Mice in the Walls: How to Tell and How to Get Them Out of a Prescott Home

Wall cavities are perfect for mice: warm, dark, insulated and connected to the rest of the house. That is why the first sign of mice in many Prescott homes is not a mouse at all, but a sound inside the wall after dark.

Signs mice are in your walls

• Light scratching or scurrying inside walls, mostly at dusk, overnight and early morning
• Faint squeaking
• Sounds near pipes, outlets, or where walls meet the floor or ceiling
• Droppings along baseboards, under sinks or in cabinets that back onto a wall
• A musty smell near one area of the wall
• Pets staring at, sniffing or pawing at the same spot
• Small holes chewed in drywall or baseboards

Is it mice or something else?

Mice make light, quick scratching sounds and are mostly active at night. Heavier thumping is more likely rats. Noise during the day from the outer walls or eaves is often birds. If you are unsure, our rodent infestation signs guide helps narrow it down.

How mice get into your walls

Mice squeeze through surprisingly small gaps. The Arizona Department of Health Services recommends sealing holes larger than about a quarter inch. In Prescott homes, mice most often get into wall cavities through:

• Gaps around plumbing under kitchen and bathroom sinks
• Openings where AC lines, cables and pipes enter the house
• Garage walls shared with the house
• Foundation vents and crawl spaces
• Gaps along the sill plate where the walls sit on the foundation
• The attic, moving down through open wall cavities

Most of these problems show up in fall, when cold nights push mice indoors. Our article on why mice move in every fall explains why.

How to get mice out of your walls

1. Find the way in. Walk the outside of the house and check under sinks and in the garage for gaps and droppings. Activity is usually close to the entry point.
2. Trap where they travel. Mice run along walls. Set snap traps along the wall near the activity, under sinks and in the garage, with the trigger end against the wall.
3. Be patient for a few nights. Check traps daily and keep going until you stop catching mice.
4. Seal the entry points. Once activity drops, close the gaps with metal mesh and sealant. If you seal first, mice can get trapped inside the wall.
5. Clean up safely. Soak droppings with disinfectant before wiping them up. Never sweep or vacuum them. See our guide to cleaning up mouse droppings safely.

Why poison is a bad idea for mice in walls

It seems like the easy option, but a mouse that eats bait often crawls back into the wall to die. The smell of a dead mouse inside a wall can last for weeks, and getting it out can mean cutting into drywall. Bait left in the open can also be reached by pets. Traps and sealing avoid both problems.

Should you cut into the wall?

Usually not. Mice move in and out of wall cavities through gaps you can seal from outside or from under sinks. Opening drywall is only worth it for a dead animal you can pinpoint by smell, or for a nest in a spot you can’t reach any other way.

When to call a professional

If you keep catching mice week after week, hear activity in several rooms, or can’t find how they are getting in, the gaps are probably in places that are hard to reach. Our mouse control and rodent exclusion services find and seal them, starting with a free rodent inspection.