How to Get Rid of the House Mouse

Are you need of some great tips for how to get rid of the house mouse or mouse city in your home?

Here’s the scoop: As the temps are cooling off, it’s becoming the season for house mice. They are starting to come into your house and find a warm place to live. You need to know how to get rid of the house mouse NOW before it overtakes your house!

So in this post, I’m going over tips on how to get rid of the house mouse. Like I said, they are searching for warmer places and our homes are first on their list even though I know we don’t want them. This is a popular topic in the social media groups I’m a part of: How to get rid of mice in the house. Therefore, I decided to dedicate a podcast to different ways to get rid of them.

I’m going over how to get rid of the house mouse in the walls, some best mouse repellent, scents that deter mice, mouse traps, and some mice control products.

In this episode we’re going over:

• How to get rid of the house mouse
• How to prevent mice from coming into the home
• Traps and deterrents for house mouse removal after they are already inside

Listen to the Podcast:

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My Own Experience With How To Get Rid of The House Mouse

I know all about living with mice and how to get rid of the house mouse. I grew up in a very old homestead house that my great grandparents lived in.

My Dad used to always talk about how great grandpa caught bull snakes to put in their basement to hunt mice. Of course, they weren’t venomous snakes but were aggressive mice hunters. My parents refused to carry on that practice so we used traps and buckets traps and whatever else we could to keep them under control.

When my husband and I bought our house as winter approached we realized that we had a very large mice population. They were in our walls, the basements, little holes all throughout the house. It’s taken years of diligent trappings and all different kinds of things to keep them under control.

Popular Places Mice Love

The main place is my kitchen, especially around the stove since that is how they normally get in somehow. So I’ll set traps underneath, on the counter tops next to the stove, and by the burners when I’m not cooking. If I’m still seeing droppings then I keep my traps up. The other place we get them is the basement. It’s popular in the spring and summer because it’s cooler there and away from the summer heat.

If I have a mouse I need to catch, aside from droppings, I’ll also look for their holes along the walls in the rooms. I patch those holes up with either steel wool or spray foam insulation. I’ve also learned to try and keep food contained in plastic containers vs. cardboard boxes. Mice will make nests out of any paper or cardboard they can find so keeping that packaging out of our house helps tremendously.

If you’re looking for where the mice are coming in you’ll need to find their nest. More often than not it’s in a warm place in the wall underneath something use the signs I’ve mentioned, droppings and holes in the wall, to locate it.

Steel Wool

Steel Wool is a very good thing to stuff into mouse holes or cracks before you cover it with the spray foam insulation. 

Spray Foam Insulation

After filling the hole or space with steel wool, you can fill in over the top with this spray foam insulation. It’s just an extra source of protection and keeps mice out!

Prevention with Animals Outside

The best way to keep mice out of your home is to start outside. The most obvious control are animals that will eat mice:

• Cats, dogs, snakes and owls.
• Dogs
• Snakes
• Owls

Although I loved the stories about my great grandpa catching the snakes it’s not something I would recommend. However they are good to have around.

Cats are a great option too of course and certain breeds of dogs, like rat terriers, dachshunds, or jack russell terriers.

Finally, owls are another option. If you have property that is a good habitat for animals then you might be seeing some owls. If you would like some ideas on how to attract beneficial wildlife then you can check out that post at the bottom of this one.

Owl Decoy

This is a cool decoy you can set next to wherever you think mice might be coming into your house. It’s solar powered – Eyes flash and it makes a loud nice that will scare mice. 

Rubber Snake

You can get a rubber snakes to throw underneath your porch or basement where you think mice might be coming in. 

Deterrence

These are some ideas for mice repellent so they stay out of your home before trying to come in at all. These ideas have been recommended by lots of rural women over the years who have dealt with mice.

The first is a bar of Irish spring soap.

I hadn’t heard of this one before but I’m going to try it under my bathroom vanity.

You take the bar of soap, cut it into pieces and put those pieces in the crevices. I’m excited to try this because I love the smell of Irish spring, it’s so fresh and clean. You’ll want to replace the soap after a little while to keep it fresh.

Real Peppermint Oil

The next is peppermint oil to get rid of mice, my virtual assistant’s mom swears by this one. You don’t want cheap peppermint oil, you’re going to want a doTerra or Young Living essential oil brand. You need the real thing.

