Mice

Question

Dear experts!
For a longer time I have mice from outside in my appartment! As I have read about all the diseases such mice can transmit (e.g. Hanta virus), I am seriously worried. I do not know anymore how I should handle it with the hygiene, as the creatures have been almost everywhere, kitchen, cupboards, sofa, bags etc. My son who suffers from CF is however already 16 years old and does not play on the ground anymore, but I have also a daughter of 4 years who likes to play from time to time on the ground and an older son, who does not take hygiene for serious. However unfortunately one does not see the excretions immediately and tears it from here to there and in the meantime I find it even disgusting if I know something had been there. How should I deal with this?
Many greetings and thank you.

Answer

Dear questioner,
wild mice are no pets and should not belong to a household independent of the fact that it deals with CF patients or healthy people.
You are angry with good reason and worried about the situation in your appartment, but in order to answer your question I would like to call on the common human sense. The mice have of course to be expelled from your appartment. In case your own activities and counter-measures do not suffice, you should call for the professional help of a vermin exterminator (addresses near your home can e.g. be found ower the internet or the yellow pages).
In order to expell mice from the appartment one should find out over which ways the animals come into the appartment and what attracts them. With that, possible damages and weak points like openings in the walls, open basement windows i.a. should be identified and eliminated. Furthermore, the own management of food and garbage, the storage of stocks and food rests should be checked and reconsidered. Besides the expellation of the mice from the appartment one has especillay to keep an eye on the prevention of an anew infestation.
I hope that you get rid of the "intruders" soon, the vermin exterminator is for sure a "good" advice!
Yours sincerely,
Dr. Christina Smaczny

22.04.2013