Keep your home critter-free, no poison required
Mice, rats, and other rodents are all after the same thing—a warm, cozy place to raise their young. With its central heating, loose crumbs, and water access, your home may be inviting to rodents. Follow these seven tips to keep mice and their ilk out and to learn how to get rid of rodents naturally.
Mice and rats tend to have different standards for food than humans. Where you might see a few crumbs, they see a meal.
Wipe down surfaces after eating and cooking to clear away crumbs and food residue. Keep foods stored away in glass or hard plastic containers, and make sure your garbage is securely tucked away, too. If you have other animals in the home, don't leave their food out in bowls. Instead, feed them on a schedule and clean their dishes afterward.
What counts as bedding to a rodent may differ considerably from what counts as bedding to a person. While a mouse or rat may happily take off with a piece of a blanket or a bit of the filling from a pillow, they're also going to be happy turning a pile of newspaper or cardboard into a comfy bed.
Store any out-of-season blankets and pillows in sturdy plastic bins with tight-fitting lids to keep bedding out of their reach. Place paper and cardboard recycling in a bin with a lid.
If you have gaps, cracks, or other small openings in your home, you may be sending rodents a sign that the house is open to them. Squirrels may sneak into the attic through an opening near the roof, while mice and rats can squeeze into tiny gaps around doors, windows, and pipes.
Walk around your home, indoors and out, and keep an eye out for any openings where a rodent can get in. Use steel wool to close those gaps from mice. Rodents can chew through foam and fabric, but their teeth won't get through metal.
Peppermint, lavender, and cayenne pepper are just a few examples of smells that help to deter mice and other rodents but likely won’t turn up human noses. Try soaking some cotton balls in a mint or lavender essential oil and leaving them around your house.
Some also say that ammonia is a good rat deterrent. You can try using it to repel rodents, but remember that doing so may make your home smell like urine.
You don't have to be a fan of Tom & Jerry to know that cats and mice aren't the best of friends. If you've been considering adding to your family, getting a cat can be one way to help keep the mice (and other rodents) away.
Remember that your new companion may not hunt mice—some cats are better mousers than others. But their feline presence may be enough to prevent mice from moving in. If you're not a cat person, having a dog may help keep rodents away. The dog probably won’t chase the rodents, but their presence can be enough to send a "stay away" message.
There are better ways to catch rodents than using snap or glue traps. Humane traps let small rodents get in but not out. The traps don't kill the animals. Instead, they contain them until you set the critters free.
Before setting humane traps, plan where you'll bring the animals to release them. Ideally, you'll let them free in a wooded area at least one mile from your home. Make sure you check the traps daily so the animals don't go too long without water or food.
The area around your home may be particularly inviting for rodents, providing them with places to hide and nest. To keep them away and prevent them from entering your house, sweep or rake up leaves and other debris.
Keep your trash in a well-sealed bin and place those bins away from your house if possible.
You may never see the critters, but you’ll still know they're there. Some of the most common signs that rats, mice, or other small rodents have moved into your home include:
Chew marks on packages or paper products
Droppings
Scratches and chew marks on your walls, particularly near small openings
Musty urine odor
The pitter-patter of tiny rodent feet, usually at night
If you have a cat or dog already, you may notice that your pet is on high alert. They may stare intently at certain areas of the wall or try to reach for the rodent under furniture or appliances.
Sometimes, calling a local mouse and rodent exterminator is the best course of action. If you've sealed up the gaps in your home, put away food and bedding sources, and have tried essential oils but still have a rodent problem, it's time to call for help.
Mice and rats can carry and spread diseases and fleas, plus rodent droppings can be a human health hazard, so you don't want the infestation to continue.
How much pest control costs depends on the extent of the problem and the type of animal you're dealing with. You can expect to pay somewhere between $180 and $600, depending on the size of the infestation.
Mice, rats, and other rodents are survivalists. They've developed a set of skills that can help them survive even in challenging, predatory conditions. For that reason, they can be hard to get rid of once they've staked their claim in your home. Often, the best way to get rid of rodents is to keep them from getting into your home in the first place.
Poison will kill small rodents and can seem like the quick and easy way to get rid of them. But—in addition to its inhumane nature—poison has some drawbacks. First of all, if you have small children or pets in the home, setting out poison isn't the best idea, as your pets or children could ingest it.
Poisoned mice and rodents don't die instantly. Instead, it can take several days for the poison to work its way through their system. In the meantime, there's a chance that a predator, such as a cat, fox, or other mammal, will eat the poisoned rodent and become poisoned themselves.
Like a rent-controlled apartment in New York City, rodents know a good thing when they see it. If they've found a cozy nest inside your home, they will set up camp and stay there, leaving only to forage for food and water. As long as they have a warm place to sleep, raise their young, and continue access to water and food, they're going to stick around.
