Asked on May 19, 2014
How to get rid of mice?
by
Jessica Hill
+351
We seem to have some unwelcome Mickeys and Minnies in our house. What is the best way to get rid of them?
I agree that 100% pure peppermint oil (not extract) does work. We have had "issues" with the pesky little furry critters in the past, but since using the peppermint oil they have vanished. Instead of putting it on cotton balls, we used some cheap glass salt & pepper shakers from the dollar store, enlarged the holes in the tops of the shakers and put in reed diffusers then added the oil. The only problem for us with using the cotton balls is that you are supposed to add more oil to them daily. As our "happy place" is 200 miles away from home, that wouldn't have been possible. We've used if for 3 years now and it works like a charm!
Scatter bay leaves everywhere and plug up holes
One trick I have not tried yet but I heard works is a 5 gallon pail with a few inches of water in the bottom. Smear some peanut butter around the inside of the pail low enough so the mice can't reach it but can smell it. Then set up a board they can follow to the top of the pail... they fall in and drown since they can't get out. A buddy suggested that for my farm. I may just bury a pail in ground a ways to make life easier. Scoop dead mice out as necessary (with a net or anything you wish).
I have a house on a raised foundation, I keep Decon poison under the house in the crawl space year round. Been in house 12 plus years and never had any inside house.
I had mice, not wanting to kill them I bought a good live capture trap. I caught about 5 mice and relocated them, now no more mice and I feel better that I didn't kill them, cute little creatures just trying to survive.
Start by eliminating what they need to survive. They can't live too long without food. Use sealed containers to put all your food in. If you have pets, make sure you put the pet food in sealed containers also. Mice love pet food, grass and bird seed etc. Place traps...many traps, perpendicular to the wall. Mice follow lines/like to run against another surface. Use food or even cotton on the traps. Mice pull the cotton to use as nesting material. It's more difficult for mice to remove the cotton without getting caught. Mice are naturally curious and will investigate anything new in their environment. Rats are the opposite. They will avoid anything new in their environment. Therefore, with rats it's important to pre-bait the traps. Place the rat trap without setting it to go off. In this way, the rat gets used to eating from this "new" item without getting hurt. Once you gain their confidence, then you can set the traps. This takes about four to six days.
2 Ways:
-Pepsi - they drink it and explode
-Sponges drenched in Pepsi - they get exhausted chewing the sponge, then explode
Rats and mice dislike the smell of ammonia because it smells like predator urine. Fill a spray bottle with 1 cup ammonia and 1 cup vinegar. Mix well and spray all areas the rodents frequent. Spray cotton balls with the solution and set them in the areas as well.
Soak cotton balls in apple cider vinegar and the scent will keep them away. If you don't like the smell you can use peppermint oil and/or cinnamon oil. You have to re soak the cotton balls as the scent fades. I purchased some rodent spray and you can just spritz it around.
Call the pros and get an inspection! They will show you points of entry and suggest how to fix. Keeping a neat and tidy exterior helps too.
Use mice traps to catch them. In the future, you can tuck dryer sheets in out of the way places. For some reason, they don't like the smell. Also, caulking all cracks and little holes on the outside of the house will prevent them and other insects from coming inside.
Sprinkle crushed Penny-Royal leaves (mint family) on your outside perimeter. Sprinkle whole cloves on the inside perimeter. These remedies do not hurt people or pets. May need to be repeated. Where they are entering is the place for packing steel wool, usually at plumbing. Good luck to you.
Steel wool sometimes does not work as well as copper wool, harder to find, but stronger than mice can handle. They really don't care for cayenne pepper either, or if you can find chili pequin pepper, that's even stronger.
If you are using Peppermint Oil to rid your house of mice BE CAREFUL if you have cats!! Peppermint and also Cinnamon Oils are highly toxic to cats and can kill them! Yikes! Just do a search: Is Peppermint Oil Toxic to Cats? to find out.
Check your drains. Most drains have cross bars, a pop-up waste, or a screen over the drain. Yours may be missing or never had any of these. If it did not, replacing either the entire drain, which is not as difficult as you might think, may be the best option. If the current drain is a standard size there are replacements for the chrome ring that you see in the tub which will allow you to install a pop-up drain or screen that will keep the little beggars at bay for less than $20.
Check if mice are coming up the actual bath tub drain, if they are then you have more problems than just the mice. If they are entering up the inside of the bathtub drain pipe, then the drain pipe is disconnected or broken somewhere under your house which means the bath water is draining underneath your house and could compromise your foundation. Your drain line to the septic tank or sewer line could also be broken or has come apart. If this is the case contact HomeAdvisor.com or AngiesList.com and get a plumber or plumbing contractor out there right a way. Have them run a camera down the drain and find out how the mice are getting into the tub drain line.
Not sure if this actually works or not, but a friend of mine used a product called Fresh Cab in her RV to keep critters out. It's pine scented as I remember. She always said it was the only thing she's found that worked. Now, I have never used it myself, and I'm sure it needs to be rotated and replaced fairly regularly, but if you are bothered by the peppermint, this may be an alternative. I'm sure amazon has it.
Check your chimney, does it have a device installed to prevent access to rodents?
Have you checked gable vents or soffit? You may find the gable vents pushed in to permit rodent access, or holes in soffit/siding. From there, rodents can gain access to the attic and walls or lower areas of home, depending upon the home's composition.
