Spotting a mouse in your house is never good news because if you see one, chances are there’s a bunch more hiding. Not only can rodents spread disease, but they also get into the guts of your house, chewing through electrical wiring, creating a fire hazard.
There are a couple of options to deal with the problem—you can DIY and place traps strategically around your house, which requires daily monitoring, testing lures (surprisingly, many mice don’t like cheese) and then dealing with the captive (dead or alive.)
- Or you could call a professional exterminator who will leave poison out for the mice to consume—but that could result in dead mice trapped in the nooks and crannies of your home. No thanks.
But a third option is gaining traction among homeowners who want to evict their freeloading furry tenants more humanely: Strobe lights (queue “Stayin Alive” by the BeeGees.) The bright flashing light will deter pesky rodents from entering the space—unless they love disco.
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First, you’ll need to locate the mice's suspected entry points to enter your home. This video goes over common entry points you might not notice.
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Since mice tend to settle in low-activity areas, they will most likely nest in your attic, crawlspace or basement. These are good locations to set up the strobe light.
- Research shows that even if the strobe is not placed near the mouse’s nest, if they have to pass by it on entry and exit, it motivates them to find another location since the effect of the light is so disruptive for them.
Bottom line: Whether you’ve got mice, rats, raccoons or bats, strobe lights are a cheap, easy and humane way to evict unwanted wildlife.