How to Prevent Mice Infestation: A Nontoxic Way
Kid-Safe, Pet-Friendly Tips to Mouse-Proof One's Living Space
Nov 25, 2008
“If you see one, there’s likely many more” is an apt description when it comes to spying a mouse scampering along one’s baseboards or floor.
Mice, some may be surprised to learn, are excellent swimmers and jumpers, and creepily, are able to leap more than a foot from the ground. Combine that with the fact that these invasive rodents are capable of squeezing through openings as tiny one-quarter of an inch and it’s easy to see how even the cleanest and most well-sealed home can fall victim to infestation.
Basic Pest Control: Nontoxic Ways to Prevent Mice Infestation
The most effective way to relieve a home of such pesky critters, however, is to prevent them from feeling that your home or living space is a fine place for them to spend the fall and winter months. The following tips are among the simplest preventative measures to take to protect one’s home or space from mice and the problems they bring, including leaving unsanitary droppings where people and pets live and breathe; thus, contaminating food and create a breeding ground for disease, including swine dysentery and salmonellis.
- Seal existing crevices, crannies, cracks and gaps that mice frequently use as entry points. This may be done inexpensively by using caulking to seal around one’s home, from house and basement foundations, to around greenhouses, faucets and other fixtures. Steel wool also is useful for sealing some gaps, experts advise.
- Don’t leave doors propped open. It’s a simple measure that is often overlooked in the quest to mouse-proof one’s surroundings.
- Eliminate potential food sources for mice in and around your home in simple ways, such as picking up dirty pet bowls and not leaving food out around the house in the open. Clean up dishes and food waste immediately after meals whenever possible.
- Deter mice from choosing one’s home and yard as a potential breeding ground. This means avoid piles of leaves or garbage that need to be carried away, as well as stacks of old newspapers that are ready to be recycled. Since mice can produce up to 13 litters in a given year, such surroundings will likely beckon to them as great places to burrow in.
- Completely block all exhaust vents, including dryer vents and chimney, with hardware cloth, a flexible wire-mesh material that consists of loosely woven wires in a simple rectangular grid. There are a number of kinds of hardware cloth available based on one’s needs, from keeping out bats, snakes, bees, rats, squirrels and gophers. However, according to TWP Inc., a California-based company that specializes in mesh materials, to keep mice out mice, seal all holes and openings larger than 1/4 inch, or 0.6 cm across, “with heavy materials that will resist rodent gnawing” such as concrete mortar, galvanized sheet metal and heavy-gauge hardware cloth.
Organic Pest Prevention: All-Natural Remedy Deters, Evicts Mice
Finally, if one’s house or barn cat, in combination with the aforementioned measures, isn'at able to get the job done, one of nature's essential oils, peppermint, also serves as not only an effective mouse-prevention strategy and organic method of pest control, but also has success at driving them away once they’ve set up shop, so to speak, Best if all, it does it without posing a poison danger to children or pets.
“Although humans find the scent pleasing, mice are repelled by the aroma of natural peppermint essential oil,” said Mindy Seiffert of Aura Cacia, a national retailer of natural products, in an interview published in The Nashville City Paper.
Peppermint Oil: Safe Mice Repellent for Children and Pets
To prevent mice from entering, simply put a few drops of peppermint oil on cotton pads and place them around the house, and strongly scent those cotton balls that are placed where mice may hide or enter a dwelling, including under stairs, in basements and attics, and in closets.
Seiffert said the oil also may be sprinkled directly on walls, floors and other items via a scented spray that can be prepared easily by combining two teaspoons of peppermint oil per one cup of water.
The peppermint oil will be effective for repelling mice as long as the scent lingers, and in general, will last from two to three weeks.
Sources
- Mouse control meshes, TWP Inc. Web site. Accessed Nov. 25, 2008, at http://www.twpinc.com/twpinc/control/category/%7Ecategory_id=TWPCAT_MICE/%7Epcategory=TWPCAT_PESTS
- Peppermint offers safe, nontoxic deterrent to mice, City Homes section, Nashville City Paper, Nashville, Tenn. Published Aug. 22, 2008, issue.
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