Put your mothballs and steel wool away. They don't deter mice, no matter what you've read on the Internet. Here I lay out what you really need to do to keep mice out of your house and how to get rid of them if they're already in there.
I speak from experience.
They've always arrived without invitation roaming around as if they pay the mortgage, eating stuff I leave on the counter, going to the bathroom behind the stove. I've spent a lot of time researching how to get rid of my family members but neither poison, bait or traps work. They keep showing up.
Mice? Now, those I know how to get rid of.
I also know how to get rid of flies outside using this simple bottle trap and the best fly bait.
If you have mice in your house you're not gross, or dirty or living in a hovel - you just aren't as smart as a mouse.
The BEST way to deal with mice is to not allow them in in the first place. They start looking for a cozy indoor home when nighttime temperatures start to dip in the fall so you need to get your house prepared by late summer.
Table of Contents
How to Keep Mice Out Of Your House
The best thing you can do to get rid of mice is to not let them in your house in the first place. Duh.
Let me say you're probably never going to make your house 100% mouse proof, but you can at least make it a challenge for them to get in.
For instance I found a big crack under the parging of my house beside a window. It was big enough that a pig could squeeze in, let alone a mouse.
To keep mice out you need to go around the house looking for holes and cracks. And then ... you need to FILL THEM PROPERLY.
Mice can chew through concrete if they want to so steel wool is like a palate cleanser to them. It won't even faze them.
Find Mouse Entry Points
Mice can enter your home through a hole smaller than a dime.
Rats can enter your home through a hole the size of a quarter.
- Check the foundation for cracks.
- Rodents are greasy and when they squeeze into holes over and over they leave a dark mark around the hole or crack. Watch for that.
- Mouse poop around the windows and doors.
- Check for spaces around pipes and wires that enter your home.
- Stove and air conditioning vents both off the side of the house and the roof are often entry points for rodents.
- If you hear running around in your attic, chances are the nice are coming from somewhere on the roof. Check it.
- Look for gnaw marks. Both mice and rats will chew through wood to gain access to your house. Because they're complete a$$heads.
- Urine stains. Mice pee ALL the time and leave a trail. These pee stains can be seen with a black light. Buy a strong blacklight (UV) flashlight, turn the lights off and get ready to be horrified. Finding where the pee leads to can help you find where mice are coming in.
To Fill Foundation Cracks
How small of a hole can a mouse get through? If you can stick a pencil into it, a mouse can get into it too.
Here's what you need to do.
- Push a piece of metal (rod or crumpled wire) into smaller holes and then fill them with expandable spray foam like Great Stuff.
- Fill larger cracks with ¼" hardware cloth and then use the spray foam.
Handy Tip: Use gloves that are slightly more resilient than latex gloves.
3. After filling the crack with hardware cloth and spray foam, cut the excess foam off with a sharp knife when it's dried.
4. Do the same around pipes and cables.
Keep your yard clean. Remove any garbage, leaves or clutter especially around your foundation. Just doing this - making your yard less habitable for mice - will go a long way to keeping them out of your home.
How to Get Rid of Mice
(once you have them)
- Poison
- Traps
- A Cat
- Poison is effective but it's also a slow, painful death for the animal. Plus there's a danger if you use open poison and have kids or pets in your house. Kids won't eat broccoli but they'll sure as shit eat mouse poison if you leave it out. I personally once drank an entire bottle of motor oil when I was a a kid. Yup.
What if your pet eats a poisoned mouse? The chances are low but know that your pet could become poisoned after eating a poisoned mouse. Mice can only eat a few grams of poison a day. Even if your pet ate the entire poisoned mouse it still wouldn't be enough to poison even the smallest dog. Around 56 grams of poison would need to be consumed by a very small dog to poison it.
**secondary poisoning like this is more common if you have barn cats that have to actually hunt for their food and might eat several mice in a day. House cats prefer to get their food in a bowl.**
- Traps are your best choice for eliminating mice that are in your house. You just have to decide which type of trap to use.
- Getting a cat REALLY will help your mouse problem. It will scare them from coming into your house, plus cats are natural mousers. A lot of dogs are as well.
