Mice
Why Brook-Side Houses Hear Mice in Autumn
Brambles, long grass and leaf litter along the brook give wood mice cover and a summer of seeds and berries. As that food runs short and the ground gets wet, they look for drier places, and a shed, a garage or the back of a house a few metres from the bank is exactly that. The wider story of the corridor is on Pest Control Whetstone; here it is the mice.
Wood mice or house mice?
Wood mice are a little bigger than house mice, with large ears, prominent dark eyes, a sandy brown back and a paler belly, and they tend to leap rather than scurry. They also store food: a pile of seeds, nuts or pet biscuits tucked into a drawer, a boot or a corner of the loft is typical. House mice are greyer, with smaller eyes, and live more closely with buildings; they are the usual mouse in flats and away from green space. Either needs dealing with once it is indoors, and the signs of mice helps you tell what you have.
Where they get in
Wood mice mostly come in on the garden side. The gap under a back door or garage door, a hole where a pipe or cable passes through the wall, and an air brick with a broken grille are the usual routes. In older cottages, lime mortar that has weathered out at the foot of a wall can leave openings too. A garage or shed is often the first stop before the house. How mice are getting in lists the rest.
Signs in a Whetstone House Near the Brook
- A hoard of seeds, acorns or bird food hidden in a drawer, shoe or box
- Droppings in the garage or utility room on the garden side of the house
- Scratching in the loft or eaves after dark from October onwards
- Bags of bird seed or dog food nibbled open in the shed
- Small footprints or tail marks in the dust along a garage shelf
If the droppings look too large for a mouse, or burrows have appeared in the garden, it may be rats from the brook instead.
What Helps Now, and What Makes It Worse
- Move bird seed, pet food and grass seed out of the shed and garage and into metal bins
- Keep the back door and garage door shut around dusk, when mice are on the move
- Pull boxes back from the walls in the garage and loft so you can see what is going on
- Leave holes open while mice are still using them, or they may be shut inside a wall
- Keep poison away from sheds and the garden, where pets, birds and other wildlife can find it
Around the Visit
When you book mouse control, say whether the house backs onto the brook, whether a garage or shed is attached, which rooms the signs are in and when they began. If you suspect wood mice, mention it. Before the visit, clear the cupboard under the kitchen sink, the boiler cupboard and anywhere droppings have turned up. You will be told what was found and the next steps. How long it takes depends on the house and how settled the mice are, as how long mouse treatment takes explains. Call again if droppings reappear after things had gone quiet.
Before Next October
Wood mice return each autumn if last year's routes are still open, so the time to act is late summer, before the weather turns. Fit brush strips under the back and garage doors, fill gaps round pipes and cables on the garden side, and check the air bricks. Keep stored bird food out of the bottom of the garden and the compost bin lid shut. Small holes can be sealed with rodent proofing in Whetstone, and why mice keep coming back explains the pattern. The borough-wide page is Mouse Control Barnet.
