How to get rid of mice from the house

Mice may be cute animals, but you won’t find them cute at all when you see a mouse running around in your house. Worse still, you may even find traces of mice in kitchen cabinets or cabinets, such as rat droppings, even their nests. If you find a mouse living in your home, you have many options to deal with. You can set up a humane trap and let it out, use a regular clamp trap, or even bring the cat home so it can catch mice. Seal your home, clean up food sources, and try repellents to keep rats out of your home.

Table of Contents

Trap and release the mouse

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Trace the mouse. If you catch a glimpse of a mouse running past, try to guess where it is going. Mice are very agile, and chasing a mouse around the house is not the best way to deal with it. Instead, follow the mouse to its nest to set a trap.

If you don’t know where the mouse has gone, go find its nest. Slums are usually made of rags, shredded paper, hair, and other scarred waste and often have a musty smell. Look in the corners of the back cabinets, under the sink, behind the refrigerator, cracks in the walls, and other dark, closed corners. ^{[2] X Trusted Source United States Environmental Protection Agency Go to source}
You can track the mouse by looking for its droppings. Rat droppings look like grains of black rice. If you see rat droppings, it’s probably their nest nearby.
Maybe you just need to place traps in areas where you know rats tend to congregate in your home, such as your garage, basement, or kitchen.

Tip: Mice are quite agile and shy, so you can hardly see a mouse even if they are already living in the house. Instead, look out for clues like rat droppings, rodent food bags, and musty smells around the house. ^{[1] X Trusted Source United States Environmental Protection Agency Go to source}

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Set humane mouse traps. Humane mouse traps are traps that only catch mice, not kill them. Most of these traps use bait to lure the rat into a maze-like tunnel. When the mouse enters the trap, the trap will close to prevent it from escaping. You can buy these traps online or at hardware stores. ^{[3] X Trusted Source The Humane Society of the United States Go to Source}

Humane mouse traps are usually a bit more expensive than clip traps, but can be used as many times as clamp traps, so it’s worth buying.
Use peanut butter, oats or nuts as bait in the trap according to the instructions.
Set the trap near the slum and wait for the mouse to come and eat the bait.
Check the trap daily for mice in it.

Kevin Carrillo

MMPC, Pest Control Specialist

Kevin Carrillo is a pest control specialist and senior project manager at MMPC, a certified minority-owned pest control and services business based in New York. MMPC is certified to a set of industry-leading standards, including the National Pest Management Association (NPMA), QualityPro, GreenPro, and the New York Pest Management Association (NYPMA). MMPC’s work has been featured on CNN, NPR and ABC News channels.

Kevin Carrillo
MMPC, Pest Control Specialist

Block the food supply to humanely get rid of mice. If the mice have gotten into the recesses of the wall or ceiling, your best option is to keep them from finding food in the house. Seal any holes and crevices that mice can get through. Eventually, they will leave your home to go where they can find food.

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Make your own mousetrap if you don’t want to buy one. You can make your own humane mousetrap using materials you can find at home or buy at a hardware store. That way you won’t have to spend money buying pre-made traps. Make a simple mousetrap from a soup box as follows: ^{[4] X Research Source}

Remove the lid of the soup can, pour out the soup and drill a small hole in the bottom. You can also replace the soup can with an empty soda can and use a screwdriver or awl to punch a hole in the bottom of the can.
Take a bucket (preferably a bucket with a minimum capacity of 20 liters) and grease the inside of the bucket with cooking oil to smooth it. Drill 2 small holes opposite each other on either side of the bucket, just below the mouth of the bucket.
Thread a piece of wire through the can and through the two holes in the side of the bucket, making sure the can rotates easily around the wire. Wrap the wire through the holes in the bucket a few times to keep it in place.
Place a wooden stick over the top of the bucket so that the rat can easily climb up and reach the wire.
Spread peanut butter on the side of the can. The mouse will crawl along the steel wire to eat peanut butter, then fall into the bucket and can’t get out.

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Release the mouse when it is trapped. Don’t release mice in your backyard. In order for the rat not to return to the house immediately after being released, you need to take it away from home at least 1.5 km. You can release the mouse in the park or in the forest. When you arrive, you just need to open the trap cover for it to jump out.

Some animal rights organizations encourage the release of mice in other construction sites, such as garages or sheds. This way, the mouse will have a better chance of survival, especially if it spends its whole life living in your house. ^{[5] X Trusted Source The Humane Society of the United States Go to Source}

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Try keeping the mouse out of the house. There is another humane measure you can try to get rid of the rat: simply drive it out! Sometimes a mouse wanders and gets lost in your house, running around and as confused as you want it to get out. You can help it by brushing it towards the open door. You may also have to chase it for a while to get it out, but once you do, this will be faster than setting a trap and letting it go.

Of course, if you choose to do this, the rat will probably come right back in, especially if it has already entered the house through an opening under the door or in the foundation. If your house is not sealed to prevent mice, you should do this and apply repellent measures to prevent mice from straying into the house.

Kill rats with traps and other methods

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Set clamp trap. This method is considered by many to be the most effective for getting rid of mice. Remember to buy traps for mice instead of rats. Use peanut butter as bait and place traps where mice are most likely to be active. When the weight of the rat falls on the trap, the spring turns on and clamps the dead mouse instantly. Grip traps are not the most pleasant way to kill mice, but they are really useful. ^{[6] X Trusted Source Centers for Disease Contrp and Prevention Go to source}

Place the trap close to the wall so that it is perpendicular to the wall (ie the trap and the wall form a “T”), the bait tip near the wall.
Place traps in places where you see signs of rats, such as rat droppings or slums. Be careful not to leave it where children or pets can find it and drag it out.

