Mice behind the garage shelves, or boxelder bugs on the south wall?

What should you do before a technician comes to a Tinley Park house?

Clear the shelves where the droppings are, keep food sealed, and photograph what you see. Leave the gaps open until the technician has seen them.

The technician needs to see how the pest is getting in, and a hole filled with foam or steel wool before the visit hides the route. Droppings and gnaw marks are the best clues for mice, and a photograph is usually enough to plan the visit. Traps and bait placed at random can teach the animal to avoid them, so leave that to the technician.

• Photograph the evidence: droppings, gnaw marks, the trail along a wall and the gap near the garage door.
• Clear the shelves and under the sink so the technician can reach the back wall.
• Keep food in sealed containers, and keep pet dishes off the floor overnight.
• Note when it happens: mice are heard at night, and boxelder bugs show up in the warm part of the day.
• Tell us about children and pets so the placement and products suit the house.

Why do south-suburb homes get mice and wall-void insects every year?

Garages, attached sheds and the gaps where pipes and wires enter give mice an easy route, and the warm south and west walls draw insects in the fall.

The house mouse is one of the likely problems in Illinois homes, along with the Norway rat, according to Wildlife Illinois. Mice follow the warmth and the cover of the garage and the basement, and they fit through very small gaps. The fall cold is when they try hardest to come inside, though a mouse in the garage can be a year-round problem.

Boxelder bugs and brown marmorated stink bugs gather on sunny brick and siding in the fall, then find a crack around a window trim or a gap at the soffit to overwinter. They are a nuisance rather than a structural threat, and sealing the gaps is the usual control.