Fall in Kansas means mice looking for warm walls and snakes looking for the last warm rocks of the season. Here’s how to stop both before they show up in your house.
Mice — Stop Them Before They’re Inside
By October, every Wichita house with an unprotected gap is hosting at least one mouse. Female mice can have 5-10 litters per year, 5-7 pups per litter. You don’t have ONE mouse — you have a problem brewing.
How they get in
- Any gap a pencil fits through (1/4 inch)
- Foundation cracks
- Under garage doors with worn seals
- Around utility lines coming into the house
- Through dryer vents with broken flaps
- Up the toilet (rare but real)
Stop them — outside first
- Seal every gap with steel wool + caulk (mice can’t chew through steel wool)
- Replace worn garage door bottom seals
- Cover dryer vent with a fine mesh
- Trim bushes back 2+ feet from the house — denies cover
- Move firewood and brush piles 20+ feet from the house
If they’re already inside
- Snap traps — most effective per dollar. Bait with peanut butter, not cheese
- Bait stations — for outdoor / garage use. Mice eat bait, die in walls. Smell happens for a week
- Glue traps — work but slow death; avoid if you have a soft heart
- Snap traps in pairs against walls in pantry, under sink, garage, basement
Snakes — Common Kansas Species
🐍 Bullsnake
Big (4-6 ft), non-venomous, eats mice. Beneficial — leave alone if possible.
🐍 Garter Snake
Small, harmless, eats bugs and small frogs. Don’t kill.
🐍 Rat Snake
Black/brown, climbs trees. Eats rodents. Beneficial.
🐍 Copperhead
Venomous. Coppery diamond pattern. Found in rocky/wooded areas around Wichita.
🐍 Cottonmouth (Water Moccasin)
Venomous, near water. Rare around Wichita but found in southeast Kansas.
🐍 Rattlesnake (Massasauga)
Venomous. Small. Found in prairie/grassland in central Kansas.
☎️ If You’re Bitten by a Venomous Snake
Call 911 or go to the ER immediately. Don’t try to suck out venom. Don’t apply ice. Don’t use a tourniquet. Keep calm, immobilize the limb, get to a hospital — antivenom is available.
Snake Prevention
- Eliminate cover — remove brush piles, rock piles, woodpiles within 30 ft of the house
- Mow tall grass short — snakes prefer 6+ inches
- Eliminate prey — control mice (above), and snakes leave
- Snake repellent granules work in some cases (sulfur-based or naphthalene). Apply along foundations, garage perimeter
- Snake-proof fence for high-traffic yards — 1/4 inch hardware cloth, 30 inches tall, buried 6 inches, leaning outward
What We Stock
Snap traps, bait stations, glue boards, steel wool, snake repellent, mouse-proofing supplies — all in our Pest Control aisle.
Related
Visit Mr. Mc’s Market
📍 1901 E 21st St N
Wichita, KS 67214
🕐 Open 9 AM – 9 PM, 7 days a week