I Found One Mouse In My House, Does That Mean There’s More?

While providing mice removal, we typically find that when a customer has seen one mouse in their home, without intervention it could lead to an infestation. Most of the time, a mother mouse will enter a home and have her babies, and that’s when the infestation troubles start.

By the time a mouse infestation has been discovered, damage to the attic or walls has been done. At this point, either an exterminator or wildlife prevention specialist is usually called to provide mice control services.

Key points in this article

• How Fast Do Mice Reproduce?
• Where Are The Mice Hiding In My Home?
• What Kind of Damage Do Mice Do?
• If One Mouse Can Get In Your Home, Many Can

How Fast Do Mice Reproduce?

When a couple of mice have started reproducing in a home, you can expect the family to grow to between 12 to 36 mice in a year depending on several factors including:

• age of the mice during gestation
• the presence of predators (cats, dogs, snakes)
• the presence of other mice
• the amount of available food
• the safety of their nesting area
• the ambient temperature
• the time of the year

There are many factors that go into whether mice will rapidly reproduce and survive, so at any given time the average number of mice that may be in a home is somewhere between 12 to 36 mice.

Mice that live indoors can generally reproduce year round but if they live outdoors (e.g. garage, shed, window well, under a deck or veranda) they tend to breed during the warmer days of Spring and Fall, and during the summer months.

Mice living in a home will reproduce all year round and that is why when an infestation is discovered, homeowners find there are so many mice to deal with and have them removed professionally.

The Lifespan of Mice

Mice tend to live for approximately 1 to 2 years and sometimes longer. During that time they can give birth to a litter if mice up to 5 to 7 times a year with approximately 5 to 7 babies per birth. This is why it’s most likely that when home owners find one mouse, they usually find more—and they tend to find a few dead mice too.

Where Are The Mice Hiding In My Home?

There are numerous places mice will hide in your home, but the most common place is in the attic and walls. Other typical hiding areas include:

• the stove walls
• in the furnace
• in cupboards
• under the deck/additions
• under appliances
• in the garage
• in crawl spaces/the basement

The attic is the most typical place mice will hide and have their babies. This is why when there’s an infestation, there’s usually a lot of damage to deal with in the attic. Often times we will find tunnels and trails throughout the insulation. An infestation in the attic is easier to detect and usually calls for the expertise of a professional pest control company.

Although mice will hide in all sorts of areas of your home when they’re awake, they do have a specific nesting area where they gather to sleep together.

What Kind of Damage Do Mice Do?

Mice can actually produce a lot of damage during an infestation and the damage from even a single mouse can be costly.

The common areas of a home that mice damage include:

• attic insulation
• wires and electrical
• rubber plumbing lines
• the attic girder
• kitchen/bathroom fan exhaust
• gable vents
• garage door weather stripping
• dishwasher lines
• food stored in pantry

Everywhere mice travel in a house, they leave behind urine and fecal droppings.

Read one of our latest articles titled How Do Wild Animals Get Into A Home? to see all the common entry points for mice and other forms of wildlife.

If One Mouse Can Get In Your Home, Many Can

It’s important to remember that once a mouse has been able to access your home, it leaves a hole big enough to let other mice and small rodents get in too.

An infestation of mice doesn’t always have to be of the same family either. Several families of mice can live in your home at the same time. After a mouse has chewed through wires, metal, aluminum and wood, their handywork makes it easier for bigger animals to get in like, rats, squirrels and birds.

Mice have very powerful jaws and teeth and can chew through most materials and substances in order to get into a home. One of the ways to prevent mice entries is to hire a professional pest control company.

They will make sure all entry points are sealed up with strong materials that mice cannot chew through, and if they stand by they’re work they will offer you a guarantee that mice won’t get into your home for a very long time thereafter.

When searching for a professional pest control company, it’s important to find a company that does permanent exclusion with removal, to prevent future entries.