How Quickly Can Mice Breed Indoors?

Winter is just about back here in Eastern TN. When the rain starts to fall and temperatures start to drop, all sorts of rodents are looking for hiding places and warm shelters to last them through the winter. Every winter, mice look to the structures of our homes to provide warm nesting sites where they can continue their breeding routines, given that the colder months come with conditions too harsh to sustain reproduction outside. Are you looking to learn more about mice reproductive habits and what you can do to stop them from breeding in your home? Read on for some information gathered by the technicians at Johnson Pest Control!

How Quickly Can Mice Breed Indoors?

Mice are able to reproduce at a much higher rate than many other animals living in Tennessee. To show just how quickly they can proliferate, we’ve gathered some alarming statistics for you to look over:

• Female mice have a 25 day gestation period and are able to mate again directly after delivery.
• Mouse mothers can produce up to 10 litters per year with up to 14 pups per litter at the most. These are the extremes, though—an average female mouse produces 40-50 pups a year.
• Mouse pups can begin to reproduce just 4-6 weeks after being born.

As these numbers show, having just a few mice enter your home in the late fall can allow for an infestation of hundreds to be active by the early spring.

How to Keep Mice from Reproducing in your Home

In order to keep mouse populations from overflowing in your home, it’s important to find ways to prevent them from coming inside in the first place. This can be much harder than you might imagine—with the ability to squeeze through holes the size of a dime, mouse access points can hide in plain sight! We understand that it can be very difficult to properly mouse-proof a home without training, so we are offering advice to people looking to be preventative or who are already dealing with an infestation:

• Preventing an infestation: Pest-proofing the outside of your home comes in many forms. First, you should look for any holes in your walls, foundation, roofing, plumbing fixtures, vents, or anywhere else that mice could sneak through. You can seal these with a silicone-based caulk or by placing steel wool in the gaps. Also be sure to keep your yard clear of waste, your plants trimmed away from your home, and your garbage cans sealed and distanced.
• Getting rid of an infestation: You can spray diluted peppermint oil or apple cider vinegar around mouse hotspots to drive them away. Kitty litter and fabric softener sheets have worked for some, but we find these to be less effective and only viable as supplemental treatments. If your infestation is bad enough to necessitate using traps, talk to your local rodent exterminators about which trap options are suitable for your home and your family.

Top Mice Exterminators in Eastern TN

If your at-home mouse control measures aren’t getting the job done, reach out to your local pest control company. At Johnson Pest Control, we pride ourselves on our holistic approach to rodent control, complete with exhaustive inspections, preventative maintenance, and a long list of options to conduct the most effective mice removal services for your property. Contact us today for a free quote or to learn more about how we can help!