If gable vents need repairing, screw in "hardware cloth" wire mesh, with edges folded over and secured to prevent future entry.
Make sure the areas are not infested with rodents, which will require installation of high intensity strobe lights or a professional exterminator.
Mix one cup of lime and one cup of corn meal in an old bowl very well. Then place this mixture with a thin layer of “cornmeal” over the top in small foil pie tins and scatter them where ever you have rodents. They love cornmeal and will eat down into the lime mixture. This will not kill any other animals. I use this on our ranch.
Mice are attracted to food no properly stored or left out. Keep the food in tightly closed containers so they can't get to it.
Feed your Guinea Pig at certain times during the day and do not leave food in the cage. People tend to put out food for pets and leave it out! Not good!
Mix 1 part flour, granulated sugar and baking soda. Place in shallow dish where mice are most likely to find it. You can sprinkle a little cinnamon sugar, chocolate powder or finely chopped nuts to make it more enticing – just add a bit more baking soda to compensate. What happens is when this hits their stomachs the baking soda forms a gas which rupture their stomachs = dead mice.
potato flakes and cats and easy setting traps especially in the spring,,,besides closing all holes esp, by pipes and wires,,we live in the country..flakes blow up mice but not cats,,
Tried and true!!!!! Make a mixture of two (2) cups of Plaster of Paris, one (1) cup of Self Rising Flour and one (1) cup of Cup 'o Soup and set out on their "runs" and replentish as mixture gets lower!! This mixture "ruptures" their bodies and the problem is taken care of!! They are infestive creatures and carry many diseases and therefore are NOT needed in the hierarchy of the scheme of things!!!!! Think "Bubonic Plague"!!!!!
We use peppermint - we found even very strong peppermint tea made them avoid the area, but we didn't use pure peppermint oil, because we do have a cat. Peppermint extract seemed to work fine for us.
We live on a farm and always have trouble with mice. We bought several of the electronic plug-ins things. NO MORE MICE!! You can also get battery powered ones to put in camper and vehicles.
The buckets of water may work but are cruel. The Dollar store snap traps work the best. They are killed instantly. Don't buy the ones that look like a slice of cheese. Buy the ones 4 in a pack for $1.00. Smash TINY amounts of bait on to the pads before you set them. A large piece can be pulled off and the mouse gets away. Use peanut butter, soft cheese or strong smell like salami with a tiny piece in the bait cup smashed on as hard as you can so they have to work to get the bait. GONE. The traps are cheap enough to use once and toss.
no electricity needed.
A 5 gallon bucket, a sheet stiff plastic, approximately 6mil thick
super glue or hot glue the plastic to the rim of the bucket. next, draw a circle in the center of the plastic and draw a pattern of 8 wedges in the circle, cut the wedges from circumference to circumference to let mice in. do not cut the circle out
Make any kind of ramps to allow mice to gain access the floor to the top of the bucket, one on each side of bucket.
sprinkle some seed around to bucket to entice and some in the bucket. That's it
Now you just have to get past the demise of a ton of mice that this will catch, because they will not be killed by this method
Be careful peppermint and other citrus oils are toxic to pets, so make sure they are able to access them.
Any mouse traps
take dead mice with no poisons injested and put out side like on a stump or a table or a big stone the crows or hawks wwill eat them recycled yes?
Cats. Mine kill rats too! A rat won't last five minutes in my house. I literally went out to the shop for that long to briefly close it up - leaving the back door open, and when I came back into the house, there was a dead rat on the floor with my two kitties looking it over to see if it would still twitch. I think the poor critter came right in the open door.
Of course every once in a great while, the cats will fail to completely dispatch the poor animal to the afterlife - and for those occasions I have a bottle of chloroform in the shop (I keep it safe from tipping over and breaking of course) but I hope to ease the suffering of "the un-dead" by placing gently in a plastic tight-lidded box on a soft towel with a chloroform-soaked paper towel. It kills them in the most humane way I can think of.
Call in the Cat!
Start by eliminating what they need to survive. They can't live too long without food. Use sealed containers to put all your food in. If you have pets, make sure you put the pet food in sealed containers also. Mice love pet food, grass and bird seed etc. Place traps...many traps, perpendicular to the wall. Mice follow lines/like to run against another surface.
Cats are Great. You will need to get a Female. They are the hunters in the den. As long as we had a female, NO MICE INFESTATION, if you get a male all they want to do is eat and sleep. They have got to be one of the laziest creatures that I have ever seen. No hunting skill whatsoever. Keep that in mind when you are choose your little Exterminator...Get a Girl...Good Luck.
I found that my 9mm worked good! But ya gotta be quick and good!
Make recipe of:
One (1) Cup of Plaster of Paris
Two (2) Cups of Self Rising Flour
One (1) Package of Cup O' Soup
Take my word for this as Gospel. I used this and in "jig time" there were NO mice. Just make sure that you continue setting this recipe out long enough to make sure there are no more of them!! No poisons, no traps, just be sure that you keep any pets you may have away from the area that you have this in until you are sure you have eliminated the problems!!!!!
The absolute best way is to get ultrasonic sound generators. Believe me...as weird as it sounds, it really works!
Equal parts baking soda and hunny cornbread mix in a container with a small hole for them to get in and out. They will eat leave and never come back.
If you want to Kill them equal parts of cornmeal and baking soda works on mice and rats. Get dollar store quart containers cut a hole large enough for them to get in to eat the mixture and the the stomach juices activate the baking soda. That takes care of the problem.