Types of Mouse Traps
- ELECTRONIC MOUSE TRAPS
**Best Choice**
These Viktor electronic mouse traps are my favourite. They electrocute the mouse instantly and there is a 0% chance that it will only be maimed or hurt. Of all the kill traps, these are the most humane. - CLASSIC SNAP TRAP
**Best Choice**
If you don't want to put out the money for an electronic mouse trap, your next best bet is the classic, wood snap trap. They work better than anything else but they're also the most difficult to set and use. Don't worry about it though, I'm going to show you how to properly set a mouse trap.
- PLASTIC SNAP TRAPS
There are a few different new fangled plastic snap traps on the market. They're easier to set but I have found them less effective.
- LIVE TRAPS
Live traps like this are little Hotel Californias. The mouse goes in but it can't get out. They work, but require more commitment from you. Check traps often and road trip any you catch at least a mile from your house. GLUE TRAPS
**Worst Choice**
Avoid these at all costs. They're gross, sticky, messy and completely inhumane. These pads covered in ultra sticky glue trap render the mouse immobile until it either dies of thirst and starvation or until they struggle to get away, breaking their little feet or legs off. They're awful inventions.
So now you know that if you have mice you're going to need to either put down a contained bait station, or set a mouse trap.
What Bait to Use
Electronic traps work well with a bit of peanut butter smeared onto the back of it. Around the size of a pea is all you need.
Snap traps can take a multitude of baits. In order of effectiveness:
- A peanut wedged in the bait holder so the mouse has to work to get it out.
- A dried kernel of corn wedged into the bait holder. Put a dab of peanut butter on it too.
- Peanut Butter
- Jam
- Deli meat
- Soft stinky cheese - blue cheese for instance
How to Set a Mouse Trap
- Wear latex gloves when handling mouse traps and food to keep human scent off of them.
- Slightly bend the hook on the bait holder that holds the pin so it just barely holds the pin in place without setting off the trap. Be CAREFUL and keep your fingers out of the way. Doing this to your trap will give it a hair trigger to better catch mice. And fingers.
- Bait the trap with a *small* amount of bait. No food bigger than pea sized. The best bait is half of a peanut or a kernel of corn wedged under the teeth of the bait holder. Peanut butter can be your 3rd choice but the others are better because the mouse can't just lick it off and run away. With corn or a peanut they have to work on pulling it out which is more likely to set off the trap.
- Mice run along backs of cupboards and walls because it's dark and they feel safe there. Place the trap with the baited end against a wall so the mouse can only get at it from the left or right as it runs along the wall. This helps make sure the mouse is killed instantly because it's coming at the trap from the ideal direction.
- Put out a LOT of traps. Not just one or two. Put them everywhere you see mouse poop but away from where pets and kids can get at them.
Video of Setting a Mouse Trap
Are Mice Dangerous?
Yep.
Mice like chewing on things: wood, wires, food, cushions, heirloom vegetable seeds lovingly gathered and carefully stored in paper envelopes for future generations to come. Also noses. I have no actual proof but if presented with a nose I'm sure a mouse would chew on that as well.
- When mice chew on wood, drywall and electrical wires in your house. That means you'll either have an expensive repair in your future, or worse, a fire inside your walls.
- Mice mark their territory by peeing and pooping all over your house. Which is gross. But also a danger in terms of the viruses and diseases they carry.
- Mice have parasites on them because of their filthy habit of being mice. Ticks, fleas, and other parasites all come into your home with the mice.
If you do get a tick here's how to properly identify and remove it. Since we're talking about pests and all.
Final Tip on Mouse Control.
O.K., so 30% of all homes have mice in them. Some of them even have rats. I'm guessing you want to get rid of them.
Don't rely on only one method for controlling mice. Use everything you've got. Your whole arsenal. And don't let your guard down.
Mice are super suspicious but not of the opposite sex. Ever. They are constantly having mouse sex and making babies. Like, non-stop. So as long as there are mice in this world, there's going to be a chance that one or worse, TWO will get into your house and claim it as their love pad. By using two or three of these methods you'll have a good shot at keeping the population in your house down.
