Mice often hide in cardboard boxes, bags of birdseed and pet food, cushions and fabric, wall and ceiling insulation, and the clutter stacked on the floor. Mice also nest inside vehicles, lawn equipment, and grills that sit unused.
As far as mice are concerned, your typical suburban garage is basically a dream home. They can often find all the food they need there and plenty of shelter with very little foot traffic. That’s why it’s often the first part of the home they occupy.
Mice travel with their bodies against a wall, so nests concentrate where stored items meet the wall line. So start by looking at the perimeter of your garage. Cardboard boxes are close to a perfect nesting material, since mice shred them and live inside them. Bags of birdseed, grass seed, and pet food supply food and paper at once. Stored cushions, life jackets, camping gear, and rags supply bedding.
Mice actively target exposed insulation in unfinished walls, either tunneling directly through it or stripping it for their nests. They also routinely invade vehicles and outdoor equipment, nesting inside engine bays and air filters while chewing through wiring.
If you’re looking to make your garage less attractive to mice, start with organization. You can do this first by moving stored goods into sealed hard plastic bins rather than cardboard. Put food, birdseed, and pet food into metal or heavy plastic containers with tight lids. Get items up onto shelves and off the walls so there is nowhere dark to settle. Pull the clutter line back so you can see the floor along the perimeter of the garage.
Then once you do that, and assuming you don’t have rodents inside already, seal entry points. The garage door gasket can easily break over time, so that’s the first thing to check. But don’t forget about the gaps where pipes and wires pass through walls. Those may need to be sealed.
If mice have moved into your garage, Mosquito Squad of Central New Hampshire can help. Mosquito Squad finds how mice are getting in, clears them with traps and bait stations, and seals the entry points. Annual inspections will help you protect your home as new gaps open.
