Pepermint?? Mouse problem help!

I know a while back there was a thread on this regarding ants and how peppermint repelled them.

I am not having an ant problem, but it winter here and the problem I am having is mice!! Those little buggers seem to be moving into every corner of the house!!! I am thoroughly disgusted by it!!! I hate killing them but we have no choice. ( and I sure as hell don't want to touch them!!) I WILL NOT LIVE WITH A RODENT!

I opened up the dresser in my craft room where I keep a varitey of craft supplies the other day. I discovered evidence in EVERY drawer. They have been eating my paper, my yarn, they bring dog food into the drawers. I have had to thow out hundreds of dollars in yarn and supplies. I am sanitizing my crochet hooks and scissors for petes sake!!


I read that peppermint repels rodents so I have placed pepermint in each and every drawer, after laboriously cleaning them out (YUK). PLEASE some one tell me this is going to help.
Any other suggestions for natural solutions??? My house is an old farm house, and we are on four acres, so I expect to see one once in a while, but this is rediculeous.

Majecot, sorry to hear about your mouse troubles. I wish I knew of something that keeps the rodents away, but at the moment, the only idea I can think of is this: Get a cat. Best of luck.

BlueManticore

oh Majecot, sweetie!
It is really horrible when you feel invaded by the mouse population!

This very thing happened all the time when I lived back home...
I once had to put some of my art work on sale due to mouse damage!

We wanted to take the natural repellent route...but found that nothing really worked...not even peppermint!
We ended up using live traps, baited with peanut butter. We caught a few, released them outside...and I am sure they found thier way back in!

Does it help to know threy will be gone as soon as it is warm outside again?

It's them or you.

The best solution is to get Mice Cubes from Walmart, and some D-con. It's a smoky colored plastic rectangle with a one way door. They cost about 1.50 . Get a bunch before it's too late.

You mix peanut butter and D-con into a little blob and put it in the far end. Then you do a little rub of peanut butter on the door and wipe it off so they can smell it. No mouse can resist the peanut butter for long. They go in and can't get out. (But at least they die eating something yummy.) Put the cubes along the baseboards all over your house. It sounds like you have an infestation going.

When you find one dead , it is very nice because the cube is smoke colored and you don't have to view the gorey details. I have found the best way for collection is to approach with a square of alluminum foil (I like to hold it so I can't actually see anything) and just smoosh it down and cover the whole cube, folding it under. Then, into the trash.

Of course, you could just bait with peanut butter and no poison and let them go live. But, they will be back.

After you stop catching any, it is always best to keep a baited cube in the areas where you caught the most. Try to find out how they are getting in . Stuff any cracks with steel wool, for example, gaps around pipes. Don't exclude the roof as a source of entry. Some mice will go up a tree, onto a branch, and then onto the roof.

Don't panic. The cube has never failed.

Thanks guys.. I was pretty distraught over the whole situation! This place has so many weird nooks and crannies it is hard to see when the little buggers come in from.

Christmas befor last we discovered a squirrel living in the basement. I was quite a trick getting him out with out the dog getting him. I was thinking I was going crazy, I was finding little piles of dog food in strange places daily...on top of the speakers, behide the stereo, in our boots in the closet.

Now the mice are taking his food. Our poor dog is stressed over them too.

I have never had to work so hard keeping a place clean ( at first I thought the fae were playing tricks...lol)

I almost feel like moving and letting them have the house!

I think a trip to Walmart is in order for sure!

Thinking some more on this topic, you should really put whatever is sacred in plastic containers. Like silverware !! There is nothing more sickening than seeing droppings in the silverware drawer.

Here is the worst:

In the old house, there were only 2 mice in 20 years . One night I heard a noise and went into the kitchen to investigate. As I drew near the counter, a mouse popped out of the toaster at me !!! Talk about nervous breakdown !! I had never even given the toaster a thought, but there are usually crumbs in there.

So now, my new toaster is always encased in a plastic container when not in use. And luckily in the new house, no mice have showed up in the cubes at all. But my toaster will never go undefended again.

shudders Don't I know it!!!
I have also replaced all of my seasonal keepsakes in Rubbermaid cotainers too! Nothing worse than opening something up to find beady little eyes looking at you.

I have some knitting projects in the works that I have to replace the yarn for. I usually have several going at once, and am in and out of those drawers all the time... that is why I was so surprise they had been in them and done so much damage.

I shall be getting some of those cubes today, along with some steel wool.

Two winters ago we had a problem with them, same time as the squirrel... I found them in the front hall closet where we hang the winter coats.. I pulled out my favorite coat and four of them were in the sleeves...I have never been the same since. I was the typical woman on the chair!!! My family never laughed so hard.

I am still trying the peppermint too... my whole house smells like it... better safe than sorry!

Maj

Just a thought, be careful where you put this D-Con (never heard of it) because of your dog!!

We had mice about a year after we moved into our new house (brand new!) and we could hear them scurrying in the attic, so we used poison (yep I know it's cruel, but if you have ever had mice you would do the same).

The worst damage they did was in the shed (including eating the shed) they ate a kids paddling pool (yep all of it shredded and stored in the lawn mower) and parasol and a sun lounger. They also ate through the electrical cable on the mower. Then they started on the shed floor. They are incredibly distructive and carry germs. They tend to travel the same routes and it's usually along the edges of rooms - around the skirting board, and..... they urinate as they go - eeeyuuckkkk.

I'm not afraid of these little creatures, they look very cute..... but don't be fooled. There is nothing worse than laying in bed and hearing them scuttling around the floor..... and.... they climb!

Moonbow* said:

Just a thought, be careful where you put this D-Con (never heard of it) because of your dog!!

We had mice about a year after we moved into our new house (brand new!) and we could hear them scurrying in the attic, so we used poison (yep I know it's cruel, but if you have ever had mice you would do the same).

Click to expand...

The D-Con pellets go into the cube mixed with peanut butter and the blob sticks there, so a dog shouldn't be able to get it . But I guess you could take extra precautions and wedge them under heavy stuff a dog couldn't move. Or put the cube into an old cookie tin with a small hole cut in it. One of the advantages of the cube is that you catch the mouse , and it isn't loose to crawl back up into a wall and die on you after eating the poison.

People do have varied opinions on using poison , but I have been a vegetarian for more than 30 years so I count that as making up for any mice killer sins I am committing.

How terrible for them to be in the sleeve of a coat !! Why do they always know just how to get you??

My daughter told me a story she heard from a coworker who thought she had seen a mouse run past in her house. Time went by, and she never heard or saw anything else. Then she and her husband decided it was time to turn the mattress. And there were acorns under it !!! They must have had a chipmunk who thought under mommy & daddy's bed was the best place to store them !!

I have friend who also found a hole in the side of her mattress where something had gotten in. She kept having sensations of something moving !! I bet they like the body warmth. Ugh.

Thinking more about the dog situation, the cube can be used with just peanut butter and no poison D-Con at all. The mouse will just suffocate eventually . So even if the dog could manage to get the peanut butter out , it wouldn't hurt.