Do Mice Eat Roaches?

One question that homeowners keep asking pest control experts in Modesto is if mice eat roaches. Several thoughts, such as whether mice can control cockroach infestations, may be running through the minds of the people who ask such questions. This article discusses the relationship between roaches and mice, and how you can plan your pest control measures based on that relationship.

What Do Mice Eat?

Mice are curious creatures. Consequently, they will nibble at anything they come across. This includes cheese, roaches, and soap. This makes mice dangerous pests because they will contaminate or destroy more items than what they need for a meal. For example, they can destroy electrical wiring as they nibble at it in different places.

Can Mice Control Cockroach Populations?

While it is true that mice eat roaches, you cannot count on the mice to control a cockroach infestation. Modesto pest controllers give two key reasons to explain why.

First, roaches and mice often depend on each other for survival. Roaches can feed on mice droppings. This means that roaches will thrive in your home even if no other food sources exist. Not to be outdone, mice also feed on roaches. A vicious cycle of mice and cockroach infestation results when these two pests are in your home.

Secondly, mice cannot be relied upon to keep roach numbers down because it is too much work to catch and eat the roaches. Roaches provide challenging moving targets since they are fast and erratic in their movements. Consequently, the success rates of a mouse chasing and catching a cockroach are very low. Mice prefer food scraps and other food sources rather than investing in chasing cockroaches. Roaches are simply an additional food source for mice.

Roaches can only be a major source of food for mice in case the cockroach infestation is so severe that hundreds of them are moving about at any one moment. Such large numbers would then provide easier targets for mice.

How You Can Use the Relationship Between Mice and Roaches

One big advantage that you can get from the predatory relationship between mice and cockroaches is that one infestation will alert you about the existence of the other pest. How?

Mice can eat the roaches which have been captured in glue traps or sticky monitors. Stockton pest control professionals reveal that the presence of roach parts, such as legs and heads, on those traps can alert you that mice are present in the home even if you haven’t seen the mice.

This discovery may be a timely cue for you to target mice as well when selecting pest control measures for your home. That timely action can eliminate both pests before their populations grow to a level that is harder to control. For professional pest control services, contact us today!