Mice and Your Mobile Home

Mice and your mobile manufactured home can be horrifying to find but don’t be too hard on yourself.  These little rodents can easily get into the nicest of homes.  They are little Houdini’s about squeezing into small crevices to find their way into your mobile home.  On top of that they have sharp teeth that can gnaw through almost any type of building material:  wood, drywall, plaster etc. They also are great climbers.

                            Mice and Your Mobile Home

When mice get into your mobile manufactured home, they are typically only looking for a couple things.  Either food or a warm place to hang out.

If you do find out that you have mice, you will want to get rid of them quickly.  Mice are known to carry viruses and different bacteria. Not only that they can cause major damage to your home because of the way they can chew through almost anything.

Whether you have seen a mouse in your mobile home, or you have seen signs such as mouse poop (which looks like little black seeds) or maybe you have a hole in your wall with chew marks.  Now is the time to get rid of these rodents and you should do it fast.

One important thing to remember is if you see one mouse or signs of a mouse you typically have more than one.  It is very rare that you would have only one mouse.

Mice and Your Mobile Home Babies:  Mice babies

A typical female mouse will breed your round unlike most animals that only breed in Spring and Summer.  A female mouse can have babies 5 to 7 times a year and give birth to approximately 5 babies at a time.  You can do the math on just one female mouse and see how this can become a serious problem very quickly.

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Signs of entry into your mobile home

If you look around the inside of your mobile home and you see a hole in the wall and its chewed chances are this is where the mice are entering the inside of your mobile home.  Find an area like this set a trap near the hole.  If you catch one mouse don’t stop with your efforts. Remember where there is one mouse there is almost always more.

TIP:  If you have small children or other animals this is a great tip to try.  Take a box and take the top off from it.  Cut a small hole in the side of the box.  Then place a mouse trap on the floor.  Take the box and flip it upside down over the mouse trap and line the hole you cut up with the hole in the wall.

Mice and Your Mobile Manufactured Home

: Mouse Droppings

Realize that where you find many mouse droppings is where mice are moving throughout your mobile home.  In the spot where you find many droppings is where you should set a couple traps to try to catch these pests.

Be sure to clean up the mouse droppings with gloves once you have caught the mouse.  This will help to keep the mouse smell out of your home.

Mouse Traps and Bait

Mouse traps will probably be your best and safest choice in battling these rodents.  They are super cheap, and you can reuse them.  Although one of your pets or small children could get hurt by these traps they tend to be a safer alternative.  These traps have been around since the late 1800’s and are effective at getting rid of mice.

Mouse traps are sold in stores and they come in packages of usually 4 or more.  Remember if you are seeing a mouse in your house or signs of a mouse in your house there is almost always more than one mouse.

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TIP:  Purchase a can of peanut butter and use it only for baiting mice.  That way you don’t use a bottle that the family is using for food and contaminate it.  Spread the peanut butter lightly on the spring to the trap.  Remember there is usually more than one mouse so I would recommend setting as many traps as you can to get the job done.

Trash in your home

Trash:  Mice have great noses and can smell food from quite a distance. Especially when it comes to trash.  So be sure to empty your trash cans daily in your mobile home, if possible.  Just small amounts of garbage that has sat for one day can create an odor that is hard for these little guys to resist.

Cat food and Dog Food

Cat food and dog food.  If you have pets than you will typically have a bag of food sitting around inside your home for these pets.  These paper bags that hold your dog or cat food have a powerful smell and they are also easily accessible to mice.  Go down to your local dollar store or Walmart and get a plastic tub to store your cat and dog food.  This container will make it hard for the mice to get into and will keep the smell of food down.

More about Cats

Now if you do suspect that you have a mouse problem a cat is a great benefit when it comes to catching mice.  You can get cats at your local animal shelter, your local rescue or for cheap online.  Here you are killing two birds with one stone or should I say two mice.  A cat will give you companionship but also help you with your mouse problem for years to come.

Bird Food and Rodents

The same is true of bird food.  If you have an attached garage or shed mice love getting into bird seed.  In fact, just having feeders outside will draw mice in from quite a distance.  Bird seed is typically made with corn pieces and this is like a smorgasbord for mice.  I store my bird seed in plastic trash cans with lids, so it is not accessible to mice.  If you have a serious problem with mice maybe not feeding the birds for a while might be necessary.  Try feeding hummingbirds their feed does not attract rodents like mice.

Mice and Your Mobile Manufactured Home

:Take a trip

When trying to get rid of mice your best bet is to try to figure out where they are coming into your mobile manufactured home.  Take a trip around the outside of your mobile home.  Check where pipes and lines come into your mobile home.  If there is a hole where the home leads into the mobile home, make sure that there is caulk around the line that closes up the drill hole.

Climb under the mobile home as well and see if you see any areas that come up through the floor where these lines enter and make sure they are sealed as well.  Mice are crafty little rodents and they only need a small area to squeeze through. Which leads to our next question

Can Mice Climb?

The answer is an absolute “yes”.  Mice have small claws on each foot that can dig into surfaces and help them climb straight up a wall.  They can move quickly and can scurry across many areas that you would not think possible.

If you have tree limbs that hang over your mobile home you should trim them back.  Many rodents other than mice can also use these branches to get up on your mobile home roof and into your home.

                         Moth Balls Under Your Mobile Home

You can place moth balls under your mobile home to keep mice and other rodents out.  Be sure to only place a few at a time.  Moth balls are very potent and you do not want the smell coming up into your mobile home.  Moth balls are a very cheap way of keeping rodents out.  They are also great for using in your mobile home shed.  

