Cooler autumn weather brings relief- and mice!

Choosing natural mouse deterrents is beneficial because they are eco-friendly and safer for your home, pets, and children compared to chemical solutions. They can effectively repel mice without causing harm, although they do require reapplication for best results. Here are some natural ways to deter those varmints-

Clean your house! If you’re like me that’s probably the last advice you want to hear since it involves getting off our behinds and actually working! Just consider it a cleanliness wake up call with benefits- a nice smelling home and exercise to boot.

(You will probably only have to deep clean your kitchen anyway, since that’s their favorite place to hang out.)

You are giving them free meals and free warmth- free meals in the form of scraps and crumbs of food that just haven’t been completely picked up. And free warmth because they can nest near or under warm appliances.

DIY steps for a kitchen that mice HATE:

Figure out how to remove those bottom drawers and once they’re out, look for mouse droppings on the floor under the drawers. Vacuum them up (remember to clean your extension attachment when finished) and then put on your disposable gloves. Using a mixture of vinegar and water with a few drops of tea tree oil added, scrub the area well. If they got into the drawer itself, you’ll see droppings in there as well and you’ll have more work!

Pull out your stove and refrigerator. Now will be a good time to do a little maintenance by vacuuming the front and back vents of your fridge and the back vents of your stove. (And don’t forget to check and clean your bottom oven drawer) Repeat the process as with your other kitchen drawers and vacuum up droppings from the floors, then scrubbing with your vinegar mixture.

Now the fun part- soak some cotton balls or cotton facial rounds in any or all of the following mice deterring oils- cinnamon oil, clove oil, peppermint oil, eucalyptus oil, and cedarwood oil. Put these under the drawers and appliances, but also on the floor along the edges of appliances so you can retrieve and replenish them. Sprinkle some cayenne pepper too since mice can’t tolerate the effects of breathing it in (can anyone?) Give the rest of your kitchen a thorough cleaning and enjoy the freshness!

We also use humane traps which are about $12 for two, then we take the mice to the park to release them. Now some people just want to kill them outright, and that’s fine, but personally we hate dealing with carcasses and mess from a ‘snap trap’. You bait these with whole peanuts and they work every time! We don’t receive any compensation for these, but here’s a picture of what we use:

We also have a cat who is a great mouser! He LOVES chasing mice and even though that’s definitely NOT humane, we give him the run of the house and let him do his thing!