Home Remedies for Getting Rid of Mice in the Walls
Mice and rodents are pesky pests that can invade your home, eat your food, and disrupt your peace of mind. One of the most effective ways to get rid of them and prevent future infestation is to have a professional pest control expert evaluate your home and create a customized solution. However, sometimes homeowners prefer to try natural methods for rodent control before calling in an exterminator. If you’re one of these people, here are some DIY tips from the MosquitoNix experts for how to get rid of mice.
Store Food Carefully
It only takes a few crumbs or scraps of food to attract mice to your kitchen. To keep these pesky pests at bay, make sure to store dry goods such as pet food and grains in tightly sealed metal or plexiglass containers. This is especially important when it comes to breakfast cereal, as mice are also attracted to the cardboard boxes they come in.
Seal All Entryways
Make sure there are no open entryways around your house that mice could use to access your home’s interior. Mice can make their way through openings as small as the size of a quarter, so it’s essential to caulk up cracks and fill holes with steel wool. It’s also important to carefully check for openings around plumbing areas, as pipes can provide mice with easy access to the inside of your house.
Remove Nesting Materials
To prevent mice from finding suitable places to hide and nest in your home, store fabrics, rugs, and blankets in sealed storage bins. Keep your garage and other areas of your house clutter-free and remember that mice are attracted to paper, cardboard, and lightweight plastic. Always dispose of your household’s recycling as promptly as possible.
Take Care of Your Landscape
You should also pay attention to how you maintain the outside of your home. Mice can hide in overgrown shrubbery and use long branches to climb through windows and other openings. Keep your trees trimmed and make sure foliage and branches are kept at least three feet from your home’s foundation.
Try Natural Repellents
Mice hate the smell of peppermint oil, cayenne pepper, and cloves. You can try diluting these natural repellants in water and placing soaked cotton balls around the areas of your home where you frequently see mice. Another DIY technique is to make cheesecloth sachets with dry cayenne, mint, and whole cloves and leave stash them in places where mice tend to hide.
If you have cats, you can try placing tubs of used kitty litter around the entrances to your house such as the garage. While this might not be the most pleasant option, the smell of cat urine is likely to keep mice from coming near any area where you place the tubs. In the same vein, ammonia can smell like the urine of predators to pesky pests, so you can fill plastic bottles with the liquid and leave them in places mice tend to invade, such as under the sink or in the pantry. Just be sure to keep them in spots that are out of reach of children and pets.
Finally, you can use specific essential oils to ward off rodents. Peppermint oil is one of the most effective natural mice repellants and can be purchased at your local health food store. Soak some cotton balls in the oil and place them in areas where you tend to see mice.
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