How to keep mice out of the pool

Feb 10, 2018 | Pool Maintenance

Hire a pool service contractor for summer 2019

Express Pool Care service professionals in Phoenix, Arizona understand you don’t ever want to go to your swimming pool and find a mouse or a snake or other critter floating in the water. They have ideas for how to keep mice out of the pool. Not only are they unsightly, but they bring bacteria into the pool and if a mouse or snake gets pulled into the skimmer basket it can wreak havoc on the system.

How to keep mice out of the pool

Mice and snakes are more likely to be drawn to your swimming pool when the temperatures are cooler and your water and the deck are warm. If you use a pool heater you may find you have even more issues with mice and snakes and even scorpions than if you don’t heat the water.

If a mouse, or a family of mice, gets into your pool heater or other equipment they will set up their homes and can chew through wiring and will bring in items they find to make a nest. They will also bring in bacteria. In many cases you won’t even know you have mice in the equipment until you go to turn it on and it won’t work.

To keep mice out of the pool heater and equipment you may need to purchase: wood paneling, moth balls, steel wool and chicken wire.

  1. To protect the equipment you will want to add some moth balls as they don’t like the smell and will avoid the area that has moth balls.
  2. Fill any holes with pieces of steel wool. Put the steel wool into even the tiniest of openings because mice can get into those. If they chew the steel wool to gain entrance, it will cut their mouths and they will stop.
  3. Once you’ve made certain there are no mice inside the heater or pump area, have put in moth balls and steel wool, wrap the area with hardware cloth then cover with a chicken wire barrier.
  4. Put up the wood paneling to cover the chicken wire and add more visual appeal.
  5. For added protection, use some rubber snakes. Place the snakes around the heater as it appears to scare mice enough that they will avoid the area.

Do you have problems with rodents, reptiles or scorpions? If you can’t get rid of them, ask us for help.