2 o
Ultra sound waves work. every time. I have used them in every place we have lived in. They work on spiders too .
WARNING. Do not used if you have any rodent pets like rabbits hamsters gerbils etc
It may take a week or more to make all critters leave..
Humane method and does not bother other pets like dogs and cats.
Best Answer - Not a Cat
My cat is apparently a conscientious objector. He kills nothing. The solution is the green cakes you buy at Home Depot, Lowes, Ace, and any other hardware stores. You don't need the trap portion so save your money. Use your empty plastic bottles. Cut off the mouth portion so that the opening is just barely big enough to fit the cake into. Put these bottles in strategic places (of course, the kitchen) but also in the basement, underneath the house, and in your storage shed. Mice give birth to their babies inside your home walls and in roof rafters and crawl spaces. These cakes are desiccants that the mice will take enough of these cakes to their nest (killing their spawn).
I had a LOT of mice until I placed enough cakes around for about six months. I now have zero mice but I still keep a bottled cake or two underneath the house and in the shed. Cats are great but they can't get into the wall spaces and... you could end up with a useless cat (except for eating & petting) who turns out to be a conscientious objector (or perhaps they think that the mice are just another pet around the house).
If anyone does use a glue trap - and regrets it as i did, I found a solution. Dip a q-tip in baby oil [generous amounts] run it on all sides of the mouse repeatedly. Hold the mouse by the tail and gently pull up as the glue gets neutralized by the oil. Have a jar handy to put him in and release it at least a mile from home. Read somewhere they can find their way back if you let them go too close to where you found him. Will definitely buy the peppermint extract in the future!
mothballs scattered away from pets and left in in RVs will eliminate mice problems~
We had a 2nd floor walk-up apartment in Center City Philadelphia and, at the sight of the first mouse, I did the peppermint oil/cotton ball thing. The building had mice in the 1st, 3rd and 4th floor apartments, but not ours. The landlord even called to say he was sending an exterminator and offered us his services. But there was absolutely no need! Peppermint works. (I also line my 13-gal. kitchen trash can with Mint-X trash bags from Home Depot).
Last year I started traps I caught 77 mice and 4 pack rats . We have 5 cats and they don't go near the pack rats . I seen a spray at Lowe for mice was going to buy some but no tellers anywhere , they said go to the self checkout, well I refuse to do that people need jobs ( the ones that want to work ) so I left it on the counter and went home . 30 miles away , I'm in the mountains .
A few years ago our whole neighborhood had mice everywhere from too much construction in the neighborhood and we also got skunks that moved in under our shed. I'd read coyote urine (yuk!) worked or ammonia. I went with the ammonia. I bought tiny glass jars on amazon (like what they use for jelly samples). We used a nail to make holes in the cover, tucked a piece of old towel in the jar and filled with the ammonia. We tucked them everywhere! Under the shed, deck and around the inside of the cellar. I got ones with a gold color lid so they are easy to spot so we can refill as needed. We have cats and wild bunnies in the yard and didn't want them to ingest the ammonia so the jars worked great. The skunks moved out and so did the mice....now to get rid of the tunneling chipmunks......
I have a solution for mice getting into your garage through the air vents. Measure your vents from the inside of the garage. Get punched, patterned tin sheets, tin snips (and the appropriate drywall screws from your local hardware store. Cut the tin sheets to size and secure to wall with screws at 1 inch intervals (mice are amazingly able to squeeze through small spaces). I did this a month ago and haven't seen ANY evidence of mice in my garage since. Outside in the wide open spaces is an entirely different story, but I would NOT use poison--cats, coyotes and other wild critters rely on mice for snack food.
Someone told me to use chips of Irish Spring soap. It works great and doesn't fade. They won't go near it! I put the chips in my motorhome and have never had a problem with mice!
I KEEP poison out at all times in areas where mice like to enter. I THINK I have eliminated all points of entry, but you NEVER can be sure they will not find or create a new one. I have dogs and one must be very careful to put the poison where they can NEVER have access to it. I also use glass jars to contain the poison and drill/cut a hole in the lid the size of a dime. In all the years 21 to be exact I have had ONE mouse die in a stairwell to the basement wall. The poison makes them LEAVE the area seeking water. I have had a few die in the house but always where they could be seen as they are seeking water and most places they LIVE, no water available. I have had them chew through heavy totes so yes, never store food in plastic long term if you suspect or know you have mice. The season(fall) is also prime time for these wee invaders so keep a sharp eye out for evidence. They ca even destroy CANNED food by urinating on cans so if like me you have basement cabinets where you store them be sure to check there too.
Cayenne pepper sprinkled around point of entry and/or any areas you see mouse dirt. Works instantly. No harm to mice. Best deterrent I've ever used except when I had cats. Reapply as often as you want. I've never had to reapply and it's been almost a year since they've a mouse has ventured into my place.
The word "they've" in my above post doesn't belong. Please ignore it.
how to fix clogged drains
We use the peppermint oil on cotton balls, in the house (just in case) and in the camper. It seems to work in both places---haven't had a mouse since we started this way to keep them away.
