[JoAnn]

I’m dealing with a significant mouse infestation in my home. What effective methods and products do you recommend for getting rid of them?

Any tips on prevention would also be greatly appreciated.

How can I effectively eliminate and prevent future ones?

Thanks in advance for your help!

[Pam]

concentrated peppermint spray. Not harmful to people or pets but mice HATE it.

I spray it outside around my garage and backdoor and in my shed.

It works great.

I live in the country and my neighbors a few years ago had less than stellar ways of dealing with their trash.

This worked great.

During that time I also sprayed it in the basement liberally.

Especially the garage.

[Linda]

Set traps! Good old peanut butter will do to lure them. If you have an infestation start with kitchen, under kitchen sinks, bathrooms, garage.

[Jan]

I tried many things but then I got serious and bought 4 bait boxes and bait.

I have a quarter acre and placed them about my yard.

They ate it like candy the first month and I refilled the bait every week.

Now I haven’t had to put fresh in often. The mice and pack rats ate my car wires twice in a week.

I had to get brutal

[Kelly]

I use Rat Zappers. No setting, like a snap trap requires, and they just slide out.

No having to touch anything around the dead mouse to dislodge it.

Just dump it out, set it back in position, and push the button to turn it back on.

Red blinking light tells you if a dead mouse/rat is inside.

[Tommy]

Seal up holes/gaps anywhere you see them. I get mice in my garage so I spray peppermint oil and lay a lot of glue traps.

I don’t care if it’s inhumane.

Put trash cans far away from the house.

Make sure you don’t have big piles of trash or lawn waste near the house.

[Alyssa]

Probably not a popular answer but I had zero luck with the snap traps or any kind of kill traps.

So I did use a live trap with some peanut butter near where I found their turds—and I’ve caught over a dozen while I had my infestation from July 2023-November 2023.

if I found turns, I put out this baited trap and there would be a mouse in it within a couple days! I released them in the woods.

What I also did was a thorough inspection of the outside of the home.

You can have pest control do this too- and caulk up any cracks or holes you see near the

[Ele]

For one thing. No birds or bird feed. Also pick up steel wool pads and put in every crevice you find….

after you shove tons of rodent killer in that hole.

Then get those traps set or out.

Sticky traps or whatever.

They are invading your home and space.

Put all boxed food, cereal, pasta, snacks in zip lock bags.

They will go to another source.

Mom also said to use moth balls. I did.

[Jeff]

Snakes. Had a bad infestation. Then the gartner snakes came. No more mice.

[Linda]

You shouldn’t use poison, it potentially could poison any prey that may eat the mouse.

Or someone’s pet could find it.

If you have a quite a few mice, the 5 gallon pail trap works great and you can you tube a diy version.

[Donna]

Go to a shelter and ask for a few farm cats which will be outside and a few mousers which will be outside.

They work cheap and will will be around for 20 years or so.

[Mary]

Peppermint is a good deterrent. Get the essential oil, (vitamin section at Walmart) add 10-20 drops into 16oz of water and spray all around the inside and out of your house.

Especially where pipes or wires come in, under cabinets with any plumbing and around any areas that may be damp.

You can also get peppermint tea bags and put them in cabinets and under appliances where they may hide.

Another option is using ‘original’ Irish Spring soap.

Rub it along the door and window frames.

Grate some and sprinkle all around the outside of your house.

Sprinkling red pepper flakes outside can help too.

All of these also help keep spiders away.

If this doesn’t help, borrow the neighbors cat.

Good luck.

[Pamela]

Close the holes where they are getting in. For example look where your pipes enter your home and fill gaps with steel wool.

Make sure your garage door doesn’t have gaps underneath.

Similar to what you do to exclude rats.

[Pamela]

I have not needed to try this but read that dry instant potato flakes will expand once eaten and kill mice.

[Kelly]

Birds eat the mice and rats that are poisoned than die too. Please use a different type of trap.

The ones that electrocute work well

[Lori]

My husband saves condiments from restaurants and straws. The mice were eating them and using the paper off the straws he saved for their nest.

I switched everything to plastic containers

[MJ]

You have to seal up the house. Buy mouse traps. You have to scrub the entrances where they have been, find where they walked

(it looks like dirt against the wall) to discourage other mice from coming.

[Lisa]

If it gets really bad, and you have to use chemicals … Just One Bite is the best.

But only on Amazon or farm stores.

I tried traps, the baking soda corn meal, etc.

but vacant house a few doors down, still had food.

Owner in nursing home about two years.

No one would do anything. Rats running thru neighborhood.

Tried chewing a vent to get in.

Never had this on my neighborhood.

This product solved the problem.

It was becoming a dangerous situation.

[Kelliane]

Good old wooden snap traps with a dab of peanut butter. Place where you see signs of mice, against the wall.

Steel wool to block any holes

[Lindsey]

I have found both peppermint oil and Downy Lavender dryer sheets fairly effective as repellant.

[Pam]

Clean and declutter everything in your house. Seal up any cracks or crevices larger than a dime around your foundation and any other place they can come in.

Don’t leave any food out; especially pet food.

Keep everything in containers… no boxes that they can chew through.

Last get traps or hire an exterminator.

[Patty]

Check out the bucket trap. Make a ramp, bait on a cross piece with peanut butter.

Couple of inches of water in the bottom and they can’t get out.

We had a problem a few years ago.

Mouse bait traps work.

Also tarted toI put all possible food in mason jars.

Cereal, pasta etc.

They even ate my packets of cocoa.

Keep in mind mice chew into plastic.

I got rid of any available food source and all of that helped

[Eli]

My sister bought exterminator grade poison. They would only sell 3 large bags for $150, maybe split with friends or neighbors.

They gave us some, all the mice are dropping.

We’ve had some success with traps, but they kept coming back.

[Rebecca]

Use peppermint or winter mint essential oil not the cooking kind but actual essential oil Place on cotton balls or small rags inside cupboards water heaters They hate the smell and will leave the area

I lived across from a small farm and had a ton of problems Tried other things to get rid of them and this was what worked

[Genevieve]

Please don’t put out poison. Mice can leave your yard and venture away before dying from poison.

My grandmas dog died from rat poison that had been out next door at a long standing empty house, the rat bit her and she passed away a few days later

[Lisa]

You have to find the source. There must be a hole somewhere leading to your house.,

even a tiny one Get lots of humane traps as soon as possible but preventing them from returning is important!!!

[Author]

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