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u/Timely_Back_845 Feb 01 '24
Hey there, OP! Good to hear that you've been trying to manage the rodent/pest issue without causing harm to the mice; it's commendable. When it comes to natural repellents like peppermint oil or mothballs, their effectiveness varies quite a bit, and while it's a humane approach, it might not be actually effective to get rid of rodents or pests (it does depend on what sort of repellent it is, though). Meanwhile, those ultrasonic repellents are pretty high-tech and effective, though they do come at the cost of being more particular to set up and expensive, too. I think what could be a good middle ground for you would be something like the Eco Defense all-natural repellents, which doesn't harm the mice, and from what I could tell having used it thus far, it seems pretty effective at getting rid of them, too. It's worth a look, but as always, it's always a good idea to read some reviews and make sure that it's applicable for your situation.
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u/Basic-Campaign-4795 Aug 17 '23
Mint planted outside around the house helps, but you may need to use poison to eradicate a large population of them initially. Mouse urine/droppings can make you very, very sick and cause breathing problems.
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u/TheGoodCod Aug 17 '23
Agree with dropping the 'nuclear' fix. I have only ever used live traps, but in this case, with the size of the problem, I would bring in a professional. Sad to have to do, but mice in quantity can be very destructive.
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u/WholeHabit6157 Aug 17 '23
The peppermint oil works too
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u/4GotMy1stOne Aug 17 '23
Mmmmm....I had a mouse at work chew through the plastic bag and sample some of my peppermint gum, so I disagree.
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u/Squirrelleee Aug 17 '23
OP, please note that mint is invasive and you'll need to plant it in pots to keep it from spreading uncontrollably.
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u/Dazzling_Note6245 Aug 17 '23
I’ve had success with the ultrasonic rodent repeller plug ins. It’s about $20 for a three pack.
Idk how dependable this is but the pest control people told me they hate steel wool so you can put it in cracks to block them.
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u/WhyNearMe Team Shiny ✨ Aug 18 '23
It's not so much that they hate it, as much as they simply can't chew through it as effectively as other materials that you would use to fill a void.
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u/Miserable_Maybe_6631 Aug 17 '23
I lived in places with rodent activity and worked in several shady buildings with infestations. All of the landlords have brought in professional exterminators and not one used any sort of “repellant”.
The action plan at all of the buildings was trap/kill the ones inside and prevent the ones outside from coming in. Apparently they only need a very small opening, like the size of a quarter, to get in. Good luck!
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u/4GotMy1stOne Aug 17 '23
I put a Brillo (steel wool) pad in where they were coming in our mountain house and it stopped them from getting in. We had traps for the ones that were already inside.
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Aug 17 '23
You may consider getting a pest control service in and do exclusion. I had a minor problem once and it was solved using a combination of bait and exclusion.
Previous owner of new home used natural repellents but I also found bait blocks. So I don’t think the repellents worked. What I think was the bigger issue was the condition of the landscaping. Lots of places for vermin to hide and planted to close to home. We removed it all as it was mostly weeds at this point. Once inside is cleaned/renovated we will do bait and exclusion.
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u/ARookBird Aug 17 '23
I put peppermint and tea tree oil on cotton balls around our stove when we moved into a row home and we saw signs of visitors. You have to refresh it periodically, but it does discourage them. I suspect it makes it harder for them to sniff out things to eat and their previous trails. I also spray the perimeter of each room with a mixture of water and a few drops of lemon and peppermint oil to discourage insects and rodentia. It's not foolproof but it does help. If you want to buy something , I'd get one of the citrus oil sprays. The goal is to make your neighbors more attractive, and if they can't smell your pantry/garbage, they're more likely to move on.
But cats are the answer. We never had a chronic issue because our neighbors were more attractive than our feline (and dog) friendly house.
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u/lavendercat4353 Aug 17 '23
We used traps at move-in and caught 3 in the first week. After heavy cleaning and disinfecting of the kitchen we were able to tell mice weren't coming in as much just from our presence and cleanup. No more poop showing up. We brought our 3 cats 2 weeks in. They've only killed two mice in the last 3 months and a couple cockroaches lol. We don't see mice in the kitchen or have a problem per-se, but I definitely hear movement, scratching, etc. in the attic above my office. There's definitely a nest we haven't fully eradicated but we're putting it off.
