How to Get Rid of Mice: An Informative Guide and Advice
You may or may not have experienced a mice infestation, but from my experience, it is not a good one. Mice are capable of chewing through walls, boxes, and do not spare any documents.
To some extent, the ‘rogue’ ones gnaw electrical wiring, which puts your home at the risk of:
- Catching fires
- Short-circuiting your electronic appliances
- Expose you to the dangers of electrocution.
Signs of a Mice Infestation
So how do you know if you have a mice infestation? It is quite simple for you to notice the presence of these rodents. Here are some of the signs that depict their presence:
1. Presence of Mouse Feces
One distinct feature of mice is they poop a lot. So where do they do their business? Mice have no precise place to poop, they poop everywhere!
Their feces are pellet-like in structure, black in color, and their size is almost a quarter an inch. However, rat poop is different from that of mice, with about half an inch in size and slightly wider.
2. Presence of Strange Markings on Walls
Mice will always avoid open spaces when roaming around or moving. Instead, their movements are close to walls. When they move, they usually leave behind a continuous string of dirt. This is one sign that your home is infested with mice.
3. Scratching and Mouse “Voices”
Mice are among the most active animals at night apart, from bats. It’s at this time that you’ll hear noises in basements, between wall partitions, lofts, and even on ceilings.
Funny rat footsteps are also an indicator that you have mice infestations. One mouse can give birth to up to 5 young ones. At any given time, these young ones make a lot of mice cries.
4. Strong Urine Smell
Mice ad rats are animals that urinate frequently. Their urine has a strong ammonia-like smell. The moment you start smelling ammonium in your home you may have an infestation of mice. It is especially the case if you don’t have ammonia in your house or any other animals that their pee smells like ammonia,.
5. Presence of Dead or Alive Mouse
If you spot a mouse roaming around during the day or night, then chances are there are a number of them in your home. Finding dead mice is also a clear indication of a possible mice infestation.
Effective Ways to Get Rid of Mice
Right after noticing that you have an unwanted visitor in your home, you must come up with ways of how to send the “visitor” away. Here are some of the best ways on how to get rid of mice.
Find and Eliminate Mice Entry Points
Among the best ways to get rid of mice in homes, stores, or garages is to find their entry points. One unique feature of these rodents is that they use the same route and points of entry whenever they enter your premises.
Since mice are tiny animals, they can squeeze themselves through wall cracks. They also use small holes where cables and pipes pass through the walls.
Here are some of the most common places that are usually entry points:
- The gas line behind stoves
- Beneath bathroom, kitchen sinks, or water pipes supplying the laundry room
- Open basement doors
- Open windows facing the garden
- Unsealed internet and electrical cable entry points
Use concrete seal gaps and wall cracks in the identified areas. Ensure that all electrical and internet cable entry points are tightly sealed. The best sealant to use here is stainless steel fibers which have proved to be hard for mice to gnaw.
Maintain High Sanity Levels and Clean your Environment
Mice, like any other animals, move from one habitat to another in search of food, shelter, and water. Yes, you heard it! Rodents also do look for water.
Keeping your home tidy will reduce the risk of you being infested with mice. Ensure you regularly clean all areas where crumbs from meals are likely to accumulate. Clean under the cooking stoves, under the fridge, and even under all kitchen cabinets.
Always empty garbage from trash bins either inside or outside. Mice are mostly attracted to trash. Regularly emptying trash will keep them away. Dispose of uneaten foods once they are not in use. Do not forget to dispose of food waste regularly.
A clean home includes a well-attended garden. You are likely to be infested with mice if you keep your garden untidy with overgrown grown bushes and unkempt landscaping. Regularly mow the lawn and clear bushes to prevent rodents from developing their nests.
Use Mouse Traps
Trapping mice is one of the oldest, but among the most effective ways to get rid of mice during an infestation. Right after you notice you are infested with mice, find out the route and path they use while moving around. Strategically place your traps to make trapping mice easier.
Naturally, mice are curious. They will try to explore their surroundings and check any new things. There are different types of mice traps that you should consider when you are trying to eradicate the rodents.