A farmer told me that a natural poison you can make but won't harm your pets (if they eat it or the dead rodent) is equal parts honey corn muffin mix (such as Jiffy) and baking soda. He uses it for mice and pack rats. The baking soda reacts with their stomach acids the same way it would with vinegar and because rodents can't burp or pass gas it kills them. Dogs and cats can pass gas (as any of us with furry friends I'm sure knows 😉) so the mixture doesn't affect them if they were to get into it. I can't stand the sticky traps and the more humane spring traps, with the crafty little devils in our house, I find the traps unsprung with the peanut butter eaten away. I don't like the idea of dead mice in my house tho so I think I'll try the clove oil ideas shared on here first. I'd prefer not kill them if I can help it but I'm very tired of them getting into the pantry. 😠
Mice like sweets, which I found out the hard way. I had left an open roll of peppermint Life Savors on the downstairs table. Mouse ate the whole roll. I found him dead awhile later, shriveled up like a prune. He apparently had been headed for the basement floor drain, looking for water. That happened twice. Expensive way to kill a mouse. I prefer the new and improved traps with peanut butter.
This isn't for everybody, but I started using rodent birth control about three years ago. We had a parade of rats on our fence tops at night. I started leaving out rat food, not poison, water, and a product from Senestech that comes with a special station for dispensing it. I made them a feeding station on the top of a wood pile, not next to my house, but in the yard. I no longer see rats around, the rats grow old and die without reproducing, if my local predators catch one it does not harm the owl, cat, or fox that eats one. We had our house rat-proofed first, the company says they prefer to live outside, but they had destroyed our attic insulation. The company cleaned the attic, replaced the insulation, and sealed up the points of entry. No more house rats and they check every six months, no more rat parades. I decided to keep the feeding/birth control station up. Sometimes there are few rats using it, in the summer a few more show up, but the more, the merrier because I know they are all sterile, they claim the male rats are also sterile. You might get your neighbors interested in this enough to help you maintain a feeding station since they are also reaping the benefits.
Another non poison around pets is to sprinkle dried instant mashed potato flakes. They love them and after eating they drink water and it explodes in their stomach.
I cut stalks of peppermint/spearmint (whichever is growing late season) and put them in the back interior of my drawers and cabinets. Never have a problem with mice. They get left over the winter, and replaced next season from the garden.
We wanted to get rid of the mice,(tiny field mice) but not kill them. We knew how they were getting in, so we put a little peanut butter in one of those plastic "Have a heart traps" and the mouse goes in, but cannot get out. Than my husband put it in the back of his truck, and let it loose, miles from our house. You may have to do this a few times, as we ended up catching 4 of them, but it is a more humane way of catching and getting rid of them. Also my husband let them go in the same place in case they were a family, lol....
Hey friends, i have Speedy Gonzales on speed dial, and they know he coming , they pack up and leave.! Good Luck!🙃
get mouse trap or get spicey pepper and put it on mouse trap they hate spicey peppers
i had a mouse in my clothes and on my bed poopin on it and my dog is chasing him
Adopt a kitten
It's been a pleasure reading this thread except for the people using poison or torturous traps when there are humane ways of dealing and I've had to deal!! I do like the clove oil in salt & pepper shakers with my little diffuser sticks so I won't have to re-visit my cotton balls so often.
Traps didn't work, tried them all. The only thing that got those annoying mice out of my garage was peppermint oil and fabric softener sheets everywhere. They took off quick and never came back. I still keep the peppermint oil out in the garage to make sure they don't move back in. I swear by peppermint oil, it's the only thing that actually worked trouble free!!!
Close up any openings they can get in through and use some peppermint extract.
All you soft hearted people that don’t want to harm the mouse or rat need to have a large infestation along with all the expense and disgusting mess and Heath issues that can come from these horrible creatures. I use regular mouse and rat traps baited with a piece of Slim Jim and peanut butter. I just pick the entire dead vermin and trap up with a disposable plastic glove and put the whole mess in a plastic grocery bag, tie the top shut and toss in outside garbage can. You can use over the counter poison cubes, but then they crawl off into the worst possible places to die and stink up your house. I had to tear all the drywall out of a garage because rat urine soaked into it and stunk up the whole garage.
Rats and mice don’t have a bladder so their urine just leaks out as they walk, so they are dribbling urine everywhere they go. Shine a UV light on areas and you will see their urine glow. So as they are walking on your carpets and flooring and climbing over your shelves of canned goods and pantry items they are peeing on them. Rodent urine can cause liver and kidney damage and there is no medical treatment to reverse the damage if you ingest even a very small amount. So you need to remove the label and clean the tops of all canned goods so you don’t risk the contaminated top falling into the can while using a can opener. Boxed goods without an intact plastic liner just need to be thrown away. Once the urine dries it can become airborne and if you breathe it into your lungs it can cause lung damage or worse from the bacteria and poisons it contains.
These horrible vermin also defecate as they walk around and this discharge dries and particles become airborne for you to breath in as well. You also don’t want to ingest any amount of this either. This can bring about a whole bunch of respiratory infections and also cause organ damage. So while sweeping up any mouse or rat turds you better be wearing an N95 mask and a face shield so none of it can get into your eyes. If you vacuum it up you better have a good HEPA filter on your vacuum cleaner and hope none of it gets airborne for you or family members to breath in. For small children this can be a death sentence.
I hate these horrible little messengers of illness and death. They were put on earth to be food for other animals, that is their only purpose in nature. When they come into my house or garage I have no mercy and will resort to any lethal way to kill them. I have even hunted them out of sheds with .22 bird shot in a pistol or rifle. The bb’s are so small they bounce off just about anything except rodents.