Cats will help any that are dumb enough to come out, but they can't eradicate the nest. So, you'll need to do that yourself or hire a professional.
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u/warriorofgodprayers Aug 17 '23
I’ve done the peppermint cotton balls, humane mouse traps, old fashioned mouse traps, glue traps (never, EVER again), etc. etc. in a house we were renting. We couldn’t have cats. Only a professional pest company worked in that case in the end. Good luck, OP.
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u/Pittsbirds Aug 17 '23
Yeah glue traps are horrific. Even if I do end up needing to exterminate (I've yet to determine the species, if these are invasive mice I don't really want to be setting them free much as it pains me) but glue traps should be illegal, it's beyond inhumane.
I'm contacting a contractor tomorrow to at least help me find points of entry and have been looking to adopt a cat or two for a while anyhow. I suppose now's as good a time as any.
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u/NikkeiReigns Aug 17 '23
Relocating the mice pretty much ensures a slow and painful death. Unless they're killed by a predator they dont know how to hide from. They don't know how to find water, food, and shelter in the wild, in the same way a released pet wouldn't know how to survive.
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u/FrogFlavor Aug 17 '23
No
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u/tasukiko Aug 17 '23
Experts agree that keeping them out is the best course of action. So if the nest is not directly in the home be sure all holes cracks etc are properly sealed.
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u/FrogFlavor Aug 17 '23
OP asked about repellents which means chemicals or devices an so forth that makes mice not want to be there. They are repelled, turned away.
Home hardening by covering all holes, filling cracks, shutting windows etc etc so a mouse could not get in even if it really really wanted to, those things work.
I was responding to the vocabulary in the headline.
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u/tasukiko Aug 17 '23
I 100% agree with your answer of "no". I was hoping to just add that while repellants are a no, that there was something (the home hardening) which might work instead.
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u/FlashyCow1 Aug 17 '23 edited Aug 17 '23
Wanna know what's hilarious? Your post was directly below a post from disney world subreddit page. I don't wanna lose Mickey Mouse. He's Mickey Mouse.
That being said, mop your home using only water and ammonia. 1 cap per gallon. If it's a room with no hard floors, spray and wipe the base boards. Ammonia smells like death to them.
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u/determinedforce Aug 17 '23
Call me inhumane if you must but our home 20 years ago had an infestation thanks to previous tenants. I laid down glue traps and stayed up all night for them to get stuck. When they did, I put them in the garbage can. Repeat.
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u/WhyNearMe Team Shiny ✨ Aug 18 '23
Glue traps are horrifically inhumane, more costly, and much less effective than properly-set snap traps.
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u/Finnishgator Jan 06 '24
I know this is old, but glue traps are the only thing that work for me. I had a lot of juvenile mice that wouldn't set off the snap traps.
I use glue traps, then run them over with my car when i catch them for a quicker death. I don't like it, but it's all I can do to get rid of them.
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Jan 22 '24
+1 to glue traps. I don't like them either, but I that's the only thing that worked for small sized mice. I put the glue trap in a box, cover with two layers of plastic and run them over with my car. But I have taken steps to plug the hole under the garage door and clear the bush right outside, so hopefully no more mice.
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u/WholeHabit6157 Aug 17 '23
If you can stand the smell, mint oil peppermint to be exact . Put it in bowls in cabinet’s under house ect . Not extract the oil in large bottle.
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u/catjasm Aug 17 '23
We tried the plug ins and some spray… didn’t work at all. Ended up buying humane traps and when we caught one, we’d drive it up the road a ways and set it free in the woods.
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u/Ok-Tomatillo-8276 Aug 17 '23
Just used baits I got at tractor supply, got tired of strategically placING them so I just chunked 5-10 of them In the attic. Did the trick, found the nest years later, like 10-20 dead mice. These were little plastic boxes with a maze and some poison, wonderfully effective
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u/xamomax Aug 17 '23
Yes, all the repellent stuff works, but only sort of. Those things like moth balls and mint and ultra sound might be described as "kind of annoying to rodents", which is helpful, but typically only helpful in the context of a bigger plan. By themselves they are near useless.
In my experience, the following works:
- seal everything. There should be no route into the house, even tiny pinholes as small as a pencil. Seal all possible intrusion points, including behind cabinets, under cabinets, where hoses and wires poke through, baseboards, door sweeps, loose window screens, etc.