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Alexander
Thank you for this! My mice came back just last week, so it's well-timed. I'll admit that I'm lazy about baiting traps. I catch mice anyway because, let's face it, an adobe bungalow built in 1929 is a target-rich environment.
I followed your instructions, and sure enough, the little buggers had gnawed through the floorboards (recently opened for plumbing work), and had taken to frolicking in my collection of designer over-the-knee boots!
I will seal up as you described, but it seems filthy back there no matter how I scrub. It's mostly unfinished, unpainted wood, and it feels nasty. Until I get around to replacing the flooring, how should I clean it? Bleach? Fire? Appreciate any help you can give.
Beth Kowalski
I got a mouse about this time last year. I procrastinated dealing with it. He was kind of cute and didn't seem to eat much. About a month later I had a major infestation. In a two day period I killed 13 mice. They were everywhere. They would run across the living room while I was sitting in my chair, mocking me. I never would have believed it, but at one point I beat one to death with a rock. I initially bought those cut little plastic box traps that incase the mouse so you don't have to see the body. Did not kill one single mouse with those things. Moved onto snap traps, which worked. Added poison in the crawl space and under the fridge and stove. Haven't seen one since. Fingers crossed. BTW, I figured out the problem originated with my neighbor, who was laying birdseed out on a piece of plywood in his backyard. We had a conversation and he ceased and desisted. I bought him some hanging birdfeeders as a gesture of good will.
Christmas Carol
Nice to see Cleo again.
SJ
“Get a cat”. 🤣😂🤣
I’d never had an evident problem with rodents UNTIL I got two cats who show me how much they love me by bringing (mostly live) mice in through the cat flap. Now it’s a weekly (sometimes daily) occurrence.
Suel
Hello everyone, I wanted to share the mouse challenges I've had with both my vehicles and basement. One is a 1999 Jeep Cherokee and the other is a 2012 Toyota Prius. After many trials and tribulations, I've hit on a treatment that seems to work. Mice absolutely hate peppermint. You need a good refillable sprayer, hand-held is fine. You'll also need peppermint oil and Isopropyl alcohol 70% or 91% will work. Mix one 5 oz bottle of peppermint oil with one 16oz bottle of alcohol, shake well, set the sprayer to rough spray or mist and let it fly! Be careful about spraying around electrical wiring or sensitive engine parts. I spray under the hood, around the wheel wells, around the spare tire, and under the seats and yeah it smells like a candy factory for a few hours. I usually spray my vehicles at the end of the day and the aroma calms down after a few hours. I do this every 2 weeks, sometimes more during cold weather (Western North Carolina). This seems to work really well. I won't go into any details, but trust me, it was bad for a while. I used snap traps with bait until I started spraying with peppermint oil/alcohol. I also bought a few bottles of cheap peppermint mouthwash, put it in my pump sprayer and treated my basement. It works and the basement smells minty fresh...LOL
Ann J
I have considered the following method when “the thing in the wall”, always the bedroom and always at 3am in the dead of winter starts chewing on the wall studs. A snake and not the plumbing kind. A work friend bought a house that had been empty for a while with the idea of flipping it. He wondered why there were no signs of rodents. Then he went in the basement. Some snakes, more than one kind, had gotten in through a hole in the window and they had been living and breeding in the basement. And eating all the other critters. It’s a little drastic but sleep deprivation will make you consider drastic things. I haven’t yet gone that far. My husband used a variety of traps. We stopped the poison after he had to take a dead mouse away from 2 of our chickens. They were having a tug of war over it.
Patti_is_knittinginflashes
Any suggestions on how to get rid of the chipmunks that eat through my deck light wiring?
Barry K
I have been trapping live and releasing chipmunks for three or four years - 45 to date. I use the Havahart trap and even quite baiting it; I just leave it near where I last see them, and they blunder into them. I have one spot out in the country where I release them (just in case they are family members); I just pity the poor person that wants to build on the land that must by now have a thousand chipmunks.
