“Just like human beings, mice, all vertebrate pests. We seek a few things, we seek shelter, we seek food, we seek water. Just so happens to be that a kitchen has all of those,” Giancarlo D’Andraia from TMG Pest Control tells Inside Edition.
Often times when lights go out in homes, mice come out to play, especially in the kitchen. Inside Edition set up night cameras inside homes to investigate critter activity.
Nearly 15 million homes in the United States have mice, according to the Census Bureau. Social media is filled with videos of rodents running around in kitchens, even clean ones.
“When I walk into a home, the number one thing I’m looking for is droppings,” exterminator Giancarlo D’Andraia from TMG Pest Control says.
Inside Edition teamed up with pest control experts in New York and New Jersey to find out what may be lurking in kitchens.
“Make sure you don’t have any holes exposed, any cracks around the garage door, anything. As long as they can get their head in, they can get their whole body in,” John Whittamore of Knock’em Dead Pest Control says.
With the permission of the homeowners, Inside Edition installed surveillance cameras. It did not take long for the mice to come out.
One Long Island kitchen had a major infestation.
D’Andraia showed Inside Edition where the mice where entering from a hole in the wall behind the stove.
“Mice can fit through a penny-sized slot, penny-sized holes,” D’Andraia says. He says the hole found behind the stove was “without a doubt the Grand Canyon of slots” that mice can fit through.
D’Andraia says stoves can be a magnet for mice due to the food scraps that get left behind after cooking.
“Just like human beings, mice, all vertebrae pests, we seek a few things. We seek shelter, we seek food, we seek water. Just so happens to be that a kitchen has all of those, so this is the absolute, most optimal place to live and reside. Mice, especially, because they fit in every single nook and cranny,” D’Andraia says.
D’Andraia shared some tips to keep your kitchen a mouse-free zone.
“You want to make sure you’re always taking your trash out. You want to really make sure you’re keeping your property as clean as possible both inside and outside,” D’Andraia says.
The pest control expert says there are a multitude of traps that can be used.
“I'm not a big fan of complete extermination unless extremely necessary. So the first thing I like to use. These are called tin cats, okay. Tin cats are basically catch and release trap system,” D’Andraia says. “Mice are pretty intuitive and very smart. If you have mice within this tin cat, they will most likely come back if you don't relocate them far enough or, you know, exterminate the issue itself.”