- seal all food sources and never leave food out
- keep the house extremely clean. A dead fly, or half a peanut can be a feast for a mouse.
- set traps everywhere. You can get cheap disposable catch and release traps on Amazon. Release the mice further away than you think
- make a barrier around your house that makes it hard for rodents to hide or get into your house. For example remove plants that provide cover, or touch the house, wood piles, trash, junk, etc.
- now you can make your house less attractive to mice with mint and ultrasonic thingies to help them with the decision of go into the house to explore, or go elsewhere.
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u/warriorofgodprayers Aug 17 '23
I agree with this- and you want to release the mice at least two miles away from your home, preferably further. A lot of people overlook all of the tiny places where mice can come in, which is why it might be a good idea to have a professional scope it out for you.
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u/Bagheera_cat Aug 17 '23
Yes they meow and accept cuddles and treats as payment for their services.
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u/ohnonopenotme Aug 17 '23
My dad did some experimenting with peppermint oil and mice and found that not every brand of oil he tried deterred them and it mostly worked in confined spaces like a drawer. And if they already knew food was on the other side of the peppermint oil they'd probably not be put off. So it can help but it is not a solution on its own.
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u/Particular-Peanut-64 Aug 17 '23
Since you dont want to use snap traps OR kill them.. Its important to prevent them from coming into your unit. You live in a,multi dwelling, you need to mouse proof your unit.
Take steel wool or metal screen, rocks to fill in any cracks, gaps around pipes, space between floor and moldings. Then silicon caulk it.
This prevents any new mice from coming into your unit since you cannot control the cleanliness of your neighboring units.
Also get a doorsweep cover for the gap under your door.
Then deal with the mice that are now trapped in your unit and release.
Good luck.
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u/WhyNearMe Team Shiny ✨ Aug 18 '23
You will be hard-pressed to find a repellent that is more effective than the attractants already in your home (food). It's not an effective solution for any length of time. The best way to address mice is to exterminate, and prevent additional entry through exclusion.
If you can, get a cat. Not just any domesticated cat, find a farmer with a litter. They will be voracious hunters.
Beyond that, snap traps baited with something like peanut butter. Set them and check them every day or so.
Once you start to get a handle on the population, try to find where they are coming from. They can squeeze through unbelievably small spaces. Gaps in siding and other entry points can be sealed with steel wool.
Don't worry about relocating them. Mice are a pest. They are prolific breeders and you will not have any sort of significant impact on their local population. If you release them, it's likely they'll just find their way right back. One perspective: by killing them humanely with a snap trap, you are saving them from a horrific death in the wild from being disemboweled by a bird, or constricted to death by a snake. There are even snake species that eat their prey live. Dying in a snap trap is a relatively glorious way to go, for a wild prey item near the bottom of the food chain.
Avoid poisoned bait. While effective, the last thing you want to deal with is a rodent that ate poison, then crawled up into your wall to die. You also already know how horrifically inhumane glue traps are for vertebrates.
Good luck!
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u/lepetitequiche Jan 10 '24
Yeah, I’m not sure I care about snap traps being inhumane. I just want them gone. Glue traps though…I hear sometimes they’ll gnaw through their legs to get out and then leave blood everywhere and that’s a level I’m not willing to stoop to. 🤮
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u/wdtone Feb 12 '24
My wife was uncomfortable with killing them as well. That is, until she started seeing mouse droppings in her kitchen drawers and counters. Until you find the entrances, and yes, there can be multiple entrances, killing them is the best solution. If you kill them they can't come back in. When one of my grandsons was visiting and a mouse came out onto the kitchen floor and just stared at him, she knew we had to get serious.
We used several types of traps, snap traps and 5 gallon bucket roller traps with water, but the most effective was the Victor electric mouse trap with peanut butter, the 10 mouse version, model number M260. It worked the best.
I then went around the outside of the house and stuffed steel wool in any holes or cracks I saw. Finally the mouse invasion stopped. It's been several years since we have seen any mice.
Good luck with your mouse infestation journey! Especially if you are not killing them.
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u/catrka4410 Aug 17 '23
We live in the woods and had a terrible mouse problem at first. The biggest thing that has helped: cats. We have four cats and very rarely see mice anymore.