of your house and in your garden to keep mice disinterested in taking up residence.
What scent will keep mice away? These herbs act as natural mouse repellants:
- Mint
- Basil
- Sage
- Rosemary
- Lavender
7. Contact Pest Control
The best way to deter rodents in the long term is to contact a pest control team. They can do a thorough examination of the exterior of your home to identify any places where mice may be living or gaining entry to your home.
A pest control company also knows the best place to set traps and the most effective types.
What Damages Does a Mouse Cause?
- Digging tunnels in your backyard
- Eating your pets’ food and vegetables from your garden (mice eat at least 20% of the world’s food every year)
- Eating newly-planted seeds in your garden
- Contaminating garden crops
- Gnawing on wood like fences, doors, cabinetry, and siding
- Gnawing on wires
- Gnawing on pipes
- Spreading diseases (the CDC identifies 14 diseases they spread directly and 15 diseases they spread indirectly)
What Are the Signs of a Mouse in the Backyard and Garden?
- Seeing a mouse, usually under debris, rubbish, wood, inside pipes, or around buildings
- Seeing mouse droppings
- Seeing mouse tracks (you can add a fine coating of powder or chalk dust to an area you want to check for tracks)
- Seeing uneven surfaces in your lawn from their tunnels
- Finding remains of crops they have eaten
- Noticing gnaw marks on fences, doors, buildings, pipes, or wiring
- Finding a nest of finely-shredded materials that look like loosely-woven balls and are 4-6 inches in diameter.
- Seeing your pet pawing at wall or holes in the yard
How to Prevent Mice from Inhabiting Your Yard?
The best way to prevent mice from inhabiting your yard is to be proactive now that you know how to get rid of mice outdoors. Even if you don’t notice any signs of mice in your yard, you will want to do everything that you can to keep it that way.
Mice especially tend to seek out refuge in your home during cold weather, so making your yard inhospitable to them can go a long way in preventing them from considering your house for shelter. Inspecting your home and sealing up potential entryways can help keep mice outdoors.
You will want to keep your yard clean, burrows filled, and remove any food sources that they may have. If the garden is their food source, plant herbs that they don’t like around the perimeter. Planting herbs like mint around your house can also be a deterrent.
Hama Pest Control services include helping you find mouse entryways or hiding places that you might have missed. Our mice pest control also includes setting effective, pet- and child-safe mouse traps around the perimeter of your home and property. Our holistic approach ensures that mice won’t return.