CATS !!
I had a vole & mice problem for 3 years (I tried all the "non-toxic" methods with no long-term luck). I finally bought a large bag of De-Con green bars (trap not needed). I saved my water bottles and cut off the mouth until they were just barely large enough to push the green bars inside. You can also cut a slit in the bottle and then cover it with duct tape. I then placed them around the perimeter of the house (just underneath the house), the garage, and the storage shed. In addition, I put bars all around the house, especially around areas where food is stored (bread area, cabinetry, oven) I also searched for any small holes around the house perimeter (at the floor level around the baseboards).
Using the water bottles will keep any family pets from getting into the desiccant bars (unless you have a pet that will chew on plastic bottles). I have a cat and two small dogs - no problems. I got rid of all indoor vermin within two weeks and it has been 3 years with no infestation at all, including in the storage shed. the walls, and the house rafters where they were nesting.
The reason this is the best method is that mice breed in between the walls (between the joists). You know, the little creepy noises that sound like ghosts). The mice will take the green bar food directly to their nest and it will kill the dozens of offspring that you will continually have to deal with if you use other methods. "Deterrents" will only cause the vermin to re-route or remove the bothersome items. (Yes, they are that smart. Ask any research scientist.)
Just be smart and educate your children that these bars are not to be eaten, played with, or given to pets. I would not suggest using around children under the age of six (they can't follow instructions with any reliability). All of the bars I used were in traps, bottles, or in places where no one else could find -- or reach (in the back of the breadbox, in the back of the washer/dryer, in the back of the refrigerator, on shelves in the shed/garage, etc).
We have a cat that loves to bring in all kinds of animals and release them to play with, her favorite being baby cottontails. But she does bring in lots of mice. We have had lots of success with live traps and peanut butter. The cottontails are really pretty cool, except between them and the wife we cant keep enough romaine
I have had great luck with the plug in ultrasonic devices. You can find them at hardware stores and on Amazon.
I have cats, too, but the downside is cleaning-up the carnage after they’ve knocked the mouse around awhile. (What I thought was a big piece of lint on my basement rug turned out to be a thoroughly skinned mouse.) While my mouse problem is usually confined to three or four who seek refuge in our dropped basement ceiling from our Minnesota winters, there are a number of excellent YouTube videos from people who have constructed simple and effective traps to catch those destructive buggers en masse, traps that spare you whatever guilt you may have about killing them. Those mini garbage cans with swinging lids dabbled with a spot of peanut butter is what I’ll try this winter, and, if successful, I’ll probably let them go somewhere on vacant land.
My experience, A female cat. Second one, is now with no cat only a dog, last year I put strong smelling dryer sheets, in my places they go to. It really really helped keep them out. Female cats are they best for mice if you chose to adopt one. I rented a place in the country that was over run with mice. The land lord did nothing. They destroyed most of my good clothes hanging in the closet. I was shocked to see how much damage they can do. This year I will use the dryer sheets again. I am waiting for senior housing and can't have two pets, or I would adopt a female.
get a small tupperware container with a lid cut a hole in the side get a box of jiffy cornmeal mix and mix baking soda with it part to part then mix add to the tupperware about 4 tsp set it out this will explode their insides because they cannot burp( optional )smear peanut butter inside the lid just a small amount.
We call it a suicide bucket. You take a 5-gallon bucket with a handle (home depo), fill it 2/3 full of water then sprinkle perlite on top of the water its floats, then sprinkle a bit of bird seed on top of the perlite. Then you will make a little ramp up to the top of the bucket so the critters can drop down to get the seed.
I have tried all the traps, all the snares and all but one actually got rid of the mice. Peppermint oil and fabric softener sheets. I have the sheets all over my garage in every nook and I have a diluted peppermint oil and clove oil mixture in a large spray bottle. I use a dilute of alcohol and water and e.o. I spray that around everywhere atleast 3 times a week during the year and chased them all away and haven't seen a single one since....and my garage and my house smell like a luxury sauna. I also spray some around the outside of my house at entrances.
we used live traps in the area when we didn't see evidence we put up cinnamon sticks and really little dollar tree buckets of ground cinnamon. they do not like pungent smells but it made the pantry smell great. every so often once a month or so I recharge the sticks by stirring the buckets of cinnamon it's been almost a year no signs anywhere.
In the last few months, I have caught over 20 mice in my house using the old Victor mouse traps. (In all my years I have never experienced such an invasion and still am distressed about it. There is no available food for them to be attracted by.) I keep 4 set traps in the location where those mice were caught.
Additionally, I keep rodent poison in a shed in my yard. I keep replacing it as soon as it is consumed. I don't keep it at large in my yard so as not to poison other creatures such as squirrels or stray dogs.
I don't care to use deterrents as they only cause mice to relocate to other areas.
I put out baking soda in a dish ,do you think that will help get rid of the mice,HELP😰
Call in the Experts! You have had this problom long enough!!
Adopt a stray male cat. He will kill, not eat it.
Get some in bird feeders. Think is mice, but use their tails to wrap around tree branches.
