Mice
The Autumn Move Indoors
The area page, Pest Control Mill Hill, explains where field mice spend the summer. The move towards houses tends to begin in September and build through October and November, as seed and insects outside get scarce. A mild spell can delay it, and a sudden cold snap can bring several in within a week. By the time the heating is on every evening, any mouse that has found a way in has usually made itself at home.
Where they end up in these houses
Field mice climb brickwork, ivy and wisteria easily, so a gap under the eaves or where a pipe enters high on the wall is as useful to them as one at ground level. In the older houses near The Ridgeway that means lofts, roof voids over bay windows and the spaces beside chimney breasts. In newer houses the usual places are the boxing round the boiler flue, the void behind integrated kitchen units and the garage.
Field mouse or house mouse?
It does not change the treatment, but it helps to know. Field mice often cache food, so you may find a store of acorns, seeds or cherry stones hidden in a boot, a drawer or behind boxes in the loft. House mice leave more droppings, spread more widely, and are more likely to be living in the building all year. The signs of mice covers the evidence either way.
Checking a Mill Hill House for Mice
- Droppings or a hoard of seeds and nuts on the loft boards or among stored boxes
- Nibbled bulbs, apples or bird seed in the garage or shed
- Scratching in the ceiling or behind the eaves cupboard in the early evening
- Droppings on top of wall cupboards as well as underneath the units
- Chewed packets at the back of a larder or utility room nearest the garden
Larger droppings, burrows outside or heavy noise under the floor point to rat control in Mill Hill instead.
What to Do Straight Away
- Move bird seed, bulbs and stored fruit out of the garage and shed into sealed metal tins
- Put dry food and pet food indoors into hard containers with tight lids
- Clear boxes back from the loft edges so you can see where activity is
- Leave entry holes open while mice are active, so none are trapped inside a wall or ceiling
- Avoid putting poison in the loft, where a mouse can die out of reach and leave a smell
Around the Visit
When you book
When you book mouse control, say whether it is a house or a flat, whether it has a loft, a garage or an attached outbuilding, and which floors the signs are on. Say too if the garden backs onto open land, since it affects where the technician looks first.
Before and after
Make the loft hatch, the garage and the cupboards under the sink and boiler easy to reach. You will be told what was found and what comes next. How long it takes depends on the house and how many mice have come in, as how long mouse treatment takes explains. Get back in touch if droppings reappear after they had stopped, or the noise moves to a new room.
Getting Ahead of Next Autumn
The same gaps will be used again next year unless they are closed, so the quiet months are the time to deal with them. Cut climbing plants back from the eaves, check where cables and pipes enter high on the wall, and fill gaps round service entries. Small accessible holes can be sealed with rodent proofing in Mill Hill. Why mice keep coming back explains the pattern, and how mice reach a loft covers the high-level routes.
For mice elsewhere in the borough, including flats above shops and suspended floors, see Mouse Control Barnet.
