Mouse repellent

[Marianne]

So the mint isn't working that well? That's what I'd always heard, mint and the dryer sheets. Soda pop will kill them, especially cheap strawberry flavored, but then they end up dead in your walls and smell really bad until they dry up enough. If anyone finds something, make sure you post it.

We have indoor cats, still end up with a couple mice every year. I always know when there's one around, a cat will be sitting in front of a wall, staring at the floor.

Kitchen cupboards have all kinds of places for mice to hide and set up a home. Unfortunately, the cats aren't able to get to those places. So far, our cats have caught our indoor mice. They don't kill them as a rule, but the mouse is held hostage long enough for me to get a couple cans to scoop it up and take it outside. Recycled mouse.

But we have outdoor cats too.

 

[Britesea]

There is no sure-fire way to keep rodents (or insects) completely out of your home. This is a battle humans have fought throughout history. All that traps, poison, repellants and predators can do is keep the numbers down to something considered "acceptable". Reducing food sources and nesting sources helps, but if you have any kind of life at all, this also becomes an "acceptable numbers" kind of thing.

 

[moxies_chickennuggets]

There is no sure-fire way to keep rodents (or insects) completely out of your home. This is a battle humans have fought throughout history. All that traps, poison, repellants and predators can do is keep the numbers down to something considered "acceptable". Reducing food sources and nesting sources helps, but if you have any kind of life at all, this also becomes an "acceptable numbers" kind of thing.

True...true. I was just curious if there was such a thing as a "mouse repellent". I guess I will try clove oil and a few others, just to see if it works. I have already done the bagging all the small appliances, but that can get tiresome too.
I have also never dealt with the rodent problem in such numbers. This is the first time I have had to look around and see if there is any alternatives to traps...etc....
Cats never seem to work. They always find food elsewhere.

 

[the funny farm6]

I had a snake loose all summer and found this fall. Still no mice in the house, want to borrow a snake to put in your cabonet? . Hehehe.

 

[moxies_chickennuggets]

I had a snake loose all summer and found this fall. Still no mice in the house, want to borrow a snake to put in your cabonet? . Hehehe.

I have had 4 snakes in the past 6 months!! I don't think even they can keep up

 

[hqueen13]

Just googled it to see what was out there, and read another forum (from another great site, www.gardenweb.com ) and found that people had similar experiences to this thread - i.e. no consistent results with any one thing.
It seems to me that clove or mint would be possible, only because a lot of wild animals prefer not to be around strong aromas - they can't accurately smell if there is a predator in the vicinity if their nose is full of cloves!
But since that doesn't seem to be totally reliable, and would require frequent re-application, then something else would need to be used.
The one thing that does make perfect sense is ferrets. Someone posted that they had mice problems and had cats and dogs, and that when their daughter moved into the house with ferrets the mice moved out, and so did the squirrels under the eaves in the attic! That makes total sense because a mouse's real predator would be a ferret more than a cat. House cats probably hunt mice out of convenience, but in the "wild" they would likely eat something that would fill them up a bit more than a tiny mouse (i.e. rabbits, chipmunks or squirrels). Ferrets on the other hand, are really serious predators.
Not that anybody wants to have to buy another critter just to keep the mice out, but it is worth a thought anyway!
Best of luck... I hope that is a problem I never have to deal with! (Fleas on the dogs are bad enough!)

 

[moxies_chickennuggets]

Well, mousetraps require frequent re-application also

 

[hqueen13]

 

[Britesea]

Just googled it to see what was out there, and read another forum (from another great site, www.gardenweb.com ) and found that people had similar experiences to this thread - i.e. no consistent results with any one thing.
It seems to me that clove or mint would be possible, only because a lot of wild animals prefer not to be around strong aromas - they can't accurately smell if there is a predator in the vicinity if their nose is full of cloves!
But since that doesn't seem to be totally reliable, and would require frequent re-application, then something else would need to be used.
The one thing that does make perfect sense is ferrets. Someone posted that they had mice problems and had cats and dogs, and that when their daughter moved into the house with ferrets the mice moved out, and so did the squirrels under the eaves in the attic! That makes total sense because a mouse's real predator would be a ferret more than a cat. House cats probably hunt mice out of convenience, but in the "wild" they would likely eat something that would fill them up a bit more than a tiny mouse (i.e. rabbits, chipmunks or squirrels). Ferrets on the other hand, are really serious predators.
Not that anybody wants to have to buy another critter just to keep the mice out, but it is worth a thought anyway!
Best of luck... I hope that is a problem I never have to deal with! (Fleas on the dogs are bad enough!)

Actually, everything seems to want to kill mice. Even deer will stomp a mouse if they see it. That's why they are so prolific- otherwise they would have died out a long time ago. I remember a documentary that showed that arctic wolves eat MOSTLY mice, especially in the summer. The reason so many cats don't hunt mice is that they weren't taught by their mothers to hunt them. Predatory behavior is only partly instinctive- the animal still needs to learn what to hunt and how to hunt it. A house cat that has always had it's food served to it from a bowl may not even recognize mice as something good to eat.

 

[Marianne]

I agree, Britesea. I think the kitties that are adopted at 6 weeks old from housecat mothers will have that instinctual thing to hunt mice, but if they are adopted at 8 or 9 weeks old from a barn cat, they'll know exactly what to do - even with a full belly and a bowl of kibble available!