Photo Album: Multiple mice entry points in South Amboy, NJ
Mouse entry points
Our warm buildings are enticing locations, and unfortunately, because of their diminutive size, mice often have an easy time of things to find their way inside. Mice can fit through a hole, crack, or gap around the size of a dime. If a mouse is able to poke his little snout through an opening, the rest of their body will usually follow, and once one mouse finds its way in, a scent trail is left for other mice to follow.
Side door opening
Upon arrival, I first inspected the interior and exterior perimeter of the building to find any actual or potential entry points. I began by focusing on common problem mouse entry areas - exit doors, overhead doors, and utility lines going through the exterior wall. Sure enough, I found several areas of concern.
Open pipe
As often happens, the sealant around the pipes erodes over time leaving gaps for mice to enter. The mice run across the pipes like roadways to enter the building. I treated the voids with a rodent tracking powder that would effectively deal with the mice until those gaps could be permanently sealed by the contractor.
Under the double door
In the interim, I set up exterior rodent bait stations around the building's exterior perimeter and multi-catch rodent control traps around the interior perimeter, concentrating placement around those areas where there were signs of mouse activity - the exit doors and overhead doors. There were also voids around the utility lines going into the exterior wall.
Under the single door
A picture is worth a thousand words, and I photographed the trouble spots to review them with the account contact person. He was surprised that there were so many weak spots that were being exploited by mice to gain building access, and he assured me that a contractor would address these problems ASAP.