field mouse vs house mouse

Field Mouse Vs House Mouse

Mice prefer a warm environment, they dislike the cold temperatures in the winter and at night even in the summer. So if you live somewhere with mice it’s very likely that you will get mice in your home. Mice are more dangerous than they look, they have toxic urine and feces and saliva, and they can spread all kinds of parasites. While house mice rarely have ticks or fleas, they can cause the Hantavirus which is a respiratory disease that can be fatal. So if you are seeing a mouse dropping but haven’t seen a mouse, here are some ways of telling which kind of mouse you have.
house mouse infestation The house mouse lives in houses, hence its name. They are the type of mice to move into a home permanently and remain there until the house collapses or they get exterminated. Some buildings have had mice for hundreds of years, so long the mice are considered residents. House mice are frustrating as they are in the house all the time and never leave to hunt for food like field and deer mice. The house mouse will have plenty of time to chew through insulation and wires, risking a fire in your home, and they will defecate and urinate on your food, especially if you leave it out for more than 5 minutes.
Field mice are wild mice, like deer mice, they live in fields mostly but also find their way to forests, plains, and, of course, rural houses. It is unlikely to get these types of mice in the city or suburbs but they can wander far at times in search of food and with global warming the animals of the world are eventually going to have to come to the cities and suburbs for food as their habitats die out. In ten years we could have wolves and bears roaming the cities looking for garbage.
The deer mouse is perhaps the most dangerous of all. While the field mice can be a carrier of ticks the deer mouse is a vector species for them. They spread ticks to every human or animal they touch or come near. The second stage of tick growth is the most dangerous as they can pass on Lyme disease, but they are only a tiny black dot that is very hard to notice. So if you have mice, of any kind, in your home you need to get them dealt with.
House mice are simple enough in that every house mouse infestation runs through the same three stages. The first step is prevention. Take away their food sources but storing all food in hard plastic, glass or metal. This will prevent the mice from getting into your food. Clean up after every meal and never leave dishes in the sink. Wash and dry everything and put it away. Even if there isn’t food the mice will still crawl on it, urinating and defecating all over the dishes looking for food. The next step is to inspect the exterior and find the entrances they used to get in. You can seal these entrances with a variety of materials. The professionals use galvanized steel mesh because it won’t rust and will last much longer. Seal holes in the foundation with concrete and if you have a brick house you may have weep vents that need to be sealed. After that, you need to get rid of the mice already in your home. The best option and the fastest is domestic grade mouse rodenticide which dehydrates and desiccates them. This will work for wild mice as well.
If you have wild mice like field or deer mice they will be in your attic. They do not care about the food in your house because they don’t know that any is there. They are native mice to North America and they rely on foraging naturally as they did for thousands of years. So sealing the entrance they are using to get in is very important. Sadly it is on the roof so if you have that kind of experience do it. If not you may want to call a professional.

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