Rodents are quick to take advantage of quiet. A house with no foot traffic, no cooking smells and no noise is attractive to a mouse looking for a place to settle. Whether you travel for weeks or leave a house unoccupied for a season, a short checklist reduces the risk. We make no claim about how many houses in town sit empty, and the advice applies to any house that does.
Before you leave.
- Remove open food, and store dry goods in sealed tubs.
- Empty trash cans and wipe crumbs from counters.
- Put pet food away and wash bowls.
- Check door seals, vents and the garage door corners.
- Close the damper and make sure screens are in place.
- Move boxes and fabrics off the floor in storage areas.
If you notice gaps, call before you go. Closing them before an absence is easier than finding them after.
Who checks while you are away.
Ask a trusted person to look in every week or two. They should walk the main floor and any lower level, look for droppings, listen for noise and note smells. Give them our number and tell them what to say. A report within days of the first sign saves a lot of trouble.
| Task. | How often. | What to note. |
|---|---|---|
| Walk through rooms. | Every week or two. | Droppings, chewed items, noises. |
| Check the garage. | Every week or two. | Door seal, stored goods, vehicles. |
| Look outside. | Every visit. | Holes, burrows, wood stacks. |
| Smell test. | Every visit. | Sharp or musty odors. |
Vehicles and garages.
A car left in a garage or a lot can become a nest. Keep food out of the cabin and look under the hood when you return. See vehicle and car rodent removal if you find signs, and avoid starting the engine if you see nest material.
When you return.
Open doors and windows and let the house air for about half an hour before you walk through. Look for droppings, nests and chewed material, especially in the kitchen, garage and attic. If you find waste, do not sweep it dry. Use the damp method in the safety list below.
Not sure it is worth a visit? Talk it over first, with no pressure.
Ring (888) 686-4821If you find signs.
Ring us and describe what you saw. An inspection locates the entries, and sealing closes them. If the house is a low modern design with little attic, mention it so the plan accounts for that. Closing the house before the next trip is the surest way to prevent a repeat.
Telling a caretaker what to look for.
A short written list helps whoever checks the house. Ask them to look for droppings on counters and floors, chewed packaging, fresh gnaw marks on trim and wires, and any smell when they open the door. Ask them to take a photo and call right away instead of waiting for you to return.
If you hire a caretaker, tell them not to sweep or vacuum waste and to leave traps alone. A call with the facts and a photo is far more useful than a tidy house with no record of what happened.
Preparing the house itself.
Close the fireplace damper and check the flue cap. Screen any open vents, close the dryer vent flap and make sure the garage door seals along the floor. If a window is open for airing, make sure it has a screen. These cheap steps close many easy entrances.
Store seasonal clothing and linens in lidded tubs, not open boxes. Soft fabric is a favorite nesting material, and a closed tub removes the temptation.
Before you sweep, spray or bag: pause
Agencies broadly agree on how cleanup should go. Their shared steps are collected in short form here.
- Disturbing dry droppings is what causes trouble, so keep brooms and shop vacuums out of the picture.
- Treat thirty minutes of airing as part of the job, not an extra.
- Protect your hands throughout, then scrub them clean at the end.
- Wet the droppings and the surface beneath with a household disinfectant, or bleach cut to its label strength, then give it about five minutes before wiping up with paper towels.
- Everything you wiped up goes in a sealed bag before the bin, and a dead animal needs gloves.
- If flu-like symptoms follow, mention the rodent contact to a physician. Diagnosis is not our work.
Public guidelines this page relies on
Two kinds of source support this page, one for cleanup and one for poison rules. Both are listed below.
- CDC: cleaning up after rodents: How to clean droppings, urine stains and nesting scraps so that no dust rises.
- EPA: rodenticide product limits: The reasoning behind restrictions on loose bait and requirements for bait stations on consumer products.