Mouse in the Wall - There's a Mouse Scratching in my Walls!

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You might be here because you hear scratching in the wall at night, and you figure that the nocturnal invader is a mouse. I already wrote my guide on how to get a mouse out of the wall. You can read it by clicking the link just below this paragraph. But I figured that I'd post a few of the customer emails here from people with real problems with a mouse in the wall, so that you can see what some of the various situations might be. I post my general thoughts to each situation below the email, in italics. If you have any questions about your problem with rodents, rats or mice in your home or walls at night, just shoot me an email - info@aaanimalcontrol.com, and I'll answer your questions.  With your permission, I might even post them below for other readers. Click to: See Mouse Trapping Photos - Hire a Mouse Pro in Your Hometown - Guide on How to Get Rid of the Mice.

Will a mouse in the wall chew wires? - Mice don’t only like to chew, they have to chew. Rodents are known for their teeth which have the amazing ability to grow continuously. Without chewing to wear down the teeth, rodents would lose the ability to eat food properly and would eventually starve. When you hear a mouse chewing inside of your wall, the animal isn’t doing it to annoy you, it’s just doing what rodents do. Because of this need to manage their incisors, anything and everything can be a target for chewing. Mice aren’t drawn to wires any more than they are drawn to wood surfaces. Wires just happen to be easily accessible within the framework of most homes. Destroyed wires often present dangerous complications to homeowners. Aside from fire risk, the risk of improper voltage to expensive equipment may cause minor explosions or failures around the home. In an ideal world, mice will be trapped and removed before they can create an issue of this nature. If you are hearing mice inside of your walls you need to act quickly. Seal up any holes around your home and place lethal traps strategically when the rodents may emerge. Once the mice are gone, have a professional electrician evaluate your electrical system to make sure there are no breaks in the lines.

Now on to the emails:

Hello, My name is Mark and I live in Winchester, CA on the other side of the block wall where the construction for Blessed Teresa is beginning on SR-79. My request is to have someone (a rodent exterminator if possible) come to the site to evaluate a way to rid the area of field mice without the mice invading the Beazer neighborhood directly over the wall. I was given your information as a point of contact by the Beazer service manager.

My family has lived here since October of 2007 without any rodent problem until the last two months when the overgrown weeds were finally cut.  We then started to have mouse problems, and I have heard them running through the walls of my home, presumably coming up from the ground. Then a second cut was made which resulted in our dog chasing the mice around our yard. I've set a trap which has caught a mouse 6 of the 8 times it was set. I've had to fasten wire mesh around the bottom of our air conditioner units since our pest control determined that is where the mice go when they grab the dog's scraps of dog food, and may be a point of entry into our house.

Please reply with any information or resolution.
Thank you,
Mark

Mark- I operate in Orlando, so you need to contact a wildlife control company in California. In my experience, no government authority is going to help handle a mouse problem for you, even if it's the result of public construction.  The fact of the matter is that mice populations fluctuate, and you'll have mice from time to time, construction or no construction, weeds cut or not.  The real problem is that you have openings in your house that allow mice (and bugs and other critters) to get into your home.  You need a company to seal those areas shut permanently if you want a resolution to your problem.  Unfortunately, there's no easier answer. Hi, I called for information about removing dead mice from my walls or from beneath the floor, and the man I talked to was full of good information. He also encouraged me to use charcoal dead bags and bacazap spray to remove the smell instead of having his company come out to do demolition of my walls and floors. He also warned me of the dangers of using poison to get rid of rodents; it can lead to dead animals in inaccessible locations. Most companies would probably try to up-sell expensive services, but your company didn't I appreciate it. I will definitely remember that if (let's hope not when) I see live mice in the future. Thank you very much.

Sincerely,
Serena

Serena - Glad to hear that you had a good experience.  But remember, if you don't want to get more dead mice in your floor or walls, you need to find out how the mice got inside the house in the first place, and seal those areas up permanently.  Otherwise, you'll always be fighting battles with dead mouse stink.



Hi, I live in Connecticut and am having - I believe - mouse problems underneath my foundation and in my walls. There are 2 holes in my basement - meant for drainage that is emitting a stench that smells like a dead animal. This happened a couple of months ago - so I filled the pipe 4' with water and it eventually drained out. However, the smell is back and I noticed today a pile of poop which amount looked like diarrhea in a 2" wide by 1" high pile at the base of one of the holes (it is only 8 inches down to the parallel drain below the basement foundation). I now believe I have a mouse problem. I originally thought the smell was dead mice as I have caught 3 of them in the past few weeks. But the poop gave it away. I have not noticed any actual mice running inside the basement or house - only mouse signs. I'm not sure if the mice (assuming I am right) are staying down in the pipes or not. I need to kill these things - any suggestions? It's a 4 inch pipe (8 inches roughly) that leads down to the parallel drain. Any way to kill them within the hole while not allowing them to die down in there (without access to them)?

Thanks a lot,
Kent

Kent - Are you saying that you want to kill mice in the hole, but not have them die? Regardless, a problem with mice in pipes is hard.  Pipes do lead into the home and walls, so yes, you need to address the matter.  A good wildlife expert in CT should be able to find the open sources that allow the mice to access the pipes, and seal those areas off.  However, he may need to work in conjunction with a plumber. Ultimately, if you need to kill the mouse, trapping with snap traps is the way to go.

So if you hear scratching in your walls at night, and the animal doesn't sound very large, there's a good chance it's a mouse. Have your home inspected to find out the entry points, and seal them shut. Then set snap traps to catch any remaining mice inside the walls or attic or house, and your problem is solved permanently.

More mouse information:
The Fastest Way To Get Rid Of Mice
Home Remedies To Keep Away Mice And Get Rid Of Them