Summary: <br> <br> <br> Stephen Vantassel is going to talk today about. House mice. A lot of you are probably dealing with house mice But maybe you’re having situations where you’re just not<br><br> getting the level of control that you want. And my suspicion is a part of this<br><br> is due to the fact that we don’t have a full appreciation of all of the aspects<br><br> and abilities capable of house mice. House mice are amazing creatures. And so<br><br> what I found when I give presentations is that a lot of people don’t really<br><br> know or don’t really fully appreciate how much physical abilities. Mouse<br><br> actually have.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> Getting Reacquainted With What House Mice Can Do<br> <br> <br> So I wanted to give you a little bit of data here. Maybe<br><br> some of this will be a refresher for those of you but if that’s the case it’s<br><br> never hurts to read get reacquainted with what this mouse can do as well as for<br><br> those of you don’t know. And this will be a good start for you to understand<br><br> what the mice can do and often what it can’t do. <br> <br> <br> First let’s talk about climbing abilities they are<br><br> exceptional climbers essentially they can climb up any rough surface. So a lot<br><br> of times and buildings that have brick exteriors mice are just going to climb<br><br> the brick and then where the boards that usually at the top near the soft area<br><br> of overlaying the break. You’ll notice that a little gap those gaps caused by<br><br> the mortar joint. That that does use to see you put two bricks together but<br><br> there’s usually a gap there because it’s usually indented in and the board<br><br> doesn’t fill that gap. So a mouse just has to climb the brick squeeze right<br><br> underneath that board and voila it’s inside the attic and has its run of the<br><br> home. In that situation a commonly overlooked way for mice to get in. <br> <br> <br> I had a lady from Colorado once give me a ring and said she<br><br> had a brand new house. And she said she had mice and called an exterminator the<br><br> exterminator came out and did exclusion along the foundation and I said Well<br><br> didn’t they tell you that mice climb. And she her answer was mice climb. And<br><br> the answer was Absolutely because the exclusion around foundation was<br><br> definitely important definitely helped her. But she still had mouse problems.<br><br> Why. Because mice climb. Don’t forget that if you’re going to do a true mouse<br><br> exclusion and yes, it is possible.<br> <br> <br> It Is Possible To Do Mouse Exclusion<br> <br> <br> It is possible if we repeat that it is possible to do a full<br><br> mouse exclusion on the structure. Didn’t say it was easy. Just telling you it’s<br><br> possible it can be done. You need to go from the peak of the roof all the way<br><br> to the ground. So that’s how you got to look at that. So mice can climb any<br><br> rough surface. Second what can we call it rope climbing. But they can climb a<br><br> 10 gauge wire. So that’s a wire. That’s the theory the thinnest wire they’re<br><br> going to be able to climb. How good are they at swimming well unlike the Norway<br><br> rat the mouse mouth is a very poor swimmer.<br> <br> <br> So you’ve probably heard many of the stories where people<br><br> have created little ramps over buckets full of water and they put some peanut<br><br> butter on it and when the mouse gets on it the mouse falls off and falls into<br><br> the water in the course and he’s swimming for a while and can’t and can’t get<br><br> back out because he drowns.
