While some people keep mice as pets, you do not want wild ones coming into your home and making themselves comfortable. Homeowners will find that mice like to come into your home during the winter and fall months. This is due to it being cold outside and mice wanting to find shelter. Food is difficult for rodents to find, so they look to come into your home to try to snack in your cupboards. This article’s purpose is to give you proper tips on how to repel mice effectively.
Mice can chew through your walls and destroy food boxes. This may be annoying and not look good, but also consider that having mice in your home is detrimental to your health. Mice can carry diseases and if you are someone who has a compromised immune system, then having a mice infestation is horrible. If you have allergies of asthma, your systems could be worsened due to mice.
In addition, mice can chew through wires and cause blackouts in your home – imagine lights being turned off, internet shutting down, and an absolute disaster for anyone who is working from home right now.
How To Know You Have Mice in Your Home
In order to know that a mouse or two have made their way into your home, you should look out for mouse droppings. This is often the first indication that you have mice in your home. To be more specific, mouse droppings resemble dark grains of rice and are around a quarter of an inch long. If you have rats in your home, these droppings may be wider and longer.
Now, this isn’t the only indication of mice in your home. You need to take a look through your pantry to see if there’s any bites in food boxes, as well as any debris on the shelves and the floor. Keep in mind, if you see one mouse, there’s definitely others in your home. Not only will multiple mice flock to your home, but mice multiple extremely fast.
So, How to Repel Mice?
We will go over deterring mice later, but the truth is, sometimes mice slip through the cracks anyway. So, how do you repel mice from your home?
- Find the entry point: Look around your home to figure out where the mice are coming from. Look how for the gnaws in items and mouse droppings as he spoke about before. When you do, lay down traps near them so mice can’t avoid them when they are trying to make their way through.
- Lay down traps throughout your home: whether it is the traditional mouse traps or the sticky pads, lay them down in the most vulnerable areas of your home. You want to think like a mouse in this case, so that you can predict where mice are going to go.
- Use bait: If you aren’t using sticky pads, any other mouse trap does require bait. You can use peanut butter, chocolate, cheese, bird seeds, or nuts. Any of these options are good to use as bait.
- Clean out your garage: Mice can be drawn to your car, due to the heat it emanates. During the cold weather, it’s a perfect place for them to hide. Especially under the hood. This could result in a mouse doing damage to your car – they could chew on the wires and you’ll find yourself not being able to start the car when you’re heading to work. Clean out your garage and set traps.
- Call the exterminator: If you are finding that what you’re doing isn’t working then you can always call an exterminator. These are professionals who know what it takes to rid your home of pests. It’s suggested asking friends and family members for suggestions on who to use, so you can find someone who can do the job correctly. And if you need someone to get rid of mice humanely, there are plenty of exterminators out there who do it without harming the mice.
How to Deter Mice From Entering Your Home
We mentioned earlier that we would also be giving you tips on how to prevent mice from entering your home. Here is how you can prevent and deter mice:
- Seal up entrances: Did you know that mice can fit through an opening that is the size of a dime? They can. By squeezing and gnawing the hole to make it bigger, mice have the ability to fit through practically anywhere. Use caulk and steel wool to seal up holes, as mice cannot eat through them. Replace your weather stripping and that you’ve screened any vents and openings to your chimney.
- Prune your shrubbery away from your home: When you have shrubbery, you’re almost inviting mice into your home. Cut off the shrubbery back from the exterior of your home. You want to keep any stacks of firewood away from your home – at least by twenty feet.
- Keep your home clean from food: When you leave food out and don’t sweep away crumbs, you are essentially leaving hors d’oeuvres out for them to feast on. Make sure you keep food in resealable packaging, such as ziplock bags and see-through containers. This way you aren’t leaving boxes around for them to chew through. Also, be sure to seal up your trash bin. This may be trash for you, but it’s dinner for mice.
- Essential oils could help: This isn’t a guarantee solution, but there’s no harm in trying. Peppermint and garlic have been said to repel mice. You can leave soaked sponge balls around to help deter mice from entering your space.
Always Keep an Eye on the Signs
If you are concerned with mice possibly being in your home, make sure to look for the signs listed in the beginning of this article. The biggest indicator will be the mouse droppings. As soon as you see this, start setting traps. Always make sure you do deep clean and it’s good to take precautionary steps. Even if you don’t see signs of mice, you don’t want them and it doesn’t hurt to start sealing off entry points before the weather gets cold.
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