The best strategy for keeping rats away is to work to keep these pests out of your home. Once an infestation has begun, they are hard to get rid of. Here are 13 clever ways you can take to keep these rodents out of your home and away for good:
Baking Soda
Put baking soda anywhere you have noticed any tracks or droppings. Be extra careful to keep it in a place where your household pets can’t get ahold of it as it isn’t good for them. A good trick is to put it in a box or container with a hole just big enough for the mice and rats to get into.
Ammonia
Did you know that when animal urine decomposes, it produces ammonia? For this reason, mice avoid anywhere with this scent out of fear that it comes from a larger animal looking to eat them for supper. When using ammonia to repel mice, sprinkle just a few drops of ammonia where the mice are nesting, too much ammonia can be harmful to both pets and humans.
Cayenne Pepper
We’re all for a little bit of cayenne pepper to season up our dishes, but mice, on the other hand, aren’t fans of the stinging sensation from ingesting spices. Sprinkle some cayenne pepper anywhere in your house that mice may be hiding.
Tabasco Sauce
Just like cayenne pepper, mice hate hot sauce. While cayenne pepper is easy to sprinkle inside your home, you wouldn’t want to lather up your carpet in hot sauce. Use this method outside around your home’s foundation to deter mice from coming inside.
Dryer Sheets
The pungent smell of dryer sheets may be pleasant to us, but to mice the smell is overwhelming. Stuff a few dryer sheets in the places around your home where mice like to hide.
Peppermint:
Nothing screams, “This is a clean house!” than the smell of peppermint. Using peppermint scented cleaning products not only leaves your home smelling fresh, but it also deters mice from living there.
Add a few drops of mint essential oils to your all-purpose cleaner, sprinkle some peppermint Altoids around mice nesting areas, or plant some fresh mint around the foundation of your home to keep the rodents out.
Cat Litter
If you see places where mice might be nesting outside, put some used cat litter near the entrance. The smell of the litter itself is strong which can drive them away but, since it is used they will also smell the urine which tells them that there are cats nearby.
Ground Cloves
Ground cloves have a pretty strong smell which will drive the mice and rats away. You can sprinkle it around nest entrances or, put a mesh bag of it near the hole. This is another one you will need to replace every few days as the scent fades.
Fill holes, cracks and gaps
Rats can slip into holes the size of a quarter. Check your home for any opening that is larger or smaller. Seal them up with proper materials. These include steel wool, hardware cloth, caulk, cement, and plaster. Weather-strip doors and windows if there are large cracks. Sealing these entry points is one of the most effective forms of rodent control!
Remove their habitat
Don’t give these vermin a place to live. Remove debris, such as limbs, old cars, or appliances, from your property. If you have wood piles or lumber, store them at least 18 inches above ground and a foot or so away from your home and other walls. Remove heavy vegetation, as rats consider this a great hiding place.
Set traps inside
There are several commonly available traps to catch rats inside your home that are not dangerous to pets and children, such as cage traps.
Get a Cat
Adopting a cat is a good way to keep control of pests that may be in the home. Mice naturally go after mice and rats, but they will commonly leave them as gifts to you somewhere in the home. Not only will a cat help keep the number of pests in the home down, but the smell of a cat will also naturally deter others from coming in.
There are many other ways to keep mice and rats out of your home, but these are the most common and effective ways to eliminate them.