Mouse control for Garsfontein homes and complexes

If you've found small, dark droppings in a drawer or along the back of a kitchen counter, you have a house mouse, and the sooner it's dealt with, the fewer there will be. Mice breed quickly, settle inside the house rather than the roof, and slip through gaps most people would never think to check. We find where they're nesting, trap or bait them in a way that's safe for a family home, and show you the gaps to close.

Why mice are a complex problem as much as a house problem

A lot of Garsfontein's housing is townhouse complexes, and mice love them. Units share walls, roof spaces and service ducts, kitchens back onto each other, and there's always somebody's garage with a bag of dog food or a box of Christmas decorations left undisturbed for months. A mouse living behind one unit's kitchen units can feed in three different homes. In freestanding houses, the garage and the space under the stove or behind the dishwasher are the usual hideouts.

Mice also come in with the cold. From late autumn, when evenings on the Highveld get sharp, field and house mice move indoors and stay there until spring.

Signs you have mice, not rats

• Droppings the size of a grain of rice, scattered rather than in piles
• Shredded paper, tissue or fabric tucked into a drawer, cupboard corner or the back of a stove
• Small, neat holes chewed in cereal boxes, bread bags and pet food
• A musty smell in a closed cupboard
• Light, quick scratching in the walls or under the kitchen units in the evening

Heavier noises in the roof and larger droppings are more likely rats. Our page on rats in Garsfontein roofs explains the difference in more detail.

How we clear mice

Inspection comes first. We pull out the stove drawer, look behind the fridge and dishwasher, check the geyser cupboard and the garage, and trace the droppings back to where they're thickest. That's normally within a few metres of the nest.

Then we choose the method for the space. In kitchens and living areas we tend to use traps, so a mouse doesn't wander off and die inside a wall. Lockable bait stations go in garages, outside along walls, and in roof spaces where children and pets can't get to them. In ducts and wall voids, where it's safe, we may use tracking powder, which mice pick up on their fur as they pass through.

Finally, proofing. Mice get in through gaps around pipes under the sink, the space where the gas or electrical line enters, gaps around the garage door and open weep holes. Steel wool pushed into a hole and sealed over with filler stops them. Foam on its own doesn't, because they chew straight through it.

The thing most people get wrong

People catch one mouse in a trap and relax. A single mouse is rarely alone. If you caught one, keep the traps set for at least two weeks and see whether you catch more. If you're still catching them after that, the nest is close by and needs proper attention.

A tip for Garsfontein families

School lunchbox snacks are a mouse magnet. Chips, biscuits and cereal bars kept in a low cupboard in the original packets are easy pickings. Move them into hard plastic or glass containers with lids, and do the same with dog pellets and bird seed in the garage. Take away easy food and the traps start working much faster, because a hungry mouse goes looking for the bait.

What does mouse control cost?

For one house, the price depends on how many rooms are affected, whether the roof void is involved, and the number of return visits needed. For a complex, it depends on the number of units and whether the body corporate wants the whole site done. Honestly, if you've seen one mouse once, try two or three snap traps baited with peanut butter, set along the wall where you saw the droppings. If that doesn't do it within a week, call us.

Mice often share a kitchen with cockroaches, especially in complexes. If you're seeing both, our Garsfontein cockroach service can be done on the same visit. For the bigger picture on mice across the city, see mouse control in Pretoria. We also clear mice from homes and townhouses in Moreleta Park, and the full local service list is on Garsfontein pest control.

We're SAPCA registered and back our treatments for three months. If the mice come back in that time, so do we. To book, ring 012 012 5526. Not sure it's mice? A WhatsApp photo of the droppings next to a coin is usually all we need to tell.