Mouse control in Arnhem: finding the way in
Catching a couple of mice is easy; keeping them out is the real job. As long as the entry point stays open, new mice simply follow the same route. A house mouse can squeeze through a gap of around 6 mm, and that gap is often somewhere you would never look: behind the dishwasher, in the meter cupboard or around a pipe passing through the crawl space.
So our approach follows a fixed order. First we track down the entry points and runs. Then we seal openings with steel wool, fine mesh, sealant or a brush strip under the door. Only after that do we deal with the mice inside, using snap traps or locked bait stations. As certified pest controllers we use professional rodenticides only where they are genuinely needed.
Signs of mice in your home
You rarely see the animals themselves: they are mostly active at night and keep close to walls and the backs of cupboards. Their traces are much easier to spot.
- Small dark droppings, roughly the size of a grain of rice, in drawers, cupboards and along skirting boards.
- Gnaw marks on packaging, soap, cables or the insulation in the crawl space.
- A nest of shredded paper, fabric or insulation in a warm, hidden corner.
- A sharp, musty smell of urine in a closed cupboard.
- Scurrying or gnawing in the ceiling or walls once the house goes quiet.
Why mice move in
Mice mainly head indoors in autumn and winter, when it gets colder outside and food becomes scarce. Once a mouse has found a way in, it uses the same route again and again and leaves scent trails that others follow.
In terraced houses and blocks of flats, mice also travel from home to home through shared crawl spaces, cavity walls and service ducts. Bird food on the patio, an open compost heap or dog biscuits left out overnight in the utility room make a house even more attractive. If you find larger droppings or burrows in the garden, it is worth reading our page on rat control too.
What you can do yourself – and what to avoid
There is plenty you can do to make life hard for mice. Keep cereals, rice, biscuits and pet food in sealed glass or hard plastic containers. Sweep up crumbs straight away, including under the fridge and cooker. For a single mouse, a snap trap with a dab of peanut butter placed along the wall is a perfectly good first step.
Avoid scattering loose poison pellets. A poisoned mouse often dies somewhere you cannot reach, such as under the floor or inside a cavity wall, where it starts to smell. Children, dogs and cats may also get to the poison. If you still find fresh droppings after a week or two, there is more than one mouse, and professional mouse control is the quickest way forward.
After treatment: keeping mice out
On the follow-up visit we check whether the traps or stations are still being visited and whether the proofing has held. If all is quiet, we remove everything. From then on it is about prevention: every autumn, check around the meter cupboard, under the sink and by the air vents for new gaps, for example after building work or a new cable connection.
If you live in a terraced house or a block of flats, it pays to involve the neighbours or the owners' association (VvE). Mice do not respect property lines, and a joint approach stops them shuttling back and forth. Dealing with other unwanted guests as well? Our wider pest control in Arnhem covers far more than mice.
