It’s the middle of the night, and suddenly, you wake to the sounds of chewing and the patter of tiny feet in the ceiling above your bed. First, there’s crunching and pattering over here, then it’s over there.
Now, it sounds like there could be a whole party taking place over your head. No, it’s not Santa and his reindeer, it’s a mouse, crawling around in your house. You lie there, wide awake, listening to it run around, wishing there was some way to get rid of the darn thing that didn’t entail using traps or poisons. You don’t really want to kill the mouse, but you do want it to go away.
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A Safe, Easy Alternative To Mice Traps And Poisons
There is one old-fashioned way of getting rid of mice that does not require using poison or traps:
Oil of Peppermint
That’s right, peppermint oil. Not the extract you can buy at the grocery store and use in baking, but the oil of the peppermint, which is a concentrate found in health food stores and places that sell essential oils for use in aromatherapy.
First, you have to cut a tiny hole in the ceiling–try to pick a spot like in a corner, where it will not be noticed. And, if your ceiling is made of drywall, you can carefully cut a tiny square out of the drywall with a knife and simply glue it back into place when you are done.
Once you have a small hole cut, (an inch or so is just fine), soak several cotton balls in the peppermint oil and then place them up into the ceiling. Mice hate the smell of peppermint and within a few days, they will move on to find a less pungent place to take up housekeeping.
If you don’t want to make a hole in the ceiling, try cutting one in the wall, near the baseboard. The object is to get the smell of the peppermint as close to where the mouse is nesting as possible so that it will move on.
If you’ve seen mice droppings, place the peppermint-swabbed cotton balls near those areas as well. The peppermint smell will wear off so will need to be replaced 1-2 times per week if mice are still a problem. An alternative is adding peppermint oil to a spray bottle mixed with water and spray the corners of your rooms 1-2 times per week.
Plant Peppermint Plants Around The Outside
To prevent mice from even approaching your house, try planting peppermint plants around the base of your house.
Peppermint is a fast-growing, almost invasive plant given enough sunlight and moisture, so gives it plenty of room to spread. Not only will it keep the mice away, but it will be ready for those tall cold glasses of mint tea in the summertime or those mojitos that taste so good with Mexican food.
Image Source: Wikipedia