Types of Traps
Mousetraps are available in many shapes, designs, and sizes. However, they are divided into three main categories:
- Wooden traps with a wire snap for grasping mice
- Glue or sticky boards
- Electric box trap – it’s a battery-powered machine box that has a plate attached with wires carrying current. The wires are strategically positioned to electrocute mice. This machine has an entrance that when baited, allows mice to easily run into the box in an attempt to eat the bait. Once the mouse steps on the charged plate, it immediately gets electrocuted and dies.
You can use all the traps listed above at the same time for effective trapping. However, for a successful trap, you have to choose the right bait to lure the mice into the trap.
After catching the mice, it’s up to you to decide on what to do to the captured enemy. If you decide to keep him alive, take them as far as 1 mile away from your home. Mice have the ability to trace their way back, so if you dispose of them near the vicinity of your compound, expect them never to leave your home.
The food that you eat can be used as bait too but the best bait for mice includes peanut butter, cheese, and oats.
When positioning the traps with bait, it’s important to ensure you have placed them along a path mostly close to walls. If you have a pet a home, ensure the bait cannot be reached by the pet. It is recommended to use traps that have an entrance that only accommodates the size of a mouse.
Pet a Cat
Cats are another option that helps to get rid of mice easily. Cats love hunting mice and rats, that’s why most farmers’ families use barn or farm cats to keep mice and rats away from their produce.
Poison Baits
Sometimes an infestation becomes hard to control humanely. It is mostly when the rodents have learned a new way of avoiding being trapped.
Poisoned baits are positioned along the path that the mice use when moving around. It is done in a way that once the mouse consumes the bait, they die. If you have pets in your home, ensure that the bait is out of their reach as this might lead to their death if they happen to eat them.
Poisoning mice has its setbacks, despite it being an effective way to exterminate mice and rats. Since poisoned bait kills mice in a painful and slow death, a mouse might crawl and die in areas that are hard to notice like walls.
Alternatively, they may crawl and die in a place where they are exposed to your pets if you have one. This puts your pet in danger of poisoning. Before administering the poison, read and understand the instructions listed on the packaging of the product. Always remember to keep the poison far from children.
Mice Proof your Food Stuffs
The main reason why mice infest homes is the search for food. Mice rarely do search for water because they get the amount of water they may need from the foods they consume.
Carelessly leaving grains and cereals in the store or kitchen, will definitely invite the unfriendly rodents. It’s recommended that you store them in containers that can be sealed. This is safer than using a nylon paper bag which can be gnawed easily.
Any type of food is a friend to mice, including vegetables and fruits. Store them in a refrigerator or any other cool place that mice are not able to reach.
Getting Rid of Mice Naturally
There are other ways of getting rid of mice naturally that have proved to work efficiently. The following are six effective ways you can use. Take note you can combine more than two methods if you like.
Using Garlic
All rodents do not like the smell of garlic. Instead of using poison, you can opt for either grounded or crushed garlic as a mice repellent. Garlic is distasteful to mice and can keep them away from your home, office, and even garage. It’s easy to use garlic and here is the process.
Requirements
- Garlic powder or garlic cloves.
- Gauze
- Chopping board and knife
Steps to Follow
When using natural garlic, you will need to follow these steps:
- Slice the garlic cloves into small parts and crush them a little
- Using the gauze, wrap the sliced garlic into small packages enough to place where you have spotted the mice.
- Place the garlic in strategic positions such as under the stove, near walls, or near their entry holes even after sealing them.
When using garlic powder, sprinkle the powder along their pathway, their entry points, and near their nest if you have spotted one.
Using Shred Mint Leaves
Mint leaves can also be used as mice repellents. You will need to get mint leaves, shred them, and mix them with some water. Using a spray machine or container, spray the mixture along and around the areas regularly used by mice. Start by areas you had already identified as commonplace where mice pass through or entry points. Do not forget areas along the walls.
