Every fall in Hampton Roads, we get a wave of calls from homeowners who've been setting snap traps for weeks and keep catching mice — but the problem never goes away. They're catching three, four, five mice and assuming the issue is solved. Then a week later there are more. The traps are working. The problem is that trapping alone doesn't solve a rodent infestation. It manages it temporarily. To actually resolve it, you have to seal the home.
The Math Works Against You
A house mouse can squeeze through a gap the size of a dime — about a quarter inch. They reproduce fast: a female mouse can have five to ten litters per year, with five to six pups each. If the entry points are still open, every mouse you catch is replaced by others from outside before you've noticed a difference. You can trap indefinitely and the population inside your home will keep getting topped off from outside. The only way to break that cycle is to find and seal the entry points.
Where They Get In
The most common entry points we find during exclusion work in Newport News and Hampton Roads: gaps around plumbing penetrations through the foundation, spaces where utilities enter the home, gaps under garage doors, deteriorated door sweeps on exterior doors, gaps between the sill plate and foundation, and openings around HVAC and dryer venting. Older homes — particularly the pre-1970s housing stock throughout Newport News, Hampton, Norfolk, and Portsmouth — have more of these gaps than newer construction, and they get worse over time as wood settles and materials deteriorate.
What Exclusion Actually Involves
Exclusion isn't just caulking around pipes. For a thorough job, it involves a systematic inspection of the entire exterior — foundation to roofline — identifying every gap, crack, or opening that could allow rodent entry, and then sealing each one with the appropriate material. Sheet metal, hardware cloth, and foam with a wire mesh insert are the right materials for exclusion. Steel wool alone isn't — mice chew through it. Caulk alone on a gap larger than a quarter inch isn't — they push through it. The material has to match the location and the gap size.
After exclusion, trapping inside the home finishes off the rodents that are already inside. The combination works. Trapping without exclusion doesn't — it just slows the problem down while giving you the impression you're solving it.
When to Call a Professional
If you're catching mice consistently and the population isn't declining, that's the signal. You either have more inside than you realize, active entry points, or both. A professional rodent exclusion service will find entry points you wouldn't think to check — we've found mice getting in through gaps behind stoves, through deteriorated crawlspace vent screens, and through gaps in the rim joist that aren't visible without going under the home. That's the work that ends the problem instead of managing it.