Nobody wants mice in their house. If you have seen one, there are probably more. They can live in your walls, your pantry, or anywhere in your house. Mice breed quickly. Just one breeding couple can lead to 100 baby mice or more in a year. While you definitely don’t want them in your house, you may not want to kill them. One natural solution to try is peppermint oil. Mice have very sensitive noses, and don’t like the strong smell. Hence, they stay away.
There are many ways to try to get rid of mice, some more humane than others. Traditional and humane traps have been around forever and can be quite effective. One problem with traps is that you have to handle the mice, dead or alive, once you’ve trapped them. Poison works too, but mice live for a while after ingesting the poison, and they might die in a corner somewhere in your house. You will know once you smell the decomposition. Then you will need to find the dead mouse, and get rid of it. With peppermint oil, mice stay away so you never have to see them at all.
In addition to being an inconvenience, it can be hazardous to have mice living in your house. Mice in your walls can chew through electrical wires leaving you vulnerable to a house fire, not to mention an expensive rewiring job. If there are mice in your walls, you will hear them scratching at night. The first step will be to find where they are getting in. This can be difficult, as they can fit through very small holes. Start where you hear the scratching, and look around until you find the hole or holes they’re using. Once you find them, soak a couple of cotton balls with peppermint oil, and place them near the points of entry. They cannot tolerate the smell of the peppermint oil. Mice will avoid the area, and find somewhere else to go. If that somewhere else is another entry point to your house, find it, and apply more peppermint oil.
Mice in your kitchen can be dangerous as well. They get into your pantry and gnaw through boxes to get to your food and build their nests. Once living there, they leave droppings in and around your food. Their feces, of course, is unsanitary and may carry disease. It is also thought that mouse feces may be a contributing factor to asthma in children. In any event, you certainly don’t want mice living in and near your food. Here is another area where you can use peppermint oil. Mice will set up house in a particular spot and keep coming back. Again, put some peppermint oil on a couple of cotton balls, and place them near your food where the mice live. It is non-toxic, so it can be used near food.
Peppermint has many uses from breath freshening to relieving nausea. When used properly, it can also be an effective deterrent to mice. Once you find an area where mice are entering or living, place a cotton ball soaked with peppermint oil. Mice will stay away.