What Are Mice Able To Climb?

At first glance, mice do not seem like they are all that impressive. They are tiny creatures that steal your food and cause damage to your home. This, however, is only one small part of what life is like for a mouse. In fact, they have a number of incredibly impressive physical qualities that could leave you scratching your head.

One of these traits is a mouse’s innate ability to climb. Mice are great climbers and this allows them to get into areas you likely couldn’t imagine. Depending on the material used, mice can climb straight up a wall, and even hang from ceilings for a short period of time.

Some of the types of walls mice have an easy time climbing include:

Rough concrete
Cinderblock
Stucco
Wooden planks
Shingles
Wooden siding
Popcorn ceiling

Now, mice have difficulty climbing any surface that is primarily smooth. Glass doesn’t allow mice to get any sort of grip, and a smoothly painted wall will not offer much support for a mouse trying to climb it. Unfortunately, even if mice cannot climb up these surfaces directly, if there is anything on it that they can climb, they will certainly make use of it.

Wires and cables, for example, are extremely easy for mice to climb. Their claws can grip onto wires very tightly and the mouse will use its tail for balance. As long as they can grip onto a cable or wire in this way, they will be able to scale a wall of virtually any height.

This is why mice like to live in your walls if they get inside. In your walls, they can stay hidden from your sight while having a great network of wooden beams and cables to help them navigate throughout your residence. This can also present a huge hazard for fires in your home.

This is because mice not only climb wires but routinely chew them. Exposed wires of any kind increase the risk of a house fire starting. If a mouse isn’t careful, it will end up electrocuting itself and causing a fire to break out. This is why you need to treat a mouse infestation very seriously.