I use Ramik Rodenticide coated in peanut butter. I put the green balls and peanut butter in a bowl or tray that comes from the recycle bin and microwave it for 30 seconds to melt peanut butter over balls. Then I use a box from recycle, seal it with tape and cut a small opening in it. That way it is safe from pets and small children. With this method there are no messes to worry about; it can be placed anywhere.
a good eye and a 45 caliber... (ha)
decon works for me
traps with cheese also work
The best way we have found to get rid of mice is put in an open container half cornmeal & half baking soda. They like cornmeal so they eat it but they can't belch so it kills them. It is safe to use around pets. It has worked for us.
In my pantry, where all dry food is stored, I have mice eating holes in the potato chip bags, donut bags, etc... I keep lots of different kinds of chips for the grands. The mice do not put holes in the Frito or shrimp chip bags. ??? Way too many bags to put into other containers, yes I will try the blow em up technique as I am soooo tired of them. Right now I have a container of Jiffy cornmeal muffin mixed w/sugar and baking soda. I put this out about a month ago...no more mouse poop on the chip shelf and no holes in new bags. I saw poop on one of my bathroom shelves under the sink, no food there. Gonna put a container under there also. This concoction will not harm other animals or humans.
A few years back I had a MASSIVE infestation of rodents (mice AND voles). There were voles under the house and mice in the walls of the house. At the time we had a good cat (he would come in with 5 at a time) but he could do nothing for the infestation underneath the house and in the walls. I voted NO to traps because I didn't want to deal with dead mice and popping traps on my fingers trying to set them. The best solution was the small green desiccant squares that you can place underneath the house and around the areas where there are signs of mice droppings and broken food containers. The mice take their part of the desiccant food into their nests (in the walls and under the house) which eliminates the newborns. The desiccant dries up the bodies so that there is no smell. PS. I got a cat for my new place but apparently, he is a Conscientious Observer. He doesn't believe in killing anything.
I found something called Mouse x. It is supposed to work on the receptors that make the mouse thirsty. They stop drinking water and die. Then they dehydrate and mummify. I dont know if it works but I am buying some. Its also not supposed to be harmful for other animals. There is also a pepermint oil spray you can buy at home depot and it works pretty well. It is specifically formulated to repel mice and rats.
Put peppermint tea bags. I live in the country and put the bags in every drawer and cabinets. No mice.
Surely you have the answer now!
Believe it or not - found the very best bait for mice was summer sausage as they did not go for peanut butter, berries, nuts. Found that a baited trap with summer sausage would yield a mouse within a few hours where as peanut butter wouldn't produce any success.
i don't like mices or rats so much im scared of them so much.
I bought 2 sonar plug ins and was very skeptical of them working but after 2 months not a mouse in the house or the detached garage. Also the old fashioned snap trap and peanut butter works too. Best part of the plug ins is that there is no disposal of DB'S Dead bodies!
Mice love cardboard boxes. They can smell the food and chew right though. The less cardboard you keep in your pantry shelves the better. I keep everything like cereal, flour, grains, rice, etc in metal or ceramic or glass.
Most plasticware they can chew right thru even a plastic garbage can. Live traps are the best and then you can relocate them someplace else. People who have pet snakes will take them from you.
Potato flakes! Put a thick layer of flakes in a container with a hole cut out (see attached pic) and place them near their entry points. Refill as needed.
Get a cat. Do NOT use poison as if the mice/rats go outside, and are eaten by a predator, they too will be poisoned.
When the cold weather hit, I had ONE critter that would not go away. He (she?) would eat the peanut butter or cheese right off a spring trap. Finally I bought a glue trap and put two feet of twine in the glue, and pushed it wayyyyy back under my pantry shelves with a yardstick. One morning I heard his tail swooshing as he was trying to break free. I pulled on the twine and here he came, trap and all. I dropped him in a plastic bag and took him outside for the weekly pickup. Haven't seen sight of one since.
FOR THOSE WITH ANIMALS OR PETS VITAMIN K is the antidote for mouse and rat poisons however this is partially true. The anti-coagulant rodenticides (the ones that cause internal bleeding) do have a very effective antidote But it has to be Prescription strength Vitamin K1 but it is not effective against other rodenticides like bromethalin or cholecalciferol
All-natural, eco-friendly formulations in MouseX®, RatX®, and RatRid® products make them safe for pets and wildlife, even if those animals ingest rodents who have consumed the rodent control products ALSO you can use This brand Contrac Blox Rat & Mice Bait
I live in the country and we have had mouse problems for years. Finally we got a Terrier dog and a Tabby cat. This winter, no mice! My husband just has to pick up the bodies and throw them over the bank and some critter gets a free dinner, we're all happy! We won't use poison because of the pets and we don't want to kill innocent animals.
I ordered plugins from Amazon that emits high frequency sounds that cannot be heard by humans or dogs. The sounds drove the mice away. Worked very well for me.
If all else fails call Pest Control.!
Here are a few good sites that should work for you:
https://www.familyhandyman.com/list/keep-mice-squirrels-bats-raccoons-rats-out-of-house/
https://www.familyhandyman.com/article/this-surprising-hack-will-keep-mice-away-for-good/?_cmp=diytipshintsnl&_ebid=diytipshintsnl7152022&_mid=514214&ehid=56F4AF87A4E56574B1B8C19ED66BD0B5D5D1FB67&_PermHash=5a45213b842f7585b1f4703e6f70e8ecbc4f51aa2954f62f7b16921dc82ea0d2
https://lifehacker.com/how-to-get-rid-of-mice-without-actually-killing-them-1846310566
https://www.marthastewart.com/8006467/how-exterminate-prevent-mice-home?did=7907969-20230112&utm_campaign=martha-stewart-living_newsletter&utm_source=msl&utm_medium=email&utm_content=011223&lctg=d87cd5a0ee3fcf67dc4000997ae2c4d5986b89ae
https://www.corbettexterminating.com/about/our-blog/how-keep-mice-out-house-rodent-proofing-myths-facts
I hope one of these works for you.
