Natural Mouse Repellents You Need to Try Today

Mice are notorious for being uninvited guests in our homes and can cause significant damage to property and transmit diseases. While many people opt for the use of chemical pesticides to eliminate these pesky rodents, natural methods can be just as effective and safer for you, your family, and your pets.

In this article, we will discuss some natural ways to get rid of mice and prevent them from entering your home in the first place. Whether you have already spotted a mouse or want to be proactive in keeping them out, these tips will help you achieve a mouse-free home.

How to Keep Mice Away – Natural Ways that Work

While many of us have seen a mouse or two in our time, especially in rural areas, that doesn’t mean that we want them in our homes.

Not only can mice be a nuisance, but they can also carry diseases and be dangerous since they have sharp teeth and chew on anything from wood to electrical wires. So, it’s very important that if you see a mouse… you figure out how to get rid of it quickly and safely.

Thankfully, there are several natural methods to keep mice away, so you don’t have to resort to harmful chemicals.

Seal Up Your Home

The first step to keeping mice out is to make sure they can’t get in to begin with!

Mice have to have a way to enter your home before they can set up shop. That being said, they can fit into the tiniest cracks and crevices. In fact, they can fit through a small hole that is only 1/4 of an inch, or about the width of a pencil.

The best way to keep them from entering is to seal up any potential entry points. Look around your foundation, doors, windows, pipes, and any other openings in and around your home to find any and all cracks.

Use 100% silicon caulk to fill any holes smaller than 1/2 inch. For anything larger, stuff steel wool into the hole first, then finish sealing with pest-blocking foam.

Keep Your Home Clean

Mice are attracted to food, shelter, and water. Keeping your home clean, and therefore uninviting to the rodents, will help deter them from wanting to come in.

While you should do your best to keep your whole home free from clutter and food mess, this is especially true in the kitchen.

Be sure to keep your kitchen counters and shelves cleaned and wiped of any messes routinely. It’s also a good idea to toss out any cardboard boxes that food comes in when you clean up the kitchen as mice will happily much away on cardboard.

Make sure to sweep up any spills or crumbs expeditiously and store food in airtight containers.

Another pointer both inside and outside, especially if you store your garbage cans next to your home or in an attached garage, is to keep your garbage tightly covered. This is a great tight-closing indoor garbage can, and this is a good outdoor, tight-lid garbage can.

Trim Shrubs and Bushes to Keep Mice Out

While many people have landscaping, if it is overgrown or right next to your home and foundation, it’s an invitation for rodents and insects to come right in. It gives them a place to hide and a great umbrella for the way into your home.

Be sure to trim back any shrubs or bushes so that they aren’t right up next to your home and foundation. Keep them trimmed by adding pruning to your regular springtime maintenance and picking off dead branches and the like regularly.

If you use firewood to warm your home or for a backyard fire pit, you’ll also want to keep those stacks of wood a minimum of 20 feet away from your house so that you aren’t practically inviting them inside where it’s warm when the cold weather hits.

Keep Animal Feed Tightly Closed

Keeping all food sources in airtight containers is incredibly important to keep from attracting mice. Whether you have dog food, cat food, or livestock animal feed, making sure their food is kept in airtight containers is just as important as making sure your food is kept tightly closed.

These gamma-seal pet food containers work really well for storing small quantities of dog or cat food. While these larger containers will work for up to 80 lbs of feed.

Use Natural Deterrents

There are several natural mouse deterrents that are effective when used properly. Many essential oils have strong scents that will naturally repel mice due to their vomeronasal organ (a special sensory organ in mice) being stimulated.

Use Essential Oils to Effectively Repel Mice

Peppermint oil is effective but must be replenished regularly. You can pour peppermint oil on cotton balls and place them in cabinets and other enclosed spaces where mice are attracted. They don’t like the smell, so they will stay away.

Another mouse-deterring essential oil is clove oil. Again, you can place this on cotton balls or drip it onto areas where mice are entering to help repel them.

Lastly, cedar oil is just as effective as the other two. You could also mix all three in a bit of vinegar and spray it into cabinets, in RVs, parked for the winter, and along entryways as a natural mouse-repellent spray.

Consider a Good Cat

Not only is a good barn cat a good mouser, but mice will actually turn away if they get a whiff of a cat. Cats, and other predators, emit a pheromone that makes mice fearful of them. You can read about the study done by the Scripps Institute here.

Even if you don’t want a cat because of a cat allergy, or can’t have one, if you know someone who does, ask for some of their used cat litter. Yes, it sounds gross, but sprinkling that used litter around areas where mice are entering means they’ll stay away due to the smell of cat urine.

How to Get Rid of Mice Naturally

Already have mice in places you don’t want them? These tips will help you get rid of them, naturally.

Make a Natural Mouse Poison

Mixing together equal parts of sugar (to attract the mouse) and baking soda (which they cannot digest) is a natural way to kill mice.

They’ll be attracted to it and consume it. Then, the baking soda produces a gas inside their stomachs and they will subsequently die.

Another idea is to mix 1 cup of cornmeal (or cracked corn, either will work) with 1/2 cup of portland cement powder. The mice are attracted to the corn, eat the mixture, lick it off their paws, dry up, and die. Because of the cement, they don’t smell after death.

Set Up Some Mouse Traps

The fastest way to get rid of mice is going to be to catch them, and/or kill them.

Whether you use a classic snap trap baited with peanut butter or hazelnut spread, live traps that let you collect the mice and take them out of your home, or even a bucket trap they’re all effective at catching mice.

Put the traps in areas where mice frequent, where you have found mouse droppings, or where they are most attracted for the best results. Just throwing a bunch in your basement won’t solve the problem, but putting them in the right place will be.

*note that I do not recommend glue traps for various reasons. While they’re very popular, especially in stores it seems, they’re inhumane.

If All Else Fails, Call in a Professional

A mouse problem can quickly turn into a rodent infestation if not caught in time. They reproduce rapidly and have no problem sharing their new digs with their friends and family. Mice infestations are overwhelming and dangerous for various reasons.

So, if it has gotten out of control and you find yourself with a severe infestation, it’s best to call a professional pest control company to help you remedy the problem and then take the steps to keep mice out of your home.

Other Natural Pest Control Options

• 10 Natural Snake Repellent Ideas That Actually Work
• 10 Ways to Naturally Repel Spiders
• Natural Fly Repellent