What Happens to Mice in Winter?
Generally, mice want to stay warm, so they tend to move indoors when it gets cold outside. While mice activity can continue year-round, mice seek out the warmth your home can offer them. They could nest inside or underneath your home’s insulation. This means that Brooks Pest Control services are particularly essential in winter.
Do Mice Go Into Hibernation?
Mice do not hibernate. Rather, they stay active throughout the year. During winter, a lot of animals hibernate because of intense cold temperatures and the scarcity of food. Hibernation is characterized by reduced heart rate and metabolism, which lets animals survive the cold.
Although a lot of rodents hibernate through the winter as they wait for the temperature to rise, mice don’t go into hibernation. During the winter, mice look for shelter and forage for food. They may burrow into the ground or move into homes to build nests and enjoy their shelter.
Mice Habitats and What They Do in Winter
Mice can adjust to different habitats. When it gets cold outside, they can seek warm places where they can safely nest and survive the season. While they can invade houses any time of year, their activity increases in fall and winter. Mice can set up camp in debris piles, brushes, tree trunks, and burrows outdoors in warm weather. But when the temperature drops and food becomes scarce, they begin to seek shelter.
During winter, mice nest in insulation wall cavities, reproduce, and forage for food. Their gestation period is just 3 weeks. Only twenty-five days after giving birth, a female mouse can again give birth to a new litter. A female can produce up to thirty-five babies every year. This means that a small mouse issue can quickly become a large-scale infestation.
Keeping Mice Outside
Mice can cause significant property damage and pose serious health risks. Their droppings, saliva, and urine can contaminate water, food, and surfaces with disease-causing pathogens such as leptospirosis and hantavirus. Also, mice can introduce other annoying pests such as ticks, fleas, and mites to your indoor environment.
To keep mice outside, contact a pest control company with a proven program that includes sealing off possible access points to prevent mice and other rodents from entering your house. Also, it can help to clean up piles of debris, store firewood as far away from your house as possible, and trim back shrubs and trees to reduce harborage conditions for mice. Food source elimination and proper sanitation can also make a difference.