Dave R
Ugh. I love them up north, but not so much in the city. I'm in a townhouse condo, and our goofball neighbours keep feeding them. The chipmunks tunneled under our concrete slab patio and dumped the dirt in our window well. We removed buckets of soil they dumped in there. We were sure that one day we'd step onto the patio and the whole slab would drop 6". I had a friend bring his duct cleaning truck over to clean our dryer vent. It was full of peanuts! As cute as they are, they can be very destructive. My house could have burned down because of them. I say treat them like any other rodent you don't want around.
Patti_is_knittinginflashes
I’m not inclined to catch and release those nasty rodents. We’ve tried many ways to keep them away but so far nothing has worked. A cat, dog or a snake would be the best deterrent for our area but a snake isn’t going to happen and I’m not particularly fond of cats. So maybe a dog…
Dave R
As you may know, my hubby is in pest control. He gets so many people who say "I don't want you to kill them." When he informs them that they urinate constantly as they walk around your house and in your cupboards and on your countertops, they change their tune. He mainly uses the good ol' wooden snap traps. We've often brought a box of them up to a rental cottage we used to go to. He'd set them up around the sunroom and we'd hear them go off one after another. They're cheap enough that you can just toss the mouse, trap and all, into the garbage and put out a new one.
"Oh, Mickey, you're so fine.
You're so fine, I snapped your spine.
Hey Mickey!" ;)
jan
...now that tune with those lyrics are STUCK in my head
Linda Schombert
Hi Karen, thanks for the post, I will have to try those Viktor traps…we have a cat but she is not much of a killer…one night she brought us a dead mouse IN a trap, she was so proud…LOL
Charlene
I’ve had the same problem. Mice chewed my windshield washer tubes twice. Look on Amazon for under hood rodent repellers. You can attach them to your motor or place inside the car if you park outside. I place them under my car front and back when I park in the garage and turn them on at that time. My expensive problem stopped. Three years now.
Susan
Thank you!!!
Susan Stillwell
What brand did you get?
Ann J
I can just see that. My current cat is useless but I had one that used to kill the mice and lay them out in a row in my foyer.
Susan Stillwell
Now that you're on a roll...
How do you keep mice from getting into your car???
Charlene
Oops I posted my reply about cars and mice to the one above. My bad.
Carole
I am up at 3:30 in the morning reading your post. Why aren’t you sleeping you ask? Well, the smell of dead field mice coming from somewhere has awoken me. You see, I live on a farm and mice love my wooden log cabin. We harvested the corn two weeks ago and now the critters are looking for a warm spot for the winter. They chose my crawlspace!
First, I noticed pink insulation and pieces of plastic blowing from my air vents then my HVAC wouldn’t come on. Called my repair guy and my pest control guy for help. Well, they “fixed” the problems. The HVAC guy fixed the wiring that the critters chewed into and the pest control put out bait (supposedly the mice would become thirsty and leave to look for water).
Two days later the smell started! I crawled under the house with my flashlight, plastic bags and bag of lime to find the little corpses but to no avail! The mice decided to find somewhere inside my walls for their final resting place!
Now, three days before Thanksgiving and a house full of company on their way, I am laying in bed, with the windows open, freezing my bum off while gasping for fresh air contemplating my next move.
I think the scented pine cones will be on my to do list first thing when I wake!
Karen
LOL! Oh, lord. I don't mean to laugh but yeah. Scented pine cones.😂 The good news is the dead mouse stink doesn't last long once they get past that decomposing stage. GROSS, yes. But it *will* be gone soon. It's so horrible! ~ karen
michele wilks
I have loved all of your posts until this one. Now I am disgusted. Aside from getting or having a cat, why would you recommend any killing methods? Just repel unwarted animas (a quick search will show up things like peppermint oil that I use effectively) please. I have an empathetic heart and when I hear of any animal being killed I visualize it's babies slowly starving to death. Not to mention your own bad karma.
michele wilks
auto correct changed my words: unwarted animas should read unwanted animals
Karen
Well, I'm O.K. with that on all counts Michele. I understand your point of view. ~ karen!
michele wilks
thanks, understanding is a start. It still makes me sad, esp since I view you as a very cool lady.