Hello Jessica: Here are some sites that are pretty good:
https://www.familyhandyman.com/list/keep-mice-squirrels-bats-raccoons-rats-out-of-house/
https://www.familyhandyman.com/article/this-surprising-hack-will-keep-mice-away-for-good/?_cmp=diytipshintsnl&_ebid=diytipshintsnl7152022&_mid=514214&ehid=56F4AF87A4E56574B1B8C19ED66BD0B5D5D1FB67&_PermHash=5a45213b842f7585b1f4703e6f70e8ecbc4f51aa2954f62f7b16921dc82ea0d2
https://lifehacker.com/how-to-get-rid-of-mice-without-actually-killing-them-1846310566
One of these should work for you :)
my dog killed a mice is that good?
I placed regular spring traps and glue traps around the inside of my home. Also, I sprayed peppermint oil all around the foundation and sprayed all the interior threshold door ways. You can pickup a gallon spray jug of peppermint oil at HomeDepot for $36. I haven’t seen any critters inside since I sprayed.
Get a Cat 🐈⬛!
Here's a post that might help, there is a section that talks about using soap to get rid of mice https://chascrazycreations.com/irish-spring-soap-and-flies/
ok--- Sprinkle MOTH BALLS if your house is elevated off the ground !
also buy regular black pepper and put under house as well!!
Inside use peanut butter mixed with the "ROACH Proof " white powder and make small balls put in a lid under cabinets or refrigerator etc
happy days are here again !! JD /Fl
1. Eliminate entry points.
Building mice out, or rodent-proofing your home, is an effective way to help get rid of rodents in your house and stop mice infestations from expanding – or occurring in the first place. Defend your home from mice by eliminating points of entry and easy access. This can be difficult due to a mouse's ability to squeeze itself into even the smallest of openings (one-quarter of an inch and up). A good rule of thumb is, if you can fit a pencil into a crack, hole or opening, a mouse can get through it.
Seal cracks in the foundation as well as openings in the walls, including where utility pipes and vents occur. Stuffing steel wool into these holes or caulking them can be a helpful approach. Avoid using plastic, rubber, wood or anything else mice can easily gnaw through as sealants. Use weather stripping to seal door and window gaps and make sure the sweep on your door creates a seal against the threshold when it's closed.
2. Use mouse traps.
Another way to help get rid of mice is with mouse traps. The classic wooden snap traps will do the trick for light-to-moderate mouse populations, but keep in mind that most people underestimate mice infestations. It's not uncommon to lay a dozen traps for just one mouse - or what you think is just one mouse. Apart from hiring a professional, traps can be one of the most effective ways to kill mice in your home.
3. Choose the best bait for mouse traps.
You can use whatever food the mice have been eating in your home for bait, or mouse-approved favorites such as chocolate, peanut butter, bacon, oatmeal, dried fruit or hazelnut spread. Replace with fresh bait every two days. If the food isn't working, you can try using nesting material such as cotton balls or feathers.
4. Proper placement of mouse traps is critical.
Where you place your mouse traps is crucial to getting rid of these pests effectively. Place the traps perpendicular to walls with the trigger section facing the baseboard. This causes the mouse to run directly into the bait as it naturally scurries along the walls, instead of running over the trap from the wrong direction, triggering it prematurely.
Mice don't travel more than 30 feet from food sources and nesting areas, so place the traps anywhere you see mice or signs of mice, such as rodent droppings or "rubbings" on baseboards and walls. Change trap locations every two days or so. Mice are naturally curious so they won't avoid traps like rats will. However, if the same trap type and same baits are used over and over, mice will learn and change their behavior. They will no longer be curious, and will avoid traps at some point.
5. Bait stations.
Bait stations, or rodenticides, are sealed packets containing meal or pellets. They are typically sold with bait stations that securely contain the poison. The mice feed on this bait and die. While helpful in getting rid of mice, using them at home is not the best way to kill mice in the house. These products are best handled by trained pest management professionals to ensure the safety of you, your children and your pets.
6. Good sanitation won't get rid of mice, but poor sanitation will attract them.
Mice can survive on just three to four grams of food per day, so a few crumbs here and there are all they really need. Vacuum your floors and be sure to wipe down counters, eliminating residue, crumbs and any access to food sources. Store food in glass jars or airtight containers. Don't forget about securing your garbage. Mice have sharp incisor teeth so they can chew through just about anything – even concrete, so plastic bags are no match for hungry rodents.
7. Tackle the mice inside of outside of the house.
Remove debris around your home where mice can hide. Keep weeds to a minimum and destroy burrows and nesting areas as you find them. Lining your home's foundation with a strip of heavy gravel is a good way to prevent nesting and burrowing. The less debris and clutter around your home and property, the easier it is to spot signs of rodent activity and stop mice dead in their tracks.
