It’s a normal morning like any other. You wake up, go downstairs, ready to make yourself some breakfast, and everything is going fine. Coffee is getting hot, toast is cooking, but when you reach for the cereal box, you notice that something tore a little hole in it. It’s not an uncommon scenario, and in this situation, you should know that you are dealing with a house mouse.
In the Wild
The house mouse is an omnivore, which is quite advantageous for an animal that is so defenseless. A specialized diet would mean that the mouse would have very little chance of survival, but given its ability to eat both meats and plants, it does not have to venture too far or for too long in order to find a meal. Whether that meal consists of carrion, insects, nuts or something else is not really that important for the mouse as long as it can find some sustenance. For the most part however, the mouse will focus on finding seeds when it’s out in the wild. It can also go for acorns if it lives in an area with a lot of trees during the colder months. When one of these mice happens to come across a garden they will have a feast, eating any seeds they can dig up and any edible plants that it can digest.
In the Home
In the home, things are different. A mouse used to the harsh conditions of the outdoors can live like a king inside of a human building. They can find sugars and carbs, meats and protein, and foods rich in fat. They will go for chocolate, candy, dairy, everything that they can find out in the open, and some things that are not so out in the open. Their diet indoors follows similar lines as it does outdoors. It is why they go for cereals and rice, even destroying packaging in order to get to it. However, the mouse’s favorite food is peanut butter – high in fats, carbs, calories and protein.
Knowing this, you can use these foods to bait your traps so they are as effective as possible. If you would like to know more information about how to bait your traps, how to place them or how to make sure that they are the most effective, you can dig through our blog or get in touch with us. We can help you with information, or set up an appointment for an inspection.