When the temperature drops, small animals start hunting for somewhere warm and dry to wait out the cold. Mice can’t survive a British winter outdoors, so they move inside until spring. Your home, loft, garage or shed all make tempting boltholes.
One question our team hears a lot: how do you tell the difference between a stray mouse and a full infestation? Spotting the odd mouse now and again can be normal, especially in older or rural properties. The worry starts when you keep finding fresh signs of them, because that usually means several mice have settled in and are breeding.
If you notice any of the four signs below, there’s a good chance you have an infestation rather than a one-off visitor. Here’s what to look for, and what each sign is telling you.
Rodent droppings
Droppings are the clearest giveaway. A few in one spot might mean a single mouse passing through, but droppings scattered across different rooms point to more than one. Check along skirting boards, under appliances, near food cupboards and around any sheltered nook. The more areas you find them in, the larger the problem is likely to be.
Tail trails and tracks
Mice prefer to run close to walls where they feel safe, and they leave marks behind in dust. Shine a torch behind sofas, cupboards and heavy furniture, the dusty places that rarely get cleaned, and look for smeared trails or little paw tracks. If you want to confirm they’re active, leave a dab of peanut butter, a sticky sweet or a scrap of bacon nearby and check whether it’s been disturbed.
Strange noises
A lone mouse is easy to miss. An infestation is not. Listen at night for scratching at walls and doors, or the faint patter of feet running under the floorboards. Pets often notice first, so if your cat or dog keeps fixating on a wall or a gap in the units, it’s worth investigating what they can hear that you can’t.
Stale odours
Mice have a distinctive, musky smell that builds up as their numbers grow. It comes from a mix of urine, droppings and their nesting, and it tends to linger in enclosed spaces. Opening windows and running a fan will clear a passing whiff, but if a stale, musky smell keeps coming back no matter how often you air the room, the cause is almost certainly an established nest somewhere out of sight.
If you’ve spotted one or more of these signs, the sooner you act the better, since a small mouse problem can turn into a large one within weeks. Call our team and we’ll identify what you’re dealing with and clear it properly. We’re open every day except Christmas Day, from early until late.