If you live in a house full of mouse, you might have the question how to stop mice from breeding? Lets find out the answer for this.
Mouse mating behavior
To briefly explain their breeding process, it will resume right after a contact between the male mouse and a female mouse. Its gestation period could vary depending on the rodent type. Usually, it would take about 18 days – 22 days.
If there are mice who are well established in your home, they could reproduce at a rapid rate and the homeowner will find it very difficult to overcome the mice menace. It would be such an unpleasant sight to spot the mice hanging around your home. Hence it is important that you try to eradicate them whenever you spot any mice.
A single female mouse can mate again even after a few days of pregnancy, and they can produce up to 8 litters in a year.
Further they will have separate litters born within 25 days of each. Literally, they can produce about 56 offspring from one female in a year. They can breed at any time of the year if they get the optimal conditions. However, colder temperatures during winter may impact their mating.
As such they would tend to move indoors for their optimal temperatures and readily available food sources.
How to stop mice from breeding?
You can stop the mice from breeding by simply eliminating the optimal conditions they get. However, before that you need to ensure that you seal all the holes inside the house and outside the house so that they cannot enter your home at all.
You may use steel wool to patch the holes. Moreover, you need to remove their potential rodent nesting sites from your sites. They tend to nest in leaf piles and deep mulch usually. Hence it is vital that you remove any potential nesting site in your property. Further ensure that you clean up the water sources near your house too.
Ensure that you empty the trash cans. Moreover, ensure that you close the bin’s lids tightly.
Besides, never leave the pet food sitting out for too long too. Make sure that you clean up the spilled food as soon as possible and wash the dishes , cooking utensils once you finish using them. If you stick to these steps, it will eliminate the possibility of making one of these places their breeding place.
If you do not attend to it and leave it untreated, it would result in many problems. They could be so irritating as they could create problems for your family, for your property as well. Hence the more you conduct the inspections the better it would be. Literally if you keep these areas more attractive towards the rodents and if one mouse could sneak through here, it can turn them into dozens of mice within a short period of time.
Generally, the breeding and the reproduction of the mice can be impacted badly due to their aging, malnutrition , changes in the life cycles, colder temperatures etc. Moreover, cysts on the ovaries , tumors and lack of nesting material could also decrease the breeding and the reproduction of the mice.
Further chances are that the pregnant mouse can end up eating the baby mouse if they are lacking food. Moreover, they may also abort the baby mouse too.
Can mice get pregnant without a male?
Two female mice can be involved in getting one female mouse pregnant without any intervention of a male mouse. This has been practiced by some Chinese scientists and they used a breakthrough technique for this purpose. They conduct this through stem cells and from gene editing.
They have been successful in creating a healthy baby mouse with two mother mice and each mouse has reproduced subsequently. A process of imprinting genes from immature eggs has been used here to make the bi maternal mice produce baby mice which are healthy.
How to identify pregnant mice
You can identify the pregnant mice from their bulge in the center of the female mouse. You could spot their enlarged body as well as their nipples. You could see a drastic change in these after two weeks’ time. Moreover, they would tend to take a look of a more pear-shaped appearance.
You can spot their larger abdomen at some point, and it would vary depending on the number of fetuses that female mouse is carrying. Further her age and her previous pregnancies could also impact this. It is somewhat difficult to spot them carrying larger abdomens.
If they have small litters, it would be even more difficult to spot them developing the enlarged abdomen.
How many babies do mice have?
Mice can produce a litter of 3-14 pups of baby mice on average. These are breeding machines as they can be in pregnancy for about 5-10 times each year. As aforesaid they have a gestation period for about 19-21 days. If we consider one whole year, they can produce up to 32-56 pups each year from just one female mouse.
Their reproduction takes place every year and what is special about the mice is that they can even mate right after they give birth. So, you will be literally looking at litter within 25 days’ time. To further elaborate on this, the female baby mouse can reproduce when they are too young.
Literally if they are six weeks old, they can start reproducing. To sum up, female mice can reproduce pups on their own and they may carry about 10 litters of their own annually. If we consider that there were two mice who sneaked into your house, they can produce about 60 babies in a year.
