Mice and Rats

• WHAT YOU SEE

Droppings along the garage wall or by the side door, a chewed corner on a bag of birdseed or pet food, sometimes a scratching sound in the wall at night. A mouse itself is rare to actually see; the signs it leaves behind are what most people notice first. In the basement, it's more often a mouse in a trap someone already set than a sighting.

• WHAT WE SEE

Mice run along walls, not across open floors, and they use the same route every night, which is why droppings cluster along a specific wall rather than scattered everywhere. The way in is almost always a gap about the width of a dime, and the rubber seal under an overhead garage door is the single most common one we find. From there they follow the wall line into the garage and sometimes further into the house through a gap around a pipe or a sill plate. A chewed bag of birdseed or pet food is often what's keeping them around once they're in.

• HOW WE FIX IT

We seal the gap, most often the garage door seal, and set bait stations along the wall run rather than in the open middle of the floor, since that's where mice actually travel. The garage and basement get swept and checked at the follow-up visit to confirm the stations are working and nothing new has moved in. Rodent exclusion is treated as its own job when the entry point is bigger than a standard door seal, sealing gaps around vents, pipes, and the sill plate directly. This is often handled as an add-on to the standard quarterly barrier, since a real rodent problem needs its own inspection.

• WHEN THEY SHOW UP

Fall is when we see the most mouse activity, as cooling weather pushes them to look for a way indoors. Once they're established, a mild winter with a good food source can keep a population going without much slowdown. The garage is the most common entry room, since the overhead door seal is the weak point; the basement is the second most common, through a sill plate or utility gap.

• WHAT THE PROS KNOW

A mouse needs a gap about the width of a dime. The rubber seal under the overhead door is the most common front door in the house.