Mice in the Walls: Removal in Miami

Light, quick scratching inside a wall at night, usually near the kitchen or a bathroom, is one of the most common reasons people call. Mice use the hollow space inside walls as a hallway between food and nest. They come and go through gaps you can't see from the room: behind the dishwasher, under the sink, where a pipe goes into the drywall.

You can't trap a mouse inside a closed wall. The work happens at the openings, and that's what this service is about. If the sound is heavier and comes from above, it's more likely rats; see attic rodent removal.

What a thorough job includes

A good provider finds the doors into the wall instead of guessing. Expect:

• A check of every opening into the wall near where you hear the sound: plumbing under sinks, the dishwasher and fridge lines, electrical boxes, the cabinet kick plates
• A look at the outside of that wall for where mice enter from outdoors or the garage
• Traps placed at the openings and along nearby walls, not inside the cavity
• Sealing the gaps with metal mesh and sealant once catches stop
• In a condo, a note on whether the wall is shared with another unit or a pipe chase

Step by step

Here's the usual sequence.

1. Note when and where you hear the sound for a few nights. That narrows the search.
2. The technician checks the room side: under sinks, behind appliances and around outlets on that wall.
3. They check the other side: the garage, the exterior wall or the hallway.
4. Traps go at the openings mice are using, often under the sink or behind the kick plate.
5. Return visits clear traps and move any that aren't catching.
6. The openings get sealed. Leaving one route open with traps until the last mouse is caught keeps them from dying inside the wall.

Why it's harder in Miami

Building style. Many Miami homes are concrete block on the outside, with furring strips and drywall on the inside, which leaves a narrow space mice can run along. Older wood-frame houses near the river and in Coconut Grove have gaps under raised floors. Condo towers have vertical pipe and wiring chases that connect units, so a mouse in your wall may have come up from the trash room twenty floors down. That's when condo and apartment rodent control and the association come in.

Heat makes the stakes higher. A mouse that dies inside a wall in summer smells within days. Many technicians avoid bait in walls for that reason. If you already have the smell, see dead rodent removal.

Kitchen remodels add another twist. New cabinets often hide the old pipe holes behind a fresh back panel, so the gap mice use may be invisible from the room. A technician may need to pull a drawer or the kick plate to see it.

Mice or something else?

Lighter, faster scratching low in the wall points to mice. Heavier running, gnawing or thumping, especially high in the wall or the ceiling, points to roof rats. Daytime noise from a wall is less typical for either and worth mentioning on the call. The article on rodent noises at night goes through the sounds.

What you can do tonight

Pull everything out of the cabinet under the kitchen sink and look at where the pipes go into the wall. A ragged gap, droppings on the cabinet floor or chewed sponge packaging tells you that's a doorway. Do the same under the bathroom sinks and behind the washer. Set two or three snap traps baited with a little peanut butter at those spots, flush against the wall. Keep food in hard containers so the traps are the easiest meal around. Don't seal a gap you find until you've caught the mice using it, or they'll be stuck inside the wall.

Questions to ask the provider

Before work starts, ask:

• Where do you think they're getting into this wall?
• Will you trap at the openings, and how many visits does that take?
• What will you seal with, and will you show me?
• If one dies in the wall, what will you do?

Related services: Mouse Control, Rodent Exclusion, Dead Rodent Removal, Condo and Apartment Rodent Control

Neighborhoods: Brickell, Wynwood and Edgewater, Upper Eastside and MiMo, Little Havana, Coconut Grove, Coral Gables, Key Biscayne, Miami Beach, Surfside and Bal Harbour, North Miami, Aventura, Hialeah, Miami Lakes, Doral, Westchester, South Miami, Kendall, Pinecrest, Palmetto Bay, Cutler Bay.