Using Black Coffee Powder
Perhaps you have come across coffee in your kitchen or eateries at one time. The aroma of the coffee struck your nostrils strongly. That smell is disliked by mice and rats. Since mice are known to have a sharp sense of smell, wherever they smell coffee, they mark that place as a no-go-zone.
To keep mice away using black coffee powder, follow these steps:
- Take about three teaspoonfuls of coffee powder and put it on a piece of paper towel or old rag. You can place as many of these as you wish as long as they are placed in areas where the mice are used to pass.
- Alternatively, you can sprinkle the powder instead of placing it on a piece of paper towel. Make sure you sprinkle in the areas you identified as mice routes, paths, or entry points.
Using Noni Fruit as a Repellent
Using noni fruit, also known as Indian Mulberry, is another way of getting rid of mice. Apart from its health benefits to you, this fruit can also repel mice. So go shop and improve your health, but remember to spare some for the mice.
Simply cut the fruit up into pieces and place them in the corners of your house where the rodents tend to nest. Remember to immediately replace the noni pieces when they start to dry out.
Concentrated Black pepper
Instead of using poisoned baits, an unsafe method to get rid of mice, one can use Black Pepper. Black pepper contains a chemical that is toxic to rodents called Peperin. It also irritates their nasal if breathed in or tasted.
Since mice tend to smell and taste any new food along their paths of movement, spray and splash ground pepper along their route.
Once the mice nibble the ground pepper, it will irritate their nostrils. Since mice and rats don’t sneeze unlike humans, they will be forced to flee from the pepper concentrated environment.
Steps to Use Black Pepper to Get Rid of Mice
Using black pepper to get rid of mice is not a daunting task. You need to:
- Clean the entire area, removing all the trash and food remains.
- Check out for entries points and holes near walls and cracks and seal them.
- Sprinkle these areas with a thin layer of black pepper.
Cotton Balls with White Vinegar
It is already known that mice don’t like strong smells and thus white vinegar qualifies in the list of natural items that can be used as a rodent repellent. Its application is quite easy and needs no expertise or experience. To use white vinegar as a repellent, you must do the following:
Requirements
- White vinegar
- Cotton balls or cotton wool
- Gloves
- Water
Steps to Follow
Make sure you use the following steps to ensure you effectively get rid fo mice using white vinegar:
- Clean the floor, walls, clearing all food droppings in the kitchen, store, and any area that is usually visited by mice.
- Using clean water to mop the area again. A clean place is not friendly with mice.
- Get your cotton wool and make size-able cotton balls. The size of the balls should be similar to that of strawberries.
- Take the cotton balls and coat them with white vinegar. Ensure you have won protective gloves before beginning the coating process.
- Place the coated cotton balls in entry points, along walls, and on unsealed holes.
- If the cotton balls dry out, coat them again with the white vinegar until you feel like you have gotten rid of the rodents.
- The acidic content in white vinegar can harm your skin if it comes into contact. Always remember to protect your hands using gloves anytime you are coating the cotton balls.
FAQs
Question: Is there a fast way to get rid of mice?
Answer: The fastest way to get rid of a few mice is through store-bought traps. Once you properly place them, they can get rid of several mice. However, if you have a large infestation, the fastest way would be to use an exterminator.
Question: Can you completely get rid of mice?
Answer: Yes, you can! There are several ways you can use to rid your home of mice. Choose between natural, human, and inhumane methods. If it is just two or three mice, you can get rid of them on your own. Use one or more of the above methods to help you.
Question: How does an exterminator work?
Answer: Usually, one or more people will come to your home. They will start by looking for signs of mice. Once they confirm you have mice, they will use various methods such as baits, traps, and chemical solutions. At this point, they will either get rid of the dead mice or tell you how to go about it.
Bottom Line
Getting rid of mice is not all that hard. Use one or more of the methods above to ensure you do not have any of these rodents in your home. Whether you decide to use natural methods or pesticides is up to you.
Take note that you should always seek professional assistance should you feel you are not up to the task. There are many pest control companies offering mice removal services. Look for one with the best customer reviews and a fair price.
