Photo Album: Mice in Plainsboro, NJ Home
Extremely soiled insulation in Plainsboro, NJ
Whenever I arrive at a home to resolve a mouse infestation, I conduct a quick debriefing debriefing with the customer that helps to focus my inspection on the problem areas of the home. For example, it's important to know where mouse droppings have been seen and where in the home unusual noises have been heard. Mice can find their way inside wall voids and on top of drop ceilings where you'll hear them running, gnawing, or squeaking - usually at night. Finally, homeowners may see damage to stored food containers especially cardboard boxes, materials used for nesting, and their hidden stockpiles of pilfered food. These homeowners had some helpful "Intel" for me that helped target my inspection. They heard some scurrying noses in their basement drop ceiling and in the attic area above their bedroom ceiling. I grabbed my flashlight and began my inspection in the attic. It did not take long to uncover mice activity. As soon as I was in the attic, I found an area that was covered with mouse droppings - and there was plenty of evidence. A single mouse can leave 70 droppings a day! With active infestations, you'll find fresh black dropping. They are still glistening, wet-looking, and pliable - you can press them out of shape like putty. Old droppings are grayish, dusty-looking, and crumble easily if pressed. Small particles can become airborne and cause serious respiratory infections if inhaled, so it's best to stay away from this waste if you don't have protective equipment. It can be a little more challenging to find their nesting locations. Sometimes, it's hidden, and you have to pull or move insulation to find where the mice are nesting. To eliminate the mice that had infested the attic, I placed several rodent bait boxes around the attic's perimeter.
Gaps provide easy access for mice into this Plainsboro home
Based on the homeowner's information, I then moved my inspection to the basement. I began by removing the ceiling tiles. There was a significant amount of droppings on the tiles. While placing rodent bait boxes on the sill plate around the basement perimeter, I noticed some daylight coming from outside. Mice don't need much of a gap or space to find their way inside a home. If their head can fit in a hole, their body will follow. They only need about a dime-sized hole to gain access to a home. Here, I found an opening around some utility pipes coming from the air conditioning system on the exterior. After applying tracking powder to the opening, I sealed it with a chew-proof copper mesh.
Outside rodent bait stations in Plainsboro, NU
Rodent burrows and bait station
More mouse droppings in Plainsboro, New Jersey
After completing my inspection, I let the homeowners know what I found, and the steps I took to control the mice. I scheduled a two week follow-up to return and re-inspect to ensure that the mice were gone, and take any additional treatment steps, as necessary. As mentioned, mice droppings are potentially hazardous materials. Cowleys performs full sanitizing and deodorizing services to clean up rodent and wildlife droppings. I left an estimate with the homeowner for this additional service, and reminded them that this type of clean-up is not a DIY project. When viruses or bacteria in the droppings become aerosolized, you are at risk for Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS) and other serious diseases.