In the six years or so that I’ve lived in my apartment building I have never seen a mouse or a rat on the premises, that is until tonight.
I went to take out the garbage after midnight. The garbage and recycling room for this building is downstairs from the lobby. To get there, you have to exit the lobby which leads to this long hallway. I opened the door to this hallway tonight and I immediately saw something small and fast-moving near my feet. It was a mouse. I looked to me as if it was trying to figure out how to get past the door and into the lobby when I surprised it. Well, I suppose it surprised me too.
It took off like a rocket down the long hallway and to this door that leads to the outside. That door is closed all the time and as I watched it approach the door, I wondered what it would do. To my continued surprise, it disappeared through what must have been a gap at the bottom of the door. Mice when they get scared don’t go to unknown places. So when I surprised it, it would have run back to where it believed it was safe and that was the outside. I’m almost positive that door is where it entered the building.
I’m obviously not pleased to see a mouse inside the building. I also don’t think it’s a coincidence this first mouse sighting happened now and that construction began at the site next door. The construction site was a large and open field before, perfect for pests and rodents to make their homes. If I had to guess, the construction forced the mice to flee the field and make their way over to our building.
I’m hoping the mice will have a hard time getting up to my floor. I live almost 30 stories up. I’ve also sealed what used to be a huge gap underneath my front door. Even if mice managed to ride the elevator up to my hallway, I don’t think they could penetrate my front door. The only point of ingress would be through my balcony. Again, I live almost 30 stories up and there are no pipes on the outside of the building on which they could climb to get to my balcony.
I’ve written a letter to the property management company to inform them of what I saw. The proper thing to do, at least in my opinion, would be to seal that door better, eliminating any gaps at the bottom. I’d even lay a few traps in that hallway. It’s never used by anyone in the building.
Go away pests!