Best Ways to Prevent House Mice

Need mouse removal in your hometown? We service over 500 USA locations! Click here to hire us in your town and check prices - updated for year 2020.

Prevention is certainly easier where house mice are involved. It is safer, cheaper and easier than the alternative of clearing the mess after they infest a house. By preventing house mice infestation, you put an end to the nuisance they constitute even before it starts. Once in, they breed rapidly and can easily become a menace to the house’s inhabitants. Common complaints by homeowners include:

  • Mice take up residence in the attic and scurry around noisily all night; plus they chew on insulation and wiring.
  • They constantly deplete your food supply, wasting almost as much as they consume
  • They litter the house and pantry with defecation
  • They scratch and damage the walls as well as furniture and wooden structures in the house
House mice can be prevented through fencing, home repairs, or natural home-sourced remedies.



Natural remedies
Properly store foods away - House mice sneak into houses just to get food and warmth. They eat almost everything humans eat, so removing their foods is impossible as long as people live there; proper storage of foods however can keep mice away. They eat cooked food crumbs, garbage, pet leftovers, and practically everything eatable in sight. Start by storing all fruits, grains, cheeses and other foods properly in glass jars that are mouse-proof. If there is nothing in sight to eat, mice would not be attracted nor will they want to stick around if they wander in.

Proper sanitation - Ensure that your kitchen, chimney, gutter, cupboard, attics, floors and other places are kept clean and neatly arranged. House mice thrive in dirty and disorganized environments and keeping your house clean will make it unattractive to them.

Also keep your lawn and garden neat and debris free. Remove all cover so there will be nowhere to hide on their way into the house.

Trim the trees around your house - It is easy for house mice to gain access into a house if there are overhanging tree branches. All trees near to your wall or house should be kept trimmed and the overhanging branches cut.

Keep cat or dog pets - Cats and dogs around the house are a threat to house mice. They would chase mice at sight and possibly catch and kill them. The presence of a cat especially is enough to scare house mice away.

Close your doors and windows always - Except you are present there, do not leave your garage, windows, doors and backyard open. House mice can come in through them.

Cultivate mint plants - Mint plants produce an odour that is unpleasant to house mice, and which they avoid. Grow some mint plants and place around your windows, doors and other openings through which mice could possibly enter. Mint plants are not harmful to humans, but are rather medicinal capable of aiding digestion, enhancing memory, protecting against prostate cancer, tuberculosis, asthma and other respiratory disorders, bad breath, radiation damages etc.

Fencing
Fences can be installed around a yard to keep the house mouse away. For a fence to be effective in preventing mice infestation, it must be high because they are good climbers. It should also extend below ground level for about a foot or more to prevent the mice from making burrows under it to get in.

Use durable and rust-proof materials to build a mouse-proof fencing. The holes in the wiring should be close enough to prevent these small animals from getting in through it.

Electric fencing is also an option; usually made of electric wiring and plugged into an electric source. If a house mouse tries to enter through it, the resulting electric shock will not kill it, but the animal will retrace its steps hastily.

Home repairs
Conduct a thorough inspection of your house regularly to discover any new cracks or openings through which house mice can gain entrance. Walls, floors, foundations, attics, windows and chimneys are the usual places where these cracks often occur. Block all openings or cracks with steel, wood or concrete fillings. Be wary of the kind of wood you use as mice can chew through some woods to make passage.

Also replace all broken pipes and cracked ceilings as the persistent rodents can come in through them as well.

Go back to the Mice Removal page.

Select Your Animal

RaccoonsRaccoon Removal Information & How-To Tips

SquirrelsSquirrel Removal Information & How-To Tips

OpossumOpossum Removal Information & How-To Tips

SkunksSkunk Removal Information & How-To Tips

RatsRat Removal Information & How-To Tips

MiceMouse Removal Information & How-To Tips

MolesMole Removal Information & How-To Tips

GroundhogGroundhog Removal Information & How-To Tips

ArmadillosArmadillo Removal Information & How-To Tips

BeaverBeaver Removal Information & How-To Tips

FoxFox Removal Information & How-To Tips

CoyotesCoyote Removal Information & How-To Tips

BirdsBird Removal Information & How-To Tips

BatsBat Removal Information & How-To Tips

SnakesSnake Removal Information & How-To Tips

DeadDead Animal Removal Information & How-To Tips

OthersOther Wildlife Species Information & How-To Tips