Kathrina
Loved your article. In our case we live in a smaller home that has a crawl space. (Also near a major lake in Ontario….) “Crawl space” simply means, if it crawls and it’s under the house, they’re eventually crawling up to say hello, normally around 3:15 am. Spiders, mice, house centipedes, etc. It hurts especially when your neighbours are negligent with their rodent control. The women at the farm store are amazing. Don’t kill mice with “mouse treat”. Kill those suckers with big, bad rat bait. It’s more expensive, and 100% worth every cent! It comes in a sturdy pail, and is around $50 tax included. So basically $100 per year, and no vermin.
candace ford
I have had the best luck with snap traps baited with fruit flavored gum drops. Neither cheese nor peanut butter have worked as well for me.
Donna
I have mice snacking in my garden every year. My question is...can I safely eat produce especially herbs and lettuces if deer mice have traveled through the plants, possibly peeing and pooping along the way? They also snacked on exposed carrots and beets. Yuck!!
Zoe Campos
Thank you for telling me that the best way to eliminate mice and stop them from frequently coming into my kitchen is to use traps. I'm having a hard time cooking whenever I see a small one running across my kitchen, and I always end up shrieking in both surprise and fear. I'll shop around for traps I can use then call experts in pest control if I'm not able to handle them.
Jill
Mice love chocolate! Bait your traps with it
Deb
They'd have to fight me for it first.
joe
I have a back garden and leave food for the birds to nibble but alas also mice take a share. How I get rid of them: Poison no chance. it is such a cruel painful long death. Used it once but will never do it again.
The best I found is the electric one by Victor. It kills painlessly and in a fraction of a second. I don't leave it outside in inclement weather.
I highly recommend it.
Paris
Mice don't care about the smell of human hands on traps. My father has used wooden snap traps for 60 years and has never worn gloves. I do the same. They just want the bait. We use peanut butter and soy nut butter (we use a toothpick to put just enough in the little hole of the trip pedal - the amount of the tip of a quilting pin). My nephew worked at a pest control company for a few years and highly recommends a tiny bit of Tootsie Roll candy - roll a small bit between your fingers then squish it into the trip pedal - make the mouse work for it. It may sound terrible but if people were running through your home covered in disease and tearing up your wires and walls and eating your food, you wouldn't think twice about protecting yourself! We live in New England and we get mice every winter - My parents' home was built in the 1960s and mine was built before 1900 with a fieldstone basement - I caught 9 mice in my kitchen last winter - in 2 weeks! This year I have a cat. Plus I keep all of my food in solid containers after losing a bag of rice to the little critters a few years back! Good luck everyone!
Leslie Russell
I just ordered the electric traps. I'm in Florida so my mouse problem is year around. It's a 1940s old style Florida cracker house with lots of gaps underneath. No way in God's green earth could I fill all the holes. I've been using poison and two little mice decided to crawl out and die right in front of me. Absolutely horrid. I tried the fancy snap traps and the bar came down right across their back and the little mouse was still alive😢. That happened twice as well. So I'm done with those. I have the ultrasonic noise thing as but I'm pretty sure those don't work. Like you said - the mice get used to the sound. I have high hopes for these electric traps!
Karen
Make sure you keep them out of the rain or even very damp areas outside. I made the mistake of putting one outside and it shorted out on me. :/ Other than that they work great! ~ karen!
Leslie Russell
Update: I bought the electric mouse traps and caught nothing..... because I have rats! and they couldn't fit in the small trap. Bought one for rats - a big open box with metal plates on the bottom. I've caught a mouse or rat every night since. They love raisins :) I'm using it plugged in instead of the batteries for more zapping power.
Thank you, Karen!!
(between this and the wall anchors you've changed my life)
RJ
Re: electronic noise things--- have used them--- all around the perimeter of the house--- not just one. We buy plenty and no mice in DECADES. And had them when we moved in.
Lynell Graw
Where we keep our motor home parked in storage everyone was bothered with mice. No evidence or problems with ours. We take our cats and small dog camping with us and I guess they could smell the cats 🐈 I clean out the motor home completely in late fall for storage . No food, toothpaste, anything I can think of. Also neighbours troubled with mice. We bought two sonic noise thingys and no mice or rats. My cats would probably just play with a mouse if they ever saw one ! LOL 😆