How to Use Essential Oils to Get Rid of Mice, Spiders, and Other Pests

Mice and spiders are cute in storybooks, but not so much in real life when they are chewing holes in your insulation and weaving webs inside your favorite lampshade. Although more research is needed to know just how effective essential oils are at deterring pests, if you’re a fan of essential oils, using them in an attempt to keep pests out may be worth a try. Here are six tips for using essential oils to get rid of mice, spiders, and more.

1. Use Peppermint Oil to Banish Mice and Spiders

Peppermint oil is the most popular essential oil that has been praised for supposed home pest control. While mice and spiders are pretty different creatures, they both rely on the same thing: their sense of smell. If you’ve ever over-sprayed air freshener, you probably see where this is going.

Applying peppermint oil directly or diluted with water to surfaces where they tend to appear may simply be too intense an aroma for the pests to handle.

2. Treating Entry Points Is Essential

If you want to successfully keep away rodents, spiders, and other critters like them, you need to assess your home and try to find their entry points. Usually, they are easy to spot, as small holes at baseboards and windows are popular routes. 

Sure, peppermint oil sprayed on your counter may keep them off, but treating the areas where mice are coming inside should be priority number one, according to those who swear by essential oils. It’s much easier to keep pests out than to try and fight an infestation.

3. Other Essential Oils May Get Rid of Stubborn Spiders

While peppermint oil is the most popular oil used for getting rid of spiders, it isn’t your only option. Because spiders “smell” using their legs, several popular essential oils are also frequently mentioned as powerful deterrents for these guys. Lemon oil and orange oil are two other popular choices. Other essential oil options that may keep spiders out include tea tree oil and the ever-soothing lavender oil.

4. Some Essential Oils May Keep Rodents Out

Peppermint oil is definitely the most popular essential oil thought to keep mice and other rodents out of your home. But if you’d rather save that bottle of peppermint for your next foot bath, we totally understand. Other essential oils to try as possible rodent repellent include citronella, eucalyptus, and lemon.

5. Check and Replace Essential Oil Soaked Cotton Balls Often

One popular method of possible pest prevention is soaking cotton balls in peppermint oil—or a dilution using peppermint oil—and then packing holes where mice and other rodents might enter the home. 

However, what do mice like to chew on? Dried up balls of cotton. That’s why it’s important you replace your peppermint-oil-soaked cotton balls at least once a month to make sure the smell is nice and strong and that the cotton doesn’t start attracting mice instead.

6. Know When to Call in a Professional Exterminator

While using essential oils like peppermint oil as pest control may seem like a great option, there are some jobs where oil just won’t cut it. If you are regularly noticing rodent droppings in your home, along with a strong musky odor and chewed up furniture, you may have a full-blown rodent infestation. 

You’ll need to hire a pest control company to get these critters out and keep them out for good. Professional mice and rodent control companies near you have the knowledge, equipment, and experience to ensure the job gets done safely and humanely. You’ll pay between $50 and $500 on average, but you’ll have peace of mind knowing that mice will no longer use your home as an all-you-can-eat buffet.

Signs You May Have a Rodent Problem 

If you see something scurrying around your house and hear the pitter-patter of little claws, these could be tell-tale signs you have mice in your home. Other signs of a rodent problem include:

• Chewing on food packages and pet food bags

• Small brown pellet droppings, usually near food sources, cabinets, and drawers

• A stale smell coming from concealed areas of your home

• Nesting materials, such as fabrics, shredded paper, and dried plants, balled up around your home

• Scratching sounds in the walls—especially at night 

• Small, chewed-through holes in the walls or floors 

• Witnessing a mouse or rodent running around your home

Additional Methods to Repel Mice and Other Rodents

Homeowners dealt with mice long before synthetic sprays and pest control vans existed. As a result, there are a few timeless solutions to ward off rodents and plenty of modern ones.

• Keep the house clean, especially of exposed food

• Store food in sealed containers

• Set humane traps, also called catch-and-release traps

• Seal potential entry points with caulk or steel wool

• Place ultrasonic rodent repellers around the house

• Get a cat

DIY vs. Hiring a Pro

When it comes to getting rid of and repelling rodents, hiring an exterminator is safer and more effective than any DIY method, but both routes can work. The main benefit of tackling a rodent issue on your own is saving money; that said, the cost can add up depending on the number of at-home hacks you try, so the difference may not be as large as it seems. The DIY route is best when there’s no rodent infestation, and you simply want to prevent one. If animals are present, you will need to take safety precautions and research how to trap and remove them humanely. 

If you have an infestation, calling pest control is your best bet.

Becca Stokes and Derek Rose contributed to this piece.