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10 Ways to Get Rid of Mice Naturally

Image Credit:
Pixabay
Written By: Catherine Boeckmann Executive Digital Editor and Master Gardener

Mice in the house create a mess with their droppings, cause damage to structures, and carry disease. In this article, we’ll tell you how to 1) be sure it’s mouse damage, 2) do your own pest inspection, and 3) employ our 10 natural mouse repellents that work!

Why You Need to Get Rid of Mice

Mice live near humans. You may need to learn to live with mice, but you need to keep them under control. All mice need is a hole the size of a dime, and then more mice will follow. Mice also give birth up to 10 times a year, with 6 to 12 babies per litter, so you need to tackle a mouse problem quickly.

Mice are bothersome and costly because they contaminate a great deal of food for humans—from our crops to our cupboards. They chew holes in wires and destroy houses. They also carry diseases and bacteria. 

Identification

How to Identify Mice

The first step is to make 100% sure you’re dealing with mice, not juvenile rats or bats or another critter, because the control methods are different. There are many animals that can be scratching inside your walls, including squirrels.

Mice are small rodents that have relatively large ears and small black eyes. They are usually gray or light brown. Mice weigh about 1/2 ounce, and they are 5 to 7 inches in length. Their tail adds an additional 3 to 4 inches to that length. 

Mice are characterized by a musky odor, and they are often active at night. They also produce droppings that are smaller than a grain of sand (unlike rats and other pests). The only similar dropping size is that of bats. If you do have bats, you’ll notice their droppings are more crumbly, whereas mouse droppings squash flat. 

In addition, if mice are trapped inside your house, you’ll notice a distinct odor due to the defecating and urinating; plus, often some mice will die and be unable to escape.

Mouse Damage

In the home, especially in your attic or basement, mice will chew small holes in boxes, fabric, newspapers, and whatever they can find to make a nest. In addition, mice will chew on drywall and insulation and even wiring. 

When mice come inside, they’ll look for a place with water. You’ll often find droppings under sinks or near toilets or in wet basements or garages. Once they get into the kitchen (often via plumbing), they will look for food. Mice can easily chew through food packaging, and you’ll find evidence of them by the droppings they leave along their path (as well as urine stains, which may not be as visible).

In the garden, mice also love to tunnel and chew. Partially eaten potatoes or carrots are a sign of mice activity. They also love to eat newly sown seeds. 

Mice and mice feces can cause very serious diseases, so take this issue seriously.

mice eating a corn cob
Photo credit: Pixabay


 

Control and Prevention

How to Prevent Mice

Mouse traps are not only inhumane but also don’t keep mice out of your house. It’s more important to prevent mice with exclusion methods that deter mice from entering your home in the first place. Here’s what to do first.

1. Do a Pest Inspection

Do your own interior and exterior pest inspection to find exactly where they’re getting in. Remember, you’re looking for any gaps the size of a dime or larger. Get a flashlight. Walk around your foundation; look under the foundation to see if the mice can get into your crawlspace. Walk around the roofline (get a ladder if needed). Check the dryer vent.

Pest experts say that mice also do a “walk-around” and are often drawn to gaps where they can smell nice warm air flowing out of your house. Look at all vents and screens. Look for any signs of chewing at the bottom of garage doors. (And keep those garage doors shut!)

Then, pack all those small gaps with steel wool. Do NOT use spray foam, which rodents chew through. Larger gaps might need to be closed with 1/4-inch mesh. 

2. Remove Easy Food and Water Sources

Also, look for any food and water that mice could access. Open garbage bins? Spilled birdseed? Leaky hoses? Water bowls? Store all your grains, pet food, garbage, and bird food in metal containers or heavy plastic boxes. Also, don’t leave pet food dishes full of kibble at night or you’re inviting any mouse in the house to dinner.

3. Remove Easy Hiding Places

As you do your walk around, look for easy hiding places such as firewood stacks, thick leaves or ground cover along the foundation, any clutter, or anything leaning against your house. You’ll need to do a big outdoor cleanup project and clear everything around your foundation by at least 1 foot.

4. Remove Nesting Material

Don’t leave old rugs, blankets, clothes, or any soft, fluffy nesting material around your attic, basement, or garage. Store everything in containers made of metal or heavy plastic. Avoid cardboard and paper boxes, which mice like to chew. 

In the garden, avoid using straw as mulch or any fluffy mulch that provides nesting places. Do not mulch heavily nor put mulch near the base of trees.

Getting Rid of Mice 

We’re not big fane of poison or traps. First, we’d prefer not to kill animals. But also it doesn’t really work long-term, as more mice will just move in. The first step is to seal up those entry points and make sure you remove all the food, water, and nesting materials. Then, you will need to control the population already in your home:

  • If you must, use a humane mouse trap or snap trap baited with peanut butter near mouse paths.
  • Consider getting a cat! Some cats enjoy hunting more than others, but all can help to take care of mice in your home to various degrees. If you do get a feline helper, do not put out mouse poison, which can be harmful if your cat catches a mouse that has eaten it.

