March 21, 2022
You protect your house, but what about your garage? Rochester is a driving town, with a small inner city and large suburban neighborhoods surrounded by farmland, industrial complexes, and lake country. Most households have at least one car, and while not everyone keeps their car in a home garage, there are all the workplace and public garages around town as well, and all are a target for mice.
Mice are a problem in Rochester’s garages all year long, but even more so now that it’s cold and snowy.
What draws mice to our garages?
Obviously, shelter from the elements is a big draw, whether the garage is a finished space or bare concrete. Garages offer all manner of places to hide, like:
- Roofs, lofts, and scaffolding
- Motor vehicles
- Farm and/or landscaping equipment
- Boats
- Storage containers
- Shelving units
Garages often have less surveillance than homes and workplaces, so mice are more likely to go unnoticed for longer. Mice can cause structural damage like gnawed wood and electrical wires.
We usually store a mouse’s favorite foods (like grain and fruit) in the house, but there can still be plenty to eat in the garage, such as:
- Pet food
- Birdseed
- Garden seeds and bulbs
- Composting vegetation and food waste
- Cardboard
- Jars and cans of edible substances that have cracked or deteriorated
- The errant soda can or French fry in the car
Mice raise big families, and to do that, they need to create warm, soft nests. Our garages are perfect sources of nesting materials like these:
- Bike, car, and riding equipment seats
- Insulation
- Leather
- Mulch and compost
- Potting soil
- Fabric items like sacks, towels, and coveralls
- Wood and wood chips
Protect your garage and outbuildings with your own pest maintenance program. Rochester Pest Pro practices integrative pest management, meaning we take care of you from the minute we say hello to following up after the pest treatment. Contact us on our website or call (585) 486-4815. We’re always happy to hear from our community.