Pests in the home: Mice

You have to read this heading carefully or it looks a bit like 'pets'... but nope, I'm writing about those unwanted critters that enter the home. We all have to deal with some pests in the home at one or another time... and sure, there are lots of poisons and chemicals you can buy to deter pests, but if a bottle states 'keep away from children' or 'consult a doctor if consumed' you really should be worried about putting that on any of your home surfaces and exposing you and your family to it. It really isn't worth the health risk to use nasty chemicals in your home. Luckily there are natural ways to deter pests, and I'm going to be writing a post about it once a month. We'll start off with MICE!

Mice get into our homes via the smallest of spaces - it is true that if you can fit a pencil into a space, a mouse can get through it... I've even seen it with my own eyes.

How do you know if you have mice? For a start you might here them running about at night... eek! But check inside food cupboards, and especially under the sink - if you see small black rod shaped droppings, I'm afraid you have a mouse problem. Even if you're not frightened by them, there is a very good reason why you don't want mice in your house... Mice can damage your property gnawing away at wires, and by sharing the food you leave in cupboards they can spread contagious diseases to you, your family and your pets. They also carry fleas into your home (I'll be posting about fleas for the next post on pests), and contaminate surfaces with their droppings.

I once saw a mouse cheekily run straight past me, into the kitchen and proceeded to climb onto the work surface via a tea towel hanging on a hook, I couldn't believe my eyes.
But as you know, I'm not going to recommend you poison them, so what can you do?

1- Cleanliness

First off, sweeping up food spills off the floor and keeping the cupboards and surfaces clean is a good start. Store opened food items in seal-able containers, pet food is particularly appealing to mice and they will gnaw right through the bags, so solid containers really are the best (I store our dog's food in a fermentation bucket as used by home brewers - they are cheap and come with an airtight lid).

2- Mouse traps
Mouse traps can work, but most people, including myself, feel uncomfortable with the thought of killing a mouse, but of course that's up to you. You can get humane traps such as the one below. Peanut butter and bacon fat work well in a mouse trap - you need something with a strong smell. Don't forget that once you've caught the mouse you need to release it quite some distance away from your house, or the little critters will just come straight back.


Multi-catch humane trap available from the Natural Collection.

3- Close up holes
Try to determine where the mice might be entering your home or cupboards. Usually you can see which areas the mice are living in by where the most droppings are, so start there to see if there are any holes in the wall nearby or perhaps a gap in the wall where pipes enter your house. These gaps can be stuffed with bits of copper dish scrubbers or steelwool - mice can't chew through these but they still allow for ventilation!

4- Deter them with smell

Use peppermint oil! Mice don't like the smell of it, so putting a few drops of the peppermint oil on some cotton wool balls, and leaving them where you find the mouse droppings will keep them away. Remember to replace these when the smell starts fading.

Hopefully that should sort out your mice problems if you ever have the misfortune of having to deal with them.

Watch out for my next post about easy ways to neatly fold t-shirts.
See you soon!