Out of this, if there are female mice about 21-30 , they can have babies within a month and if we calculate they can make about 5082 mice in one whole year.
What scent will keep mice away?
peppermint oil, cayenne pepper and cloves smells keep the mice at bay. To repel them, you can simply soak the cotton balls in these oils and leave them in the places where you suspect the mice are present. Mice have stronger senses than humans. In addition to aforesaid smells, mice hate the cinnamon. Vinegar dryer sheet, clove oil mint toothpaste ammonia tea bags smell as well.
How do you get rid of baby mice?
You need to get rid of the parent mice to get rid of the baby mice first. Hence if you had ever come across any sign of mice like their droppings or any other evidence of them landing on your food and packaging , you need to act faster and get rid of them.
Some people apply nontoxic solutions. They can simply soak the cotton balls in the peppermint oil, clove oil and place them in the locations where you suspect the mice are present. Besides these, many people set out bait along with peanut butter and set cage traps and release them to the wild. That will ensure that mice do not return.
However, to ascertain that they do not return, you need to ensure that you refrain from providing a cozy environment for them. Always keep your kitchen clean and all your packaged food is sealed well. if there are any boxed or packaged cereals, you need to place them in plastic containers or in steel containers.
Do not use mouse tempting nesting materials in your garage or in the basement. Get rid of the empty cardboard boxes. Further, get rid of the older clothes and lines too. If not, you can store them in rodent proof containers.
Seal all the cracks and gaps you may find in your home foundation as well as in the walls. Moreover, check whether there are any cracks and gaps around the electrical outlets and in pipe fixtures. Further some try to block the cracks and open space by placing a mixture of copper wool and caulk. Alternatively, you may use caulk or foam sealant too. Mice will find it difficult to chew them through these materials. Finally you may also contact the pest control service to do this.
What are the best ways to prevent mice?
First you need to remove the current rodent occupants. You could either trap them or place baits. If you wish to use the trap, you can simply use the snap style traps and they would kill the mouse faster.
If you wish to bait them, you need to use tamper resistant bait stations and they would hold the baits in place. However, do not let your kids reach them. You may place them in the places where you suspect of the presence of the rodents.
Next, seal up your home. Ensure that you close all the holes whilst using the rodent proofing materials. Observe closely around the doors, windows and on the vents. In addition to that you need to eliminate the outdoor access for them too.
For example, you need to trim the overhanging trees which will help the mice to move into your houses. Further once you trim the over hanging trees , it would create less space for the mice to hide specially when they are under attacks of the predators.
Clean your yard well. Ensure that you get rid of the debris, clutter and from garbage. Do not plant the shrubs and bushes in close proximity to your house. They will be safe habitats for the mice. Apart from ensure that you remove their food sources If there are fruit trees, you may commonly spot the rodents hanging around those places. Hence you should remove the fruits which are dropped on the ground.
Prune the plants properly so that the rodent cannot hide in the overgrown plant parts. Besides, you may also add a rat guard to the trees. To do that you can simply place a piece of sheet metal covering the trunk. Always ensure that there is no rotting food in the garden.
Consider growing a couple of mint plants so that it will repel the rodents naturally. Moreover, you can apply some predator urine also around the plants so that it will act as a deterrent. Next you may build a wall of about 2 foot in width. Always ensure that you keep your house and kitchen clean.
Literally if there is no leftover food, they would not bother invading your house. Do not ever leave food open in your home. Ensure that you place garbage and pet food in rodent proof bins. Mice hate the smell of mint.
Hence, I recommend planting mint in your garden and rub peppermint oil indoors where you suspect the rodents are present. Moreover, you may also leave dried mint leaves , it would also avoid them invading your space.
Moreover , cats would act as a deterrent, and it will keep the mice away from your yard. It is not important that it has to be a good mouser and their scent itself will act as a deterrent. Finally, you may contact the pest control as well.
Conclusion
Hope this article gave you a wider knowledge on how to repel the mice in your home and on their breeding cycles. Trust you found this article useful and that you know how to get rid of the mice menace at your home.
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