Does Peppermint Oil Control Mice? Here's How to Use It

1. Inspect and Identify

   • Use a bright flashlight to illuminate the roofline and foundation of your home, looking for gaps, damage, and holes. Be on the lookout for damaged screens and vents.
   • When inspecting the attic, crawlspace, and garage, look for evidence of nesting, including droppings, soiled and disturbed insulation, shredded plastic, and other nesting materials.
   • Take a walk around the perimeter of your house, using your mechanic's mirror to check for gaps between the siding and foundation. This is a common place where mice enter the crawlspace and walls of the home.
   • Use a Frye Inspection Tool to measure gaps around your house, from door frames to window frames and openings in the siding. If the tool fits, so could a mouse.
     
   • Don't forget to check your yard for burrows, runways, and tunnels.

   Tip

   If you find droppings, you must determine whether they're from a mouse, rat, or bat. If it's more like a tic tac in size and shape, it's probably a rat dropping. If the dropping looks more like a grain of rice, it's likely a mouse or bat.

   
   

   To tell between the two, squish the sample between your gloved fingers. If it squishes flat, it's from a mouse, and if it crumbles apart, it's from a bat.

2. Create a Treatment Plan

   Use your inspection information to come up with a step-by-step plan.

   • Prioritize any repairs and exclusion, including moisture-damaged wood, chewed door sweeps, holes, gaps, and the spaces around your utility cables.
   • Place mouse traps immediately after sealing the holes to ensure you catch any mice that might be sealed inside.
   • Consider the factors around your home that could attract mice to your property, like food, water, and ground cover. Then, try to remove them, or at least move them away from the house.
     

3. Perform Exclusion

   Stay away from spray foam, as mice and rats can chew through it like circus peanuts. Instead, opt for chew-proof supplies, like hardware cloth, metal flashing, and steel-reinforced caulking. Hardware cloth cut to size is excellent for covering holes, and metal flashing can be cut with tin snips and used on corners that would be hard to seal otherwise.

   Use self-drilling screws to attach the hardware cloth or flashing in place. These will allow you to screw through all kinds of materials, including metal. Seal around utility lines and pipes with escutcheon plates and caulk. For smaller holes, pack them tightly with coarse steel wool instead.

   Warning

   The edges of metal flashing and hardware cloth can be dangerous to work with, especially once cut. Consider wearing sturdy work gloves when handling these materials.

4. Place Traps

   Once entry points are sealed, you'll need to place traps to ensure no mice are trapped inside. Make sure to use mouse snaps for mice and rat snaps for rats—they are not interchangeable.

   Mice use the walls as a guide as they run around. Keep this in mind and place traps perpendicular to the wall, with the trigger (also called a catch or bait plate). You can bait snap traps if you want, but if they're placed correctly, and mice are present, you shouldn't need to bait them at all.

   Place glue trays in areas where you suspect mice are coming and going frequently (like the garage, attic, or crawlspace). Glue trays work well because they can trap multiple mice without needing to be reset or replaced. Also, it can help to put a little drizzle of chocolate syrup in the middle before placing them.

   Warning

   Repelling mice with peppermint oil is unreliable and won't force them out for good. At best, it might keep them away from specific spots, but if your traps are close to where peppermint oil was applied, the mice might avoid coming near them.

5. Modify the Habitat

   If you've had mice inside, focus first on areas where you know they've been feeding and nesting.

   • Clean up and remove soiled food items and properly seal or remove other food items, such as pet food and bird seed.
   • Ensure that messes stay cleaned up, including food wrappers and even crayons. Mice aren't picky.

   Next, take your mouse control efforts outside.

   • Trim back any trees or shrubs that touch the house. Mice are good climbers and could use these plants as mouse highways.
     
   • Remove dense grass, plants, and vegetation from the perimeter of your home.
   • Avoid storing items and piling clutter along your foundation, including woodpiles. Objects around your foundation provide mice with hiding areas close to your home's inviting warmth and tempting smells.
   • Remove as many food and water sources as possible. For example, keep lids on the garbage, keep your compost contained, and remove or reposition bird feeders away from the house.

   Tip

   It's ideal to have an 18-24" border of pea gravel around your house that is plant, vegetation, and clutter-free. This prevents all kinds of pests, including rodents, wildlife, birds, and insects, from hanging out right up against the siding, foundation, or roof.

6. Have a Plan for Sanitation and Maintenance

   Once the house is sealed, the interior population is eliminated through trapping, and the habitat is adjusted to reduce food and water sources, it's time to do the final cleanup. This step can involve peppermint oil if you want.

   The key to using a mild repellent like peppermint oil when there's a mouse issue nearby is ensuring the mice are completely out of your house before using it. The last thing you want is to drive mice further into the walls of your home.

   • Clean-up should start by making sure your insulation isn't heavily damaged, and nesting sites have been cleaned. If the inside of your home reeks like mice and has evidence of nesting, it could be difficult to keep additional mice away. A crawlspace or attic cleanout might be necessary in severe cases.
   • Once the severe mouse mess is cleaned, and damage is repaired (and you're sure there are no mice inside), you can use a homemade cleaner with peppermint oil to give the place a final cleaning. Not only are you sanitizing, but you're removing any lingering mouse scents that could draw more mice in.

When to Call a Professional

Mice don't just cause property damage. They also carry disease and are known for heavily soiling their nesting and feeding sites.

Suppose your home needs to have your insulation repaired or replaced. In that case, it's worth calling a company that specializes in cleanouts and insulation.

If you are overwhelmed or underprepared to conquer your mouse issue, don't hesitate to call a local, trusted pest control company. After all, your health, safety, time, and stress are worth the cost of knowing the job was done right, and the mice are gone!