Mice Entry Points Found and Repaired in Long Branch, NJ

I was recently sent to a home in Long Branch, NJ to treat an infestation of camelback crickets (cave crickets).  These are creepy-looking nocturnal crickets that look like big spiders, except they have cricket legs and two long antennae (for this reason, they are also known as “sprickets” or spider crickets). These crickets typically infest basements and crawl spaces because they are attracted to moist, dark, and damp areas, and these infestations can involve hundreds of them. These household pests will eat just about anything, including mold (so, if you have a cave cricket problem, you may have a mold problem. Unfortunately, these crickets are also an attractive food source for mice, so a camel cricket problem may also mean that you have a mouse problem as well (just ask this homeowner!). If that weren’t bad enough, these crickets are often hosts for nematodes (roundworms). Nematodes are often found in mouse droppings. The crickets eat the infected droppings and then, when a mouse eats the infected cricket, the roundworms are transferred to other mice, spreading the parasites. 

During my inspection of the basement to treat the crickets, I found a few dead mice on glue traps that had been set by the homeowner. Unfortunately, as mentioned, insect infestations like cave crickets can sometimes lead to a mouse infestation because the crickets are a rodent food attractant. Once I determined that there was a rodent problem, I needed to find out how mice were gaining access to the basement. Mice don’t need much of an opening. With this home, I found an opening in a pipe chase, and I also located a hole where a pipe had been removed and replaced in another area. I videoed the areas of concern to show the homeowner these likely mouse entry points, and how I patched the holes to prevent any further entry of these unwanted visitors.