Natural Ways to Deter Mice

To discourage mice from entering your home and garden, here are some natural solutions:

  1. Try a mouse repellent containing ammonium; see your local garden center. For some reason, ammonia smells like predator urine. You can even make your own ammonia traps by putting small caps filled with the liquid near mouse entry points.
  2. Mice do not like any mint or pepper smells. Try sprinkling cayenne pepper near mouse-prone areas (or create a sachet). Soak cotton balls in peppermint oil.
  3. Mice are also repelled by camphor, lavender, and wormwood. You can find dried lavender in health food stores and some garden centers.
  4. Sometimes just the scent of cats will be enough to deter mice from returning to an area. One reader says that sprinkling kitty litter around entrances to the house works well; after all, it smells like cat urine!
  5. Try using dryer sheets to keep mice out of linen closets or stored clothes.
  6. If you must, use a humane mouse trap or snap trap baited with peanut butter near mouse paths.
  7. Sonic mouse deterrents (which make beeping noises) may also be effective.
  8. In the garden, try cultivating some plants that are believed to repel mice, including mint, lavender, pennyroyal, garlic, and onion.
  9. To protect bulbs, cage them or surround the bulb with crushed gravel in the planting hole.
  10. Wrap tree trunks with tree wrap or hardware cloth at their base. Be sure to remove come spring to avoid harming the tree!

See more about common garden pests like rabbits and moles.

Garden Pests

About The Author

Catherine Boeckmann

Catherine Boeckmann

Executive Digital Editor and Master Gardener

Catherine Boeckmann is the Executive Digital Editor of Almanac.com, the digital home of The Old Farmer’s Almanac. She leads digital editorial strategy and publishing across a wide range of Almanac sub...

Read more from Catherine Boeckmann

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Comments

<span>Tom Chase</span> Thu, 02/23/2023 - 07:46
The method really does work. I've used the same method for years, but used a wooden dowel in the bucket notches I cut out. Don't have to monitor it. Upon returning (from a winter leave) I'd have 12-15 mice in the water. But in the winter I use RV anti-freeze, much cheaper that vehicle anti-freeze. It is very true as what the article mentioned "They also carry disease and bacteria". Ticks are a serious problem and will chew on mice and chipmunks. Mice carry more diseases than the Lyme Disease and transmitted to the ticks. I know all about it, have had Lyme and one two month period removed 196 from me and 12-15 I didn't and they bit me. I have a body itch, severe at times from the encounters. My VA doc said I didn't have Lyme (a blood test) but couldn't determine why I was itching, I'd draw blood from the itching and still itching 2 years later (now). Some consider mice as :cute little things:. Ya, get a bacteria or disease or suffer from corrective expenses. In the south (where I go at times), no mice. The snakes take care of them. Noted that the Rattlesnake population in the VT / NH areas are increasing, less mice? My $0.02. Thanks for the article and comments.
<span>Susan Jennings</span> Thu, 11/15/2018 - 08:55
My brother invented a natural product that you can use on mousetraps. It attracts them to the trap. Good stuff.
<span>Matthew Winebrenner</span> Fri, 10/24/2025 - 17:05
What is it made with?
<span>Minnie M.</span> Wed, 11/14/2018 - 10:29
they say to pour ammonia or soak rags with ammonia and put where the mice enter your home.
<span>Deeda</span> Wed, 11/14/2018 - 08:18
The mice I had in the house cannot get to any dried beans, rice,pasta, etc because I keep everything that is dried in glass jars. Fresh produce [ root crops ] are in bins, up on shelves, and they didn't seem to find them. My biggest problem was Ivory BAR SOAP ! By the time I discovered there were mice in the house, they had chewed the edges of ELEVEN BARS, as well as 3 brand new tubes of tooth paste ! ACK ! Mouse traps baited with peanut butter did not work . . . I would find the traps tripped each morning. Smart little critters ! I finally had to resort to poison, but they didn't "take them" . . . they just moved them to different locations ! I set a few under the bathtub and under the bathroom sink, and would find the little cubes in the drawers with the tooth paste the next day. Then all of a sudden the mice were gone, so I am thinking they got enough poison in their system, while moving them, to finally kill them. That is the last I have seen of mice, and we closed up all the gaps where the plumbing comes through the walls. Mice ! Nasty little critters !
<span>Margaret</span> Wed, 11/14/2018 - 10:25
I used to get mice - only one or two at a time, then nothing for months. Bait stopped working, they wouldn't eat it. So I switched to snap traps (Victor easy set) baited with peanut butter. Mice cannot resist PB (who can?). They have worked great. I haven't had a mouse in well over a year, but I keep a trap baited and set just in case. It gets them before they get into anything else. My landlord removed my deck and put down patio stones. I think they were nesting under the deck and now that it's, gone, they have gone. So, if you have a deck and you have mice, they may be living under it.
<span>Stormw Walley</span> Mon, 12/01/2014 - 04:41
My tomatoes are still green and something is putting holes in them, wat can I do