How Mice sneak into your premise using ‘hidden highways’

Mice and rats DO NOT discriminate; any business, whatever its size or location can be vulnerable to the activities of these rodents. Architects and engineers design buildings for people, not for mice or rats. Yet these tenacious creatures, will make the most of any opportunities.

False floors, cable passages, ceiling vents, dry risers, internet ducts, suspended ceilings and even routing wires, can all serve as hidden areas and “rodent highways”, particularly for mice, enabling them to gain easy access into a premise. This also gives them the ability to spread quietly (from floor to floor, building to building) unseen, unheard and the signs of mice can go undetected.

You can have the smartest looking and efficient office space, shop or business premise with ergonomic chairs, inspiring interior design and state of the art equipment. But inquisitive rodents will still nibble crumbs under desks, unfinished Birthday cake or find scraps under the fridge and behind the cupboards in the staff canteen.

Mice have flexible skeletons, so only need a gap the width of a pen or pencil, to be able to squeeze through and sneak into buildings. They also have the advantage of not needing to drink water, unless their food source is particularly dry. Even then they only need up to 3 ml of water a day – a few drips from a leaky tap. They are inquisitive, wanting to investigate new areas and objects in their environment. They will chew on anything of interest as they forage for food. Nibbling in up to 30 different locations during one night’s sporadic feeding even though they only need around 3 g of food each day.

While feeding and exploring, mice will leave behind dabs of urine everywhere, using odours within the urine to communicate to others. They will also deposit around 50 – 80 droppings during a night as they move from one feeding spot to another. Faeces and urine from mice contain pathogens that spread diseases such as Salmonella, Lyme disease and Hantavirus. These pathogens can easily be spread throughout premises by contact with urine and faeces or inadvertent consumption of contaminated food or water. A professional pest disinfection service can effectively treat areas affected by a rodent infestation to remove these pathogens once the pest infestation has been controlled.

Getting rid of mice

To get rid of an infestation of mice everyone in the business needs to co-operate, from premises management and building occupants to the pest control professionals. Managing, preventing and deterring mice from a business will require:

• Food waste to be emptied every evening and rubbish stored in sturdy bins with tight fitting lids. Avoid storing food in desk draws and use sturdy tightly sealed containers to store food stuffs in canteen or kitchen areas.
• Keep tidy by removing debris and accumulated items stored in ‘out of the way’ corners, so mice do not have areas in which to nest and materials with which to build them.
• Mice proofing premises by sealing any holes and gaps they could use to enter. You will also need to identify gaps located higher up the building, or on your rooftop, not just those near the ground, as mice are agile climbers.
• Mouse monitoring  with routine inspections of the building by qualified pest control professionals. This will help with early identification of a potential pest problem, so swift action can be taken to prevent it spreading.

You might briefly consider is an office cat? Who will sit on your keyboard and purr contentedly, whether they actually catch any mice, or prefer to eat the left-over cake and biscuits will difficult to tell. If you decide that investing in an office cat is not a practical option for your premises then there are effective solutions such as the RADAR mouse trap. A bait-free, humane mouse trap, it is the perfect option for areas where the use of rodenticide bait is not an option.