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Warning: Avoid using poison bait to set traps, especially if there are children or pets in the house that can be ingested and poisoned.

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Check traps regularly and dispose of dead rats. Once you’ve set up a rat trap of any kind, don’t forget to check the trap every day. You may have to reset the bait if some sly rat knows how to steal the bait. If the mouse is trapped, it is unsanitary to leave it in the trap for many days. Rat carcasses can attract maggots and start to stink, so don’t forget to check the traps.

If you catch a mouse, throw it away immediately. Remove the rat carcass from the trap and place it in a trash bag, then place it in a trash can with a tight-fitting lid. ^{[7] X Research Sources}
To prevent the spread of disease, wear gloves when disposing of dead rats, and then remember to wash your hands thoroughly with soap and warm water.

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Avoid glue traps as they are not humane. The glue trap looks like a cardboard box or tray. The bottom of the trap has a very sticky layer of glue that the mouse will stick to when it gets in. Once trapped, the mouse will die of starvation. Glue traps cause unnecessary stress, pain and suffering to animals, so many animal rights organizations strongly oppose their use. If you must use traps to kill mice, you should choose a clamp trap instead of a glue trap. ^{[8] X Trusted Source The Humane Society of the United States Go to Source}

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also does not recommend glue traps, as rats or other animals caught in the trap can release feces or urine and expose people who touch the traps to disease. ^{[9] X Trusted Source Centers for Disease Contrp and Prevention Go to source}
Glue traps can also be harmful to pets, as they can step on them and get their feet or hairs stuck in the glue.
Some regions and countries have strict regulations on the sale and use of glue traps.

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Consider keeping a cat for long-term rodent control. Cats are natural predators of rats, and keeping an indoor cat is a great way to reduce rodent populations. ^{[10] X Research Source} If you don’t have a cat at home, try asking to borrow someone’s cat for a few days. Not all cats like to catch mice, so this isn’t guaranteed to work, but it’s usually just as effective as setting traps.

Some animal rescue organizations for families and agencies adopt feral cats to catch mice. ^{[11] X Research Resources} You can go online to find a rat-catcher near you.

Prevent mice from entering the house

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Seal the door to prevent mice from entering the house. If there is a gap between the door and the floor, mice can go straight into the house. Mice can squeeze through very narrow cracks, so don’t look into the gap and be sure none of them can get through. Go to the hardware store and buy a rubber band to attach the door foot to seal the gap. ^{[12] X Trusted Source Centers for Disease Contrp and Prevention Go to source}

Look around the door to see if there are any places where mice can get in. It is possible that the foundation of the house has a hole and needs to be filled. You can also use a steel pin inserted to seal the hole.
Use a mesh screen to cover ventilation holes around the house. ^{[13] X Research Source}
Be sure to also check the insect net attached to the door to make sure there are no holes.

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Close the trash can. Mice are attracted to the smell of food, so you need to keep trash cans covered in your home and yard. Use trash cans with tight-fitting lids both indoors and outdoors. Remember to take your trash out on the same day of collection. ^{[14] X Research Source}

Mice can also be attracted to recycling bins because bottles, cans and paper boxes still contain food traces. You also need to cover the recycling bin.
If you do compost, make sure your compost pile is far away from your home to avoid attracting mice.

Tip: If you usually feed your birds outdoors, you should pause until the mice are resolved. You can also choose foods that don’t leave shells for mice to eat, such as snake fat, hummingbird nectar, or shelled bird feeders. ^{[15] X Trusted Source United States Environmental Protection Agency Go to source}

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Immediately clean up the mess. You need to clean up the mess that is the source of food and shelter for mice. If you leave food out, are lazy to clean up crumbs or even sweep the yard, mice may start to arrive. Keep your house clean and tidy so that your house is less attractive to mice. ^{[16] X Research Source}

You can also block a rat’s food source by storing food in an airtight container. For example, you can pour your breakfast cereal from a paper container into a plastic or glass jar with a tight-fitting lid.
If you have pets, don’t leave their food out overnight.

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Try repellents along with other pest control methods. Some people recommend peppermint oil as a natural rat repellent, although it’s unclear how effective this method really is. Try mixing 2 teaspoons (10 ml) of peppermint oil with 1 cup (240 ml) of water in a spray bottle and spray around areas where mice often congregate. ^{[17] X Research Source} You can also buy an ultrasonic rat repellent and place it around the house.

There is no solid evidence that menthol or other essential oils repel rats. Also, ultrasonic devices may be effective at first, but then the mice will get used to it and the device will lose its effectiveness. These methods should be combined with other pest control methods. ^{[18] X Research Sources}

Advice

Don’t forget to seal any openings. This job is boring but necessary. Steel rods are particularly effective and can be used in conjunction with plastering mortars (although over time steel rods will also rust through the grout). An important point to be sealed is on the back of the oven, the outlet of the power cord. Let’s seal this hole too!
Contrary to popular belief, many mice do not like cheese. Chocolate, bread, caramel, and peanut butter are good choices for bait. ^{[19] X Research Source} Mice also like corn to feed their chickens. ^{[20] X Research Source}

Warning

In many areas, it is illegal to release trap animals onto someone else’s property. If you can trap mice, you should release them in the wild or on your property.

Steps

Trap and release the mouse

Kill rats with traps and other methods

Prevent mice from entering the house

Advice

Warning

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