For a small creature like a mouse, staying in one spot is likely to lead to your demise. Mice spend the summer not only maintain already built nest but getting their winter nest ready. If they have a building nearby, then likely that building will be the site for a winter home.

Being prey animals, mice need to build nests in areas that keep them secure. Attic insulation and walls of a building are perfect. Outside mice find unused holes in trees or the ground. A rock wall or thick brush (like Japanese Bayberry) provide a secure place to build a nest. These types of dense materials keep out the often much larger predators that are looking for a tasty snack.

A common place mice love to nest is in our cars. We get calls all the time about mice destroying the air filter or clogging the intake line. I have a car that the mice chewed away the stuffing of the back seats and built a colony in the trunk in the spare tire compartment. The smell of mouse urine and droppings never really came out.