How to Keep Mice Out of a Restaurant

Mice are pests that spread bacteria, which leads to food poisoning. These small rodents contaminate surfaces with their droppings, which contain bacteria such as salmonella. Mice can be a problem any time of year but they tend to seek shelter indoors during the chilly autumn and winter months. Once mice infest a building, they are hard to get rid of. The best way to avoid a mouse problem in a restaurant is to prevent them from getting into the building in the first place.

Things You'll Need

• Steel wool
• Caulking
• Garbage cans with lids
• Bungee cord
• Rags
• Fox urine
• Coyote urine
• Ammonia

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Instructions

• 1

  Seal all openings and cracks. Mice can squeeze through cracks and holes as small as 1/4 inch wide. Fill all cracks in the foundation, gaps in the walls and holes around utility pipes with steel wool sealed with caulking so the mice can't chew through it.

• 2

  Keep the restaurant clean. Mice are attracted by crumbs, leftover food and garbage. Clean all food spills as soon as they happen, empty the garbage regularly and put all food -- especially grains and cereals -- in sealed containers to prevent attracting mice.

• 3

  Remove clutter. Mice seek out cluttered rooms and buildings where they have lots of places to hide. Keep the restaurant clean and free of clutter to prevent giving mice a reason to come in and stay.

• 4

  Cover the edges of all wooden doors and windows with metal or hard plastic. This prevents the mice from chewing on the wood and creating a hole big enough for them to enter.

• 5

  Place garbage in sealed garbage cans outdoors. The scent of food scraps left in garbage bags outdoors on the curb or in an open dumpster attract mice to the area and encourage them to return. Prevent this by placing all garbage in a garbage can with a tight-fitting lid.

• 6

  Tie down any garbage can lids with bungee cords. If the garbage can gets knocked over by the wind, the garbage will stay in the can and won't spill out and attract mice.

• 7

  Soak rags in fox urine, coyote urine or ammonia and place them around the outside of the property. Foxes and coyotes are natural predators of mice and the presence of the animal's scent will scare off the mice. The scent of ammonia, which is present in both fox and coyote urine, will also trick the mice into thinking there are predators around.