Uncommon Places in your mobile home

One place that many homeowners forget about is outside corners of siding.  If you get down on your hands and knees and look up these corners, they are hollow.  Mice love to scurry up them and then chew holes into your mobile home.

The opening to these outside corners is important typically for drainage reasons.  So, finding a way to semi block the opening is important.  I would recommend visiting your local department store or dollar store and pick up a few shower scrubbies or kitchen scrubbies.  Take and shove one of these up into the bottom of each outside corner.  This will still let water get through to provide drainage, but it will also keep the mice and other rodents out of this area of your mobile home.

Don’t forget Mobile Home Gutters as well.  These little critters are crafty and can get in some many ways.  

Crawl spaces and mice

Mice tend to sleep all night so when they find an area that is dark like a crawl space its like heaven to them.  Here a mouse can easily access your mobile home and get into the duct work.  It is important if you have skirting to your mobile home to make sure that it is tight and that there are no gaps for mice or critters to get under your home.  One little crack in the mobile home skirting and this could spell trouble.

            How to Keep Mice From Under Your Mobile Home

Crawl under your mobile home and look for areas where the mice might be entering your mobile home as well.  Check where lines or duct work come into the home and spray foam or caulk around these lines to close any holes.  Double check the duct work to make sure that all of that is up and there are no open gaps in it.

If there are gaps you are not only letting rodents into your home, you may be letting in spiders and other insects. Another problem is you are losing heat under your mobile home by having the duct work open.

Push the duct work back together and get some heat duct tape from your local hardware to keep the pipe from coming separated again.

              How to Get Rid of Mice Under Your Mobile Home

Once you have everything secured you could try to throw mothballs under the home to keep the mice out.  The smell of the mothballs will keep the mice from the area.  

Mice in the Duct Work

If you suspect that you have a mouse in your duct work, you will want to act fast.  When a mouse urinates or better yet dies in your duct work the smell can be unforgettable.

Your best bet when it comes to mice in your duct work is to set a trap in each run of duct work.  To do this simply walk into your room and lift the vent that goes down in your duct work.  Carefully set a trap preferably with peanut butter.  The smell of peanut butter will travel down the duct work and entice the mouse to the trap.  Be sure to put the cover back over the vent when the trap is set.

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I would recommend putting a trap in each room and in each vent.  If you have a room that you have heard the noise of mice, I recommend setting one in each duct work vent. You can never have too many traps for these crafty little creatures.

TIP:  Be sure to check your traps daily.  Again, if you kill a mouse you will want to dispose of him quickly.  It only takes a couple days for a dead mouse to really start to smell bad. You definitely don’t want the mouse getting into your Mobile Home Furnace this can smell up the whole house quickly.

Decon and Mice Deterrent

Decon is a very powerful poison product to put around your home but there tends to be more problems with this product then there are benefits.  If you have other animals around your home or small children, you don’t want to face the risk that they may get into the decon.

Even if you put the decon in an area where children or other pets can’t get at it they can still come in to contact with this product.  If a mouse eats decon they may travel outside of your home, then if another animal eats the mouse, they too will ingest the poison.  Decon honestly would be a last resort option.

Another problem with decon is if the mouse dies inside your home from eating the decon and its in a place you can’t find the smell can become unbearable so be sure to use this as a last resort.

Mouse Glue Traps

Glue traps are another great way to catch mice in your mobile home.  However if you have other pets you want to make sure that they can not get into these traps.  These  glue traps are extremely sticky and can cause a big mess if your cat or dog were to accidentally step on one.

Use these traps in locations like ceilings, kitchen cabinets or underneath your mobile home.  Don’t be surprised that when you catch the mouse that he is still alive stuck in the trap.

Mice in Home Ceiling and Attic Area

There is nothing more annoying than being woke up in the middle of the night by the sound of chewing or running across your ceiling.  If you have mice in your ceiling, you may only have one access point to get into your ceiling.  Try to place traps right where you access your ceiling.  Be sure to use peanut butter because this can lure mice from a further distance.

Peppermint Oil and Mice Repellent

Here is a great way to effectively repel mice from coming back to your home once you have them out.  Try taking cotton balls and soaking them in peppermint oil.  Place the cotton balls in the areas where you have seen the mice.  

You can use this tactic inside or outside your mobile home.  This tactic works great if you have mice in your ceiling.  You can soak the cotton balls in peppermint oil.  Then throw them up in your ceiling to repel these rodents.

Mice Exterminators

If all else fails and you are seeing many mice try calling an exterminator.  Some places to look for an exterminator would include looking up exterminators.  They are on HomeAdvisor or try calling your local Orkin pest control advisor.  These services can help you if you can’t get under your mobile home .  Sometimes the problem is too much for you to handle.

Mice vs. Rats

Mice are almost typically half the size of a rat.  If you suspect that you might have a rat problem you might have a bigger problem then you thought.  Rats can do more heavy damage to your mobile manufactured home.  So be sure to act quickly if you discover you have rats.

Mice and Damage to your Mobile Home

Remember, if you have mice you want to act quickly.  You want to get rid of these rodents as fast as possible before they do major damage to your mobile home.  Mice are known to chew through lines, drywall, plaster and all different types of building materials.  The sooner you get rid of them the better. This should put a wrap on the mice and your mobile manufactured home.

If you liked this article you might also like our article on cockroaches.  This article is called I Saw One Cockroach Should I Be Worried .  Whether you have them or you know someone who does this might help.  

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