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Urbandale is a great place to live — unless you’re sharing your house with mice. And every fall, that’s exactly what happens to hundreds of Urbandale homeowners. Mice squeeze through gaps you didn’t know existed, set up camp in your attic or walls, and start breeding. By the time you hear them scratching overhead in January, you’ve got a full-blown infestation.
Miller Pest Solutions serves Urbandale and the entire Des Moines metro. We’ve been solving rodent problems since 2007, and we take a no-nonsense approach: find the mice, trap the mice, seal the house so they can’t come back.
Signs of a Rodent Infestation
Mice don’t leave a welcome mat, but they do leave plenty of clues:
- Droppings. Dark, rice-sized pellets. You’ll find them in kitchen drawers, under sinks, behind appliances, in the pantry, along garage walls, and in the attic. Fresh droppings are soft; old ones crumble.
- Night noises. Scratching, thumping, or light scampering in walls, ceilings, and attics between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. Mice are nocturnal and stick to a routine.
- Gnaw marks. Chewed food containers, baseboards, door frames, even electrical wiring. Mice gnaw on just about everything to keep their ever-growing teeth in check.
- Grease marks. Dark smudges along baseboards and around holes in the wall. Mice follow the same paths nightly, and their oily fur leaves a visible trail over time.
- Odor. A stale, musky smell in enclosed areas — closets, crawl spaces, attics. In severe infestations, the ammonia scent of concentrated mouse urine is unmistakable.
Why Urbandale Gets Rodent Problems
Same reason every city in central Iowa does: winter. When outdoor temperatures drop below 50 degrees, mice start looking for heated structures. Your house is the warmest thing for blocks, and mice can feel that warmth radiating through the foundation from several feet away.
Urbandale’s housing stock contributes too. The city has homes from every era — 1960s ranches, 1980s two-stories, 2000s subdivisions, and recent new construction. Each generation of home has its own weak points. Older homes have settled foundations and deteriorated seals. Mid-age homes have wear on original weatherstripping and siding. Newer homes have builder-grade materials that degrade faster than homeowners expect.
The city’s western edge borders agricultural and developing land, which means field mice are already close to residential areas. Fall harvest activity displaces mice from crop fields, and the nearest warm structures — Urbandale homes — become the destination.
Attached garages are a major entry point in Urbandale. Garage door seals wear out, the seal between the garage and living space is often imperfect, and homeowners store pet food, birdseed, and grass seed in the garage. That’s everything a mouse needs: access, warmth, and food.
Our Rodent Control Process
We use a proven three-phase system:
Phase 1: assessment. We go over the house methodically — exterior foundation, roofline, soffits, utility penetrations, garage, vents, doors, windows. Inside, we check the attic, basement or crawl space, and any area showing signs of activity. We map every entry point and assess how bad the infestation is.
Phase 2: Trapping. We set commercial-grade snap traps in the right locations — along walls, near entry points, and in areas with confirmed activity. Trap placement is a skill. The difference between catching mice and not catching mice is often a matter of inches. We service traps on a regular schedule until activity ceases.
Phase 3: Exclusion. Here’s where the real work happens. We seal every entry point using steel wool, metal mesh, sheet metal, and professional sealants. Pipe gaps, foundation cracks, dryer vents, weep holes, soffit gaps, garage door seals — all of it. If a mouse can fit through it, we close it. This is the step that turns a one-time fix into a long-term solution.
What Mice Actually Cost You
People think of mice as a minor annoyance. Here’s what they actually do:
They chew electrical wiring in attics and walls, creating a real fire risk. They destroy insulation — burrowing through it, nesting in it, and saturating it with urine and droppings. They contaminate food and food-prep surfaces. They carry hantavirus, salmonella, and leptospirosis. They introduce fleas and mites into your living space. And they breed at a staggering rate — one breeding pair can produce 60+ offspring per year.
A minor mouse problem in October becomes a major infestation by February if left untreated. And the damage compounds the entire time.
Why Choose Miller Pest Solutions
Joel Miller has been in the pest control business since 2007. We’re QualityPro Certified, NPMA members, and locally owned. We serve Urbandale and the entire Des Moines metro with honest, effective pest control.
No high-pressure sales. No unnecessary services. We tell you what we find, what we recommend, and what it costs. Then we do the work and stand behind it.
Get a Free Phone Bid Today
Call Miller Pest Solutions for a free phone bid on your rodent problem. Describe the situation, and we’ll give you a price on the spot — no charge, no obligation, no sales pitch.
Visit millerthekiller.com or call today. Every day you wait, the mice are multiplying.
