House mice may infest buildings throughout the year, but are especially likely to show up during thecold weather months when it is much easier to find food and stay warm inside human structures, than to survive outdoors. The problem with having mice indoors is that they can cause extensive damage to food supplies, possessions, and equipment, and may transmit diseases and parasites to humans. Mice are rodents whose teeth never stop growing throughout their lifetime. Thus they must continuously gnaw to keep their teeth from getting too long, and to keep them sharp. Gnawing may result in the destruction of books and papers, and the loss of important documents, or result in fires or costly computer crashes as a result of gnawed electrical wiring.
House mice can also destroy huge amounts of stored food.
Although they don't eat a lot per day, they have the habit of nibbling on a wide variety of items and leave partially eaten foodstuffs strewn about. In addition, they have the unpleasant habit of urinating and defecating wherever they eat, contaminating as much as ten times as much food as they eat. Food contaminated with mice feces may result in the bacterial food poisoning salmonellosis . Certain tape worms can be spread through house mouse droppings, and ringworm can be carried to humans through mice. Rickettsial pox and dermatitis may be caused by the bite of the house mouse mite, which is found wherever there are mice present.