How to rid your home of mice naturally

As the winter season approaches so do unwanted house rodents.

Among them being mice, who can cause damage to your home and carry diseases.

While traps and poisons may seem like the ideal option in stopping them, there are alternatives.

Choosing an alternative will allow you to protect children and pets from toxic chemicals.

Here as some natural ways to keep them away from your home:

Peppermint oil

Trustworthy peppermint comes in handy yet again as mice do not like the smell.

Simply place a few drops of peppermint oil on cotton balls and place in common mouse areas, e.g. cupboards and entryways.

You can also use mint leaves if you do not have the oil.

Capture them

If you do not want to harm the mice you can trap them instead.

Attract them into safe cages by placing cheese or peanut butter into a cage (these can be found at local hardware stores) that’ll trap them once inside.

When caught, you can then release them back into the wild. Just be sure to release them away from the home as they will likely return if simply released in the backyard.

Onions

Onions may make us teary eyed, but mice strongly dislike the vegetable.

The downside of using this method is that it can be toxic for dogs and cats. Plus, it can cause bad odour around the home.

You can also place the onions in hard to reach places for your pet. As for the smell, be sure to replace onions with fresh ones every day.

Steel wool

While they are great in removing mess from dishes, steel wool can also come in handy when stopping mice form entering the home. 

Mice can’t chomp through the hard wires and causes strong irritation to their teeth.

You can place the steel wool into the crack and holes of your home or areas you suspect they are sneaking in from.

Cat litter

Just like Tom and Jerry, cats and mice do not get along.

What better way to send them running than to make them wary a cat is about.

Cat litter will do the trick and can be placed at common mouse entry points.

Food storage

While this is less of a deterrent, it is important to protect your food. It's also harder for the critters to find food, giving them the hint to move on out.

A good way to do this is to store food items in airtight plastic containers or glass jars, especially for opened food items (e.g. cereals).

This article was originally published on Better Homes and Gardens.