100% peppermint oil is the only thing I have found that definitely keeps them away. I took some old 2x4 scraps and cut them into approximately 2 inch pieces, and then I took a 3/8 inch drill bit and drilled 4 holes almost all the way thru. I drilled bout 3/4 of the way down and stopped. Then I filled each hole with 100% peppermint oil and set them all around my house. I made like 10 of them, and I have to refill the holes every couple of weeks to a month. But it is so worth it! I hope this helps some ppl with their nice infestation. Oh and the ones I see running across the baseboards that stop long enough for me to grab my Red Ryder…one shot between the eyes and lights out. And the lil terrorists don’t suffer. They’re all too smart for any mouse trap I have ever tried, glue traps are just ridiculously cruel, and the little poison pellets are worse than the glue traps cause they literally eat holes in them. Them not long after eating a hole in them, then they fall over dead wherever they are and u might be able to smell them but can’t find them for a week or two. So that’s what works for me.
I've never had this problem but I've seen where people trap them in small humane traps where the rats or mice go inside the trap for a treat and then the door shuts when their little feet touch a certain area. Then release them in the woods. PLEASE don't use glue traps!! They're very, very inhumane.
Does anyone have an idea of how to keep squirrels out of your flower pots and beds. They keep digging up my flowers, I have tried Moth Balls, worked for a hot minute and they were back! We have a LOT of flower pots and flower beds, so they drive me a little crazy. They also just throw out my little figurines! Ideas please?
Bye yourself a cat.
A 5 gallon bucket filled with about 8-10 inches of water. Sprinkle cornmeal on the top of the water. It will just set on top of the water. Place were the mice have paths. They will climb the bucket and fall into the water and drown. This is the cheapest and most effective method I have found. The next morning you throw the now dead mice out with water.😚
I dont know how bad your case was. But the amount of damage they can cause plus the potential for getting sick? What i did was take an old bug zapper and essentially flipped it inside out. But thats no good if you have pets. So i just left one as is and opened large holes in the protective screen and hung peanut butter and shredded cheese mixture inside. They would have to make contact getting to it.. that did some in but not all. So i got tired of nessing with them, ( though comical to watch) i went ahead disonnected the power supply and hooked it to 110v. That did the trick. Be sure to put a fuse or break of some kind on it cause when they die they tend to get stuck even though it kicks them off at first the sieze and cant let go sometmes and continue to draw power.
Good luck getting rid of the little bastards.
We had mice in our old log house that has 2 additions. We live in the boonies, My husband found a rather long black snake and released it in our basement. We have found snake skins from the basement to the attic. But, no mice ever again.
Moth Balls or Naptha placed on the engine at nights will deter rodents. They can't stand the smell.
I obtained a 10" Burmese Python. It ate 5 rats a week WHOLE! Only problem was that the python grew to 15-feet in length... and I was afraid to go to sleep with a constrictor in the other room.
Put flat beer in bowls in the places you know they go back and forth to their living spaces
Kitties!
You need to find out where they're getting in and stop them up. Then SPRING TRAPS NOT GLUE OR POISON, unless you enjoy the smell of decomposition! Just be sure you make a map of where you've placed them. Skip cheese, use peanut butter!
#1 Find out where they're getting in.
#2 Plug all access points using expanding foam.
#3 Make a map and set up Spring loaded Traps using Peanut Butter! No poison or Glue Traps, unless you enjoy the smell of decomposition!
#4 Clean every area with bleach! Mice, Voles and Shrews literally urinate the entire time they're walking around. So everywhere you found their access points and/or found droppings you need to clean & disinfect thoroughly. I'd also recommend you have your carpets professionally cleaned with a "TRUCK MOUNTED" carpet cleaning company. This is the method that will 100% extract all the water and debris!
Hope this helps you out! I had to do this for my sister, she's absolutely phobic about rodents!
Bey a cat😀
Just two words needed: Kitty Cat
My daughter has done this. We tried it recently. Our pest controller occasionally fails us. She takes a tootsie roll, puts it under hot water to make it pliable,,cuts it in half and molds it to a trap. They have to work harder for it than putting cheese or peanut butter on it because the tootsie roll has hardene to the trap. Works every time.
Free go for a drive find hedgeapples place by doors ta fada kerps away spiders too.i put themmevery place! Free and i had mice. 1 hedgeapples 2. I qsked them kindky to leave. They did
I lived in a really bad house one winter &Im f-ed up on drugs about10yrs ago...well I was renting rooms and I was keeping everything I owned with me in my room so nobody take/steal my stuff. Well I had no food in the room, ever because they chewed thru a tote and chewed all 10 CapriSun's! WTF!? Then after I got that outta my room I mean nothing,no gum in my purse nothing! Guess what they ate...give up...Ok,sooo embarrassed ahhhh-they ate the crotch of allllll my dirty clothes from summer and whatever was currently dirty! Ahhh so gross! I mean complete holes that ate the whole crotch out of ny panties.I was pissed because I own like 81 pairs of panties about 20 were trash,some i just like and they newish so i guess I'm rockin the Swiss cheese crotch look this winter🌬❄️
Dont be fooled about having cats just because you have cats you can still have mice, I just bought my house and I have three cats and I have mice. I have also called out an exterminator and they are having a heck of a time getting rid of my problem. You can put out peppermint oil if you have cats just becareful that your cats dont get curious and lick or eat any where near the cinnamon or peppermint because it is very toxic to them and will kill them. I have started using the MouseX pellets that dry the animal out and make them leave to find water and die somewhere else. I would rather not have them in my house but I want to be as humane as possible.