Do mice hibernate?
When the temperatures drop, many animals go into hiding and may have stored food during the summer months in preparation for this time. But what about mice? Do mice hibernate in winter?
The answer is No! mice do not hibernate. They can’t even reduce the number of calories their body needs. Neither can they regulate their body temperature during the winter.
However, like humans would seek comfortable shelter during the colder months, mice would do so as well. This is why mice problems tend to increase during these months as they enter homes in search of food and comfort.
Mice shelter
In the summer, spring, and early fall, mice like to be free and would prefer to stay outdoors. They can easily take shelter from different types of materials. Outdoor, they will have the options of a variety of foods. But unlike other animals, during winter, they would keep actively foraging for food, avoiding predators, and seeking shelters.
If they cannot find their way inside homes, they tend to burrow into the ground where they rest and bear their young ones. Within homes, you can find them in crawl spaces, attics, and wall voids. So, you will find them in the dark areas of human homes, especially around structures near their preferred food source.
The problem with mice in winter
As mice actively look for shelter within homes, their foraging abilities heighten, and they might begin to chew on anything from storage boxes to wires. As they do so, they transfer germs and diseases on everything they touch, thereby contaminating our homes. This is why people tend to deal more with mice infestation in the winter.
Signs that mice are in your home
These little creatures, mice, are naturally very sly. Therefore, knowing when they are residing in your house could be a bit difficult. But, even the smartest mice will definitely leave telltale marks of their atrocities. Though, you have to look out for these marks in the right places. If you are skeptical about the presence of mice in your house, then check out for these marks:
- Contamination of food: mice will go into your pantries to feed on grains, candy, and nuts. So, watch out for damaged material of packaged foods or food with gnaw marks.
- Destruction of materials at home: Mice would chew anything. So, look out for bite marks and destruction of furniture, books, electrical wires, and so on.
- Mice droppings: Their droppings are very tiny, brown in color, and shaped like a cone. Check around dark areas or pathways for them.
- Smell: Mice droppings and urine can produce a very unpleasant smell after many days. So, if you start perceiving something unpleasant in any area of your house, then you might have a mice population.
- Pathways: Due to their poor sight, mice depend on few pathways around your home that they are familiar with.
- Gathering of waste: Mice would use scraps of materials such as papers, clothes, and other ware to construct shelter for themselves. They do this mostly in dark areas of your house, underneath furniture.
Concluding thoughts
Do mice hibernate? No mice don’t hibernate. Mice will do what it takes to survive the harsh weather from the winter. This is why infestations tend to worsen in winter. If you find any signs of mice in your home, then take action immediately to get rid of them, as they tend to populate very fast.