Mice hate it. You can burn it in your home, in your scentsy warmers or anything that burns the oil. Jenn’s mom would soak cotton balls and leave them where she knew they were coming in and that deterred them as well.

Plug-In Mice Repellents

Another idea I hadn’t heard about are plug-in repellents. These send a vibration through your walls that the mice don’t like.

Moth Balls

Moth balls are another popular deterrent. We actually use them on our farm equipment and in our barn so that the mice don’t start coming in. They are so detrimental. They will chew and ruin everything. Moth balls seem to keep them from chewing on our tubes and our belts on our equipment.

Bounce Dryer Sheets

Finally, bounce dryer sheets, apparently they don’t like these either.

The great thing about these deterrents is that you can try them and see if they work for you. It’s also a very low cost. You don’t have to spend an arm and a leg for a bunch of traps when you don’t even know if you have mice. Get some of these deterrents and you’ll hopefully be well on your way to being mice free.

Traps

I’m going to go over various rodent control products and traps to get rid of mice once they’re in your home. The first couple of items you’ll need to be careful with if you have small children or any animals in the home. Of course there are live traps, box traps and sticky traps.

A lot of people are too softhearted and so they prefer the the box traps. Then, they take the mice outside and let it go. I’m not a fan of that because I feel like the mice are just going to keep coming back in. I prefer to kill them on the spot. The best trap I’ve found are the snap traps.

Tomcat Glue Traps

Tomcat is a universal brand of mouse traps and bait. You can find Tomcat brand in just about any store that carries rodent products. So, I do use this glue trap more than any others. It works great for catching mice. 

Alazco Sticky Traps

Here’s another brand of sticky trap I appreciate because it’s so thin. It can easily fit in very skinny places.

Humane Power Rodent Killer

Fit the bait right inside and watch the magic happen. This is a very sensitive, easy to set and reusable trap to use as well.

Snap-E Mouse Trap

Another easy to use snap trap if that’s what you’re used to. It is very sensitive and easy to use. Can also be reusable.

CapTure Humane Smart Mouse Trap

This is for those of you who can’t kill a mouse. This is a live trap you can set anywhere and then release the mouse after you catch it. 

It’s convenient and safe and doesn’t take a lot of room. 

Protecta LP Bait Station

This is the box trap our exterminator carries. We actually have a few of these around our house outside and they are very effective as long as the bait stays full. 

You want to be really careful with poison. It was recommended by someone to try minute rice as well, when the mice eats it the rice expands and they end up not being able to digest it and end up dying that way.

Minute Rice

It never hurts to try out things that people suggest.  I’m not sure if the minute rice actually expands and hurts the mice, but it is a possibility.

Plus, you won’t be out much just by trying it. Rice is pretty el-cheapo. 

Baits

• Tomcat Bait Pellet
• Bait Blocks

Food Baits

Another dilemma I’ve faced over the years is what kind of bait to use to keep the mouse there long enough to get trapped. I’ve found that stickier foods work better like peanut butter, marshmallow cream, or cheese whiz. If you set something on top of the trap they’re going to grab it and go on their merry way.

Keep in Mind

Mice are going to adapt to whatever trap you end up using. So if you’re no longer catching mice but still seeing droppings then you’re going to have to switch your approach. You might need to pull your appliances back and set traps or poison back there and/or fill in any holes they might be using. You’ll want to try and locate the nest ASAP in order to prevent them from reproducing.

Homemade Trap

If you’re handy you can easily make your own sticky traps and homemade snap traps. I use homemade bucket traps. What you do is get a bucket of any size and you sit a couple of 2x4s or wire across the top. As they make their way to the bait they’ll end of falling into the bucket, fill the bucket about halfway with water and they’ll drown.

Note – I will be writing a post soon telling and showing you EXACTLY how to make this. So, stay tuned! 

Know How to Get Rid of The House Mouse

I know how frustrating ridding your home of mice can be but I hope that I’ve given you some tangible advice to get your living space back. Check out the resources below and if this episode helped you if you could share with a friend or head over to iTunes and leave a review we sure would appreciate it.

Resources for How To Get Rid of the House Mouse

How to Attract Beneficial Wildlife

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