How to keep mice out of your home as the temperatures drop
With the leaves turning and the mercury beginning to dip, outdoor rodents are set to seek out warmer environments like your home.
According to the Canadian Institute of Public Health Inspectors, keeping mice out of your home is about more than just avoiding an encounter with an unwelcome house guest. In fact, it’s an important step in protecting the health and safety of your household.
Ateeb Khan with the Canadian Institute of Public Health Inspectors said the first step is prevention.
“Mice can squeeze through a hole the size of a dime,” Khan said. “So it’s important to seal off any and all openings to your home.”
Khan said setting up mouse traps along the walls at your home’s entry and exit points is a good preventative measure, as well.
If mice do enter your home and you find droppings, Khan said disposing of them and cleaning the area properly is incredibly important in the prevention of hantavirus – a severe, sometimes fatal respiratory illness caused by the exposure to urine or feces of an infected rodent.
“Those droppings are dark in colour and resemble the shape of rice grains,” Khan said.
The first thing to do when encountering these droppings is to ventilate the area, letting the space air out for about 30 minutes, Khan said.
When it’s time to clean the area, Khan said to put on rubber gloves, soak the droppings in a solution of one-part bleach and nine-parts water, and let it sit for five minutes.
From there, you should pick up the droppings with a paper towel, dispose of them in a plastic bag, and remove them from the home.
“What we’re going to avoid doing completely is vacuuming or sweeping because it creates an aerosolized droppings that we can inhale,” Khan said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Doctors ask Liberal government to reconsider capital gains tax change
The Canadian Medical Association is asking the federal government to reconsider its proposed changes to capital gains taxation, arguing it will affect doctors' retirement savings.
Keeping these exotic pets is 'cruel' and 'dangerous,' Canadian animal advocates say
Canadian pet owners are finding companionship beyond dogs and cats. Tigers, alligators, scorpions and tarantulas are among some of the exotic pets they are keeping in private homes, which pose risks to public safety and animal welfare, advocates say.
Prince William and wife Kate thank public for birthday messages for son Louis
Prince William and his wife Kate thanked the public for their messages which had been sent to mark the sixth birthday of their youngest son Louis on Tuesday.
She was the closest she'd ever been to meeting her biological father. Then life dealt her a blow
Anne Marie Cavner was the closest she'd ever been to meeting her biological father, but then life dealt her a blow. From an unexpected loss to a host of new relationships, a DNA test changed her life, and she doesn't regret a thing.
How quietly promised law changes in the 2024 federal budget could impact your day-to-day life
The 2024 federal budget released last week includes numerous big spending promises that have garnered headlines. But, tucked into the 416-page document are also series of smaller items, such as promising to amend the law regarding infant formula and to force banks to label government rebates, that you may have missed.
Which foods have the most plastics? You may be surprised
'How much plastic will you have for dinner, sir? And you, ma'am?' While that may seem like a line from a satirical skit on Saturday Night Live, research is showing it's much too close to reality.
'Catch-and-kill' strategy to be a focus as testimony resumes in Trump hush money case
A veteran tabloid publisher was expected to return to the witness stand Tuesday in Donald Trump's historic hush money trial.
Quebec farmers have been protesting since December. Is anyone listening?
Upset about high interest rates, growing paperwork and heavy regulatory burdens, protesting farmers have become a familiar sight across Quebec since December.
South Korean sentenced to 14 months in jail for killing 76 cats
South Korean man has been sentenced to 14 months in prison for killing 76 cats in one of the country's most gruesome cases of animal cruelty in recent years.