No one in their right senses would want to have mice scampering and rats scuttling around their ‘home sweet home’. Would they? So, Gharpedia shares some hacks on how to get rid of mice and rats in the house.
Some Trivia About Mice and Rats
‘Joe E. Brooks & William B. Jackson’, (authors of an article – A review of commensal rodents and their control) reported that mice and rats are the most successful and abundant mammals on the planet after humans. They could never have accomplished without the assistance of humans.
Well, on a lighter note, the common house mouse should wear diapers because it deposits micro-droplets of urine constantly! Plus, it leaves its little trademark calling cards of solid waste wherever it goes. The female mouse can produce six to ten litters a year, with approximately six mice born in each litter which comes to a whopping 60 mice born each year and a mind-boggling statistical figure of their faeces!
The house mouse is most active between October and February, when it seeks warmth and shelter. Oh! and they don’t just scamper; mice are adept at climbing, jumping, swimming and gna6wing. So, you get tempted to find the ways to get rid of mice and rat immediately before they ruin your house’s electrical wires, electrical equipment and the kitchen.
Now let’s move on to our next star rodent…the rat. The rats are the unwelcomed visitors of your house. The two most common rats are the roof rat and the Norway rat. As the name implies, roof rats go high, rooting around in attics and on rooftops. It is very important to get rid of rats in the house as Norway rats (also called the brown rat, sewer rat or barn rat) can burrow three feet straight into the earth. So, you try to find the best way to get rid of rats fast, before they chew building materials like glass, cinder block, wires and aluminium.
So the following questions will come to you as you notice their presence in the house.
- How to get rid of mice and rats?
- How to naturally get rid of rats?
- How to catch rats in your house?
- How to get rid of mouse infestation?…… etc.
But first one has to know if there is any house mice infestation or mouse problems in house? Following are some points to check the presence of mice and rats in your house.
How to Know If there is a Rodent Infestation in Your House
After reading all the trivia about these two rodents, the best way to get rid of mice and rats is to make sure they don’t gain access in the first place! But how do you know if there’s a rodent in the house? Here’s a list –
- Rodents are most active at dawn and dusk. Do you hear any scampering activity in your walls or ceilings?
- Burrows and runways are typically located around concrete slabs or foundations or even along fence lines. Mouse burrows are small; rat burrows will have an irregular rounded opening that’s at least two inches in diameter.
- Urine stains or odour can be an indication of rodent infestation.
- Gnaw marks or chewed materials mean something’s been doing some illicit snacking.
- Droppings mean that rodents have been present. Gross but factual!
- Mice and rats travel along baseboards and walls; look for oily rubbing from their fur.
Mice and rats carry bacteria and viruses we can be harmful. We need to be ready in advance to avoid any kind of health issues. So you may think how to get rid of mice and rats? Here are the best ways to get rid of mice and rats:
How to Get Rid of Mice and Rats?
The best way to get rid of mouse and rats is to figure out what causes rats to get in your house and how to keep rats away and hence prevent the infestation in your house. But if you think you’ve got a big problem with mice or rats, then get a professional exterminator. Otherwise, get rid of mice and rats by setting traps. Obviously, if you have pets or children, you need to exercise extreme care in dealing with traps and poisons. Find a way to secure the area so that curious kiddies and kitties don’t come across them.
Trapping mice is gross. It’s kind of sad because when you look closely at a little mouse’s face, it’s kind of cute. Heck, Disney made gazillions exploiting a cute mouse image. But sorry to burst your bubble folks … in reality, mice are dirty and smelly, so shove your Mickey sentiment aside and get busy.
1. How to Naturally Get Rid of Rats and Mice
Before using any mechanical means to catch and kill the rodents, one always wonders what home remedies kill rat and mice. One of the easiest natural ways to get rid of rats and mice is to use peppermint oil. Peppermint does not agree with rats. Place some peppermint oil on cotton balls and place them at entry points and other nooks that you believe could be cosy abodes for these tiny creatures. To keep them at bay, repeat every few days. And the best part is that your house will always smell great!
Placing onions around small openings and gaps helps answer your question of how to keep rats away. Do ensure that they are replaced every other day. The strong odour of onions will quickly drive them away.
Rats and mice can also be killed with plaster of Paris and cocoa powder. Mix 1 tablespoon cocoa powder with plaster of Paris, and sprinkle it around the unusual trail of rat and mouse. As cocoa powder attracts these rodents, they eat this mixture and become dehydrated and suffocated. This can help solve your mouse problems in house.
One of the tricks of how to naturally get rid of rats and mice is to use garlic. Because rats dislike strong odours, you must fully exploit this trait of rats to drive them away. Combining chopped garlic with water and splattering it around your home, or spreading garlic cloves in their usual trail, can drive them away.
