Mouse Control & Mice Removal in Kansas City

Mice spend the summer outside in tall grass, landscaping, woodpiles and under sheds and decks. The first cold nights — usually late September into October here — push them toward the warmth and food of a house, and activity climbs from October through the holidays. Hard cold snaps later in winter can push in another round.

Once inside, house mice don't hibernate and don't leave in spring. With steady heat and food they breed year-round. A female can have her first litter at about two months old and five to ten litters a year after that, usually five or six young at a time. A couple of mice in October can be a real problem by February, which is why it pays to act on the first droppings you find.

The house mouse is dusky gray-brown with a slightly lighter belly and a nearly hairless tail about as long as its body. It is the one that settles into wall voids, kitchen cabinets, attics and the space under the dishwasher.

The deer mouse is sharply two-toned: brown on top, bright white belly and feet, and a tail that is dark above and white below. Deer mice favor garages, sheds, campers and outbuildings more than the living space. They are the main carrier of hantavirus in North America, so droppings in a closed-up garage or shed deserve careful cleanup.

An adult mouse fits in your palm. If what you are seeing is bigger, with droppings closer to three-quarters of an inch, it is probably a Norway rat — see our rat control page.

Droppings are the most reliable sign: dark, rice-sized, about an eighth to a quarter inch long with pointed ends, scattered along walls, in drawers, under the sink and behind the stove. Fresh ones are soft and shiny; old ones are dry and crumble.

Other signs: scratching in walls or ceilings just after dark and before dawn, chewed food packaging and nibbled pet food, shredded insulation, paper or fabric pulled into a nest, grease marks along baseboards where they run the same path, and a musky smell when activity is heavy. A pet staring at one spot on a wall or under an appliance is worth taking seriously.

Mice usually stay within about 10 to 30 feet of their nest, so where droppings collect is a good guide to where they are living.

Every booking starts with a free inspection. Our rodent work leads with exclusion — finding and sealing the entry points — because traps and bait without exclusion just keep refilling. Common spots: garage door corners, gaps where utility lines and cable enter, dryer vents without a working flap, foundation cracks and the seam where siding meets the foundation.

We document what we sealed and where, with photos, and trap and monitor the mice already inside until activity stops. Outside, we use rodent bait stations where they are appropriate, and our rodent bait stations are pet-friendly. Our rodent exclusion work carries a 2-year warranty, and it does not require staying on a service plan.

Store food, pet food, birdseed and grass seed in metal or heavy plastic bins, clean up crumbs, and cut clutter in the garage and basement — cardboard boxes make good nesting spots, plastic bins don't. Keep the garage door closed, and if you can see daylight at its bottom corners, a mouse can get through. Stack firewood off the ground and away from the house, and trim shrubs back from the siding.

If you trap on your own, snap traps work better than most people expect. Set them perpendicular to the wall with the trigger end against the baseboard, use a small dab of peanut butter, put out several along the path where droppings collect, and check them daily. Wear gloves.

Don't sweep or vacuum dry droppings — that puts dust in the air. Open the area up to air out, wet the droppings with a disinfectant, wait a few minutes, and wipe them up with paper towels while wearing gloves. Our mouse droppings guide covers this in more detail.

Plug-in ultrasonic repellers: mice get used to the sound, and it doesn't travel through walls, cabinets or furniture. Peppermint oil, dryer sheets and similar home remedies don't keep mice out in any reliable way. Mothballs are not made or labeled for mice and can make people and pets sick.

Stuffing a gap with steel wool alone or spraying expanding foam alone: steel wool rusts and gets pulled loose, and mice chew through foam. A gap needs material a mouse can't chew, sealed in place. Bait placed inside the house can leave dead mice in walls where you can't reach the smell. A cat may catch a few, but it does nothing about how they get in.

Call when droppings keep showing up after a week or two of trapping, when you hear activity in walls or ceilings, when you find droppings in kitchen drawers or near food, or when you simply can't find how they are getting in. We'll get to you as fast as we can.