There's fighting in the world. There are tornados and forest fires...so many more important things, but today I saw a picture in an ad for cat food and got to wondering about something. It was taken as if the cat were looking into a mouse hole in the baseboard. So...where did that mouse hole thing originate? I remember Tom and Felix and the other cartoon cats chasing mice into their holes. Did mice actually eat through walls in old houses? Hmmmm.

Yes, they did, and still do. In fact, we found mouse holes in this house when we moved in. Unfortunately, a few months later we found out they were still in use

Mice don't need to make holes. Most houses are full of holes made by plumbers, electricians, carpenters, drywall mechanics, etc. Pipes, wires, ductwork, vents, etc. have to go from one place to another all through the average house, and mice, bugs, and other critters can usually find a way to get to the edible stuff through even very tiny openings.

If I remember the food service sanitation course I took years ago (You really have to know things like that to manage a kitchen or a restaurant, at least in Illinois.), a mouse can get through a hole the size of a nickel, and a rats can get through holes no bigger than a quarter. (This, of course, may not hold true for the rats in New York. The one I saw was bigger than any chihuahua and some cats. I assume that it would have just opened the door to any building it wanted to go into.)

That explains why the holes we found are so small. At first we almost thought it was from cockroaches. They are quite tiny. There are cupboards on either side of my stove, those old pressed board type things, and there is a teeny hole in each side, I assume as a freeway?

Rats and mice can also come in via sewer pipes, drain lines and holes in the foundation like for the water service or electrical service. It is a good idea to inspect these entrances to any building on a regular basis to check for signs of chewing or droppings.

Rats can be the size of dogs but that doesn't mean they still can't fit into small spaces.

Rats will also burrow sometimes. That makes them very hard to get rid of because you can't necessarily see them.

They love to eat dog droppings. One of the biggest draws to your home for rats is if you don't pick up after your dog.