Can Mice Spread From One Apartment to Another?

Peer-reviewed work in multi-family dwellings, published in the journal Insects, found that units with mouse infestations were significantly more likely to share a common wall or ceiling/floor with other infested units. That correlation is strong evidence mice are moving through shared structural voids rather than each unit developing an infestation independently — and it should shape how a building responds.

The University of Nebraska Extension documents rodents crawling along pipes and electrical conduit and gnawing through a wide range of building materials, which turns plumbing and wiring chases into corridors between apartments. Because a house mouse fits through any gap larger than ¼ inch, every unsealed penetration around a pipe, vent, or cable run between units is a usable entry point — often invisible from inside a finished wall or cabinet.

Trapping and sealing your own apartment can knock down the mice currently inside it, but if an adjacent unit stays infested and shares a wall or utility chase, new mice re-enter on a rolling basis — especially given how quickly house mice breed (gestation of just 19–21 days, with females able to conceive again within a day of giving birth). Effective control in a multi-unit building coordinates trapping and sanitation across affected units at the same time, and seals shared penetrations in common areas and between units, not just within one apartment.

In a rental building, sealing shared walls, common-area penetrations, and building-wide sanitation issues is typically a landlord or property-management responsibility, not something a single tenant can resolve alone. Document what you find (droppings, gnaw marks, sighting locations) and report it in writing — building-wide coordination is the difference between a fix that holds and one that doesn't.