Gone two weeks, came back to horror – I thought the worst thing I’d find after vacation would be …..

The Signs We Initially Missed

Once you know what you’re looking at, the pieces fall into place disturbingly fast.

The brownish padding?
Shredded insulation, pulled from inside the walls and dragged toward the window through a gap we didn’t realize existed.

The fine dust coating the edges?
Material they had chewed through — probably wood studs or trim.

The black pellets?
Classic mouse droppings: small, hard, shiny, and impossible to mistake once you’ve seen them up close.

It hit us: mice had built a nest inside our wall cavity and pushed excess materials outward, cramming them beside the window frame.

Two weeks away was all the invitation they needed.

How It Happened So Quickly

If you’ve never dealt with mice, let me tell you something that still shocks me:
They can squeeze through gaps as small as a dime.

A dime.

That means even a hairline space in siding, a tiny shift in the window frame, or a loose piece of trim can be an open door.

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