How to Get Rid of Mice With This Surprising Hack

No one likes running across a mouse in a dark bedroom or finding droppings in the pantry, but actually, a mouse problem can be even worse than this. Far from being benign or innocent, mice can do a lot of damage to your home and even create dangerous conditions elsewhere on your property.

If you want to have a home free of mice (or rats), you don’t necessarily have to buy mousetraps and bait them with cheese or peanut butter. Who wants to trap mice when you can easily keep them away with a common, perfectly safe mouse deterrent? Just make sure the corners and other dark places where they congregate and build their nests smell like peppermint. Yep, you heard that right… peppermint!

How to Use Peppermint to Keep Mice Away

Although natural remedies aren’t always the answer when getting rid of pests (like using cucumbers to get rid of cockroaches, along with many other methods that don’t kill cockroaches), peppermint offers a successful natural mouse deterrent that works when trying to repel mice. This has to do with the nature of mice, which rely mostly on their sense of smell instead of their vision. Mice have incredibly weak vision but a strong, keen sense of smell. Which makes sense as to why mice typically go for a large chunk of stinky cheese, right?

Peppermint obviously has a strong scent, one that mice dislike. According to Victor Pest, peppermint contains very potent menthol compounds that irritate their nasal cavities. A whiff of peppermint certainly does keep them away (as do these other top mouse repellents, by the way).

Grow Peppermint Plants for Mice

You can use two methods to incorporate the smell of peppermint into your home as a mouse deterrent. The first is to grow peppermint plants and leaving them around the house. The smell deters them from entering or roaming around in the first place. As a bonus, you can harvest this peppermint from time to time to season your favorite dishes!

Spray Peppermint Oil for Mice

If you don’t fancy a home full of peppermint plants, then you might prefer using peppermint oil instead. Spray the essential oil in different areas of your home that mice can access. If you’re trying to catch the mice, strategically spray the peppermint oil in places that don’t have a mousetrap. In theory, this should lead them to wherever you have placed it.

If you have pets or small children, use the essential oil with caution, because it can be toxic in high doses. Keep the bottle out of their reach at all times and do your best to limit their access to the areas where you’ve sprayed the oil.

FAQ

What other odors keep mice away?

There is a whole host of candidates for this category. Mothballs keep moths away, and they also work for mice. Dryer sheets are also a popular mouse deterrent. When it comes to household spices and condiments, you can choose from:

• Vinegar
• Garlic
• Cinnamon
• Eucalyptus (which, like peppermint, contains menthol)
• Cloves

Ammonia also works as a mouse deterrent, and so does cat litter, especially if it is lightly used and has the odor of ammonia. Both need to be used sparingly, for obvious reasons.

Are there certain items that attract mice that I should keep out of my home?

Mice love all the food items that people do, including cereals, grains, meat, pastries, nut butters and, of course, cheese. It isn’t practical to keep these foods out of the house, but you should definitely keep them safely tucked away and out of reach in the refrigerator or in sealed containers.

Source

• Victor: Does Peppermint Oil Repel Mice?; (2024)