This is one of the most common frustrations we hear from New York City residents and property owners: a landlord sends an exterminator, the exterminator sprays, and the mice are back within days. That’s not a coincidence — spraying is an insect control method. It has no effect on mice whatsoever.
Effective house mouse control in New York City requires trapping, baiting, and exclusion work. Traps target individual mice along the runways they travel — typically along walls, behind appliances, and under sinks. Bait stations address the broader population over time. And exclusion work — identifying and sealing the gaps, cracks, and utility penetrations that mice use to enter — is what keeps a treated building from being re-infested.
A house mouse can squeeze through a gap as small as a quarter inch. In New York City’s pre-war building stock, those gaps are everywhere: deteriorating foundations, aging utility penetrations, gaps around pipes and conduit. No trapping program works long-term without addressing how they’re getting in.