2. Snap Traps to Get Rid of Mice and Rats from House
So what home remedies kills rats instantly? They are snap traps. According to researcher David C. Drummer, who in his article investigated the history of mouse traps in America, stated that snap traps are without a doubt the most widely used mouse traps in North America. These traps are cheap and effective. Those with the larger paddle-type bait bar are supposedly more effective. If you’re setting one of these in an area where a pet might come in contact with it, place a shoebox over it and cut out openings on the backside, so that the mouse can gain access, but not the pet.
Tools/Things Required:
You will need some tools to set a mousetrap, which are as follows:
- Bait of your choice
- Knife
- Snap trap
Duration of Task:
Setting a snap trap does require some hand strength and dexterity. You need to be very careful not to pinch your fingers. But the actual process per se just takes a minute.
How to Catch Rats in your House by Using Snap Trap?
Below are steps on how to catch rats in your house by using a snap trap:
1. Take the trap and bait to the area where you want to set it. Load the bait on the bait bar. You can take baits like peanut butter, apples, bacon, cheese and chewy candy (like gumdrops).
2. If you’re right-handed, hold the trap in your left hand (reverse this if you’re a southpaw). Hold the trap like a guitar – with the thumb along the left edge and all four fingers on the other edge. Pull back the spring-loaded bar to the opposite end of the trap and hold it down with your thumb and fingers.
3. Angle the brace against the catch in the bait bar until it’s hooked.
4. Slowly release the bar you were holding down. The trap should now be set. Place it at a perpendicular angle to the wall base. Be very careful in setting the trap down. The slightest movement can snap it.
A word of caution – a clever mouse may lick off peanut butter bait without snapping the trap. So if you’ve got a smart mouse ensconced in your smart home, then a wise option would be to try gluing a chunk of apple or a gumdrop down, so it can’t get lunch without getting busted.
3. Other Snappy Options to Get Rid of Mice and Rats
There are other snap traps that are quick and easy to set and pose no risk to your fingers. These traps encase the mouse in a plastic housing, so you don’t need to handle the dead mouse to dispose of it. They cost about twice as much as the other snap traps, but they are reusable.
Catch-and-reusable traps won’t hurt the mouse at all. Once you’ve got the little fella, you can always drive out into the woods and release him. Then there’s no blood on your hands!
If you suspect rats, you’ll need to buy the much larger rat trap. Rats are supposedly more suspicious than mice when it comes to investigating bait, but the snap traps work. However, be warned that disposing of a dead rat is disgusting – you can only do it if you have a ‘can do’ attitude and of course a good pair of gloves! It is the best way to get rid of rats fast.
4. Bait Stations to Get Rid of Mice and Rats
The principle behind baiting is that by ingesting the pellets, the mouse is eventually poisoned to death. This might be fine for pests in your garage, but it’s icky to think there’s a poisoned mouse carcass somewhere in your house (we won’t even mention the dirty stench!).
Still, if you decide to go ahead and use bait stations, then place them at every eight feet or so and use them in an area where you’re fairly sure you’ll be able to locate the carcasses and dispose them. Otherwise, you’ll have a couple of months’ of stink on your hands!
5. How to Get Rid of Mice and Rats with Glue Traps?
Glue traps are used not only for mice, but for insects and spiders too. They’re typically scented (some smell like popcorn!) which is what attracts the rodent (and even insects) to the trap. These are probably the most victim-friendly traps because they don’t involve poison. However, it can be a torturous death because the mouse will struggle to free itself. If you catch one on a glue trap, place it in a plastic bag, seal it and dispose it. It may sound pretty cruel, but well, if you’ve declared war on mice you might not have a problem with the glue traps.
A word of caution – glue traps don’t work very well in wet or dusty areas because these conditions compromise the quality of the adhesive. They also don’t work well in attics with blown-in insulation because there are so many free-floating fibers present.
Summary
In the end, we all agree that the sensitive among us might find it harsh to compromise with the lives of rats and mice with such traps, but it’s YOU who needs to make a choice between the lives of rodents and the health of the members of your family. Follow these tricks and tips on how to get rid of mice and rats, you will surely be able to keep these rodents from your house.
Make sure to check out our other articles:
Top 7 Outdoor Pest Control Tips to Keep Pests Away from Your Home
Image Courtesy: Image 8, Image 9
Author Bio
Huta Raval – An English Literature and Journalism Topper, Huta Raval has graduated from the L D Arts College, Ahmedabad. Post serving for 23 years in the NBFC and Public Library Sectors her desire for ‘writing the unwritten’ brought her to the creative field of content writing. Her clientele comprises of NGOs, Blogging Platforms, Newspapers, Academic Institutions, et al.
