Can Peppermint Candy Be Used To Get Rid Of Mice?

When mice enter your home, they can cause unseen damage. Along with this, they may come with their list of diseases that can quickly transfer to you and your family. That said, mice are a pest no one wants in their home. A popular question homeowners ask is if you can use peppermint candies to repel them from your home, so let us dig deeper on the subject.

When it comes to repelling mice with peppermint candies, it is true. Mice tend to hate the smell of peppermint. Because of its muscular smell, mice will try to go out of their way to avoid it.

If you want to attempt to repel mice from coming into your home with peppermint candies, take a plastic bag, put 1 or 2 peppermints into it, and smash the sweets into a powder. Put the powder into a squirt bottle with water and spray along the perimeter of your home. Spray every few days to keep the smell up. 

While you can use peppermint candies to repel mice from your home, it is not the best idea. Below we will go into more detail if you want to use peppermint candies to repel mice. However, we will discuss more options for you to use to keep mice out of your home.

Can I Use Peppermint Candy To Get Rid Of Mice?

There are many methods for keeping mice out or getting rid of a mice infestation in your home. One of those methods is using peppermint candies. Using this candy is because mice hate the smell of peppermint. With its pungent smell, mice will go out of their way to avoid it. 

If you plan on using peppermint candies to help keep mice out of your home, or if you are preparing to use these candies to help get mice out of your home, here are some steps you should follow:

First off, get yourself some peppermint Altoids. These Altoids are powerful peppermint candies and are easily crushable. The best and easiest way of doing this is to take a plastic zip lock bag of any kind and put your Altoids in it. Start crushing the Altoids into a fine powder with a hammer or a pan. 

1. Making a Powder Barrier

The first step is to sprinkle the Altoid powder around where you suspect mice have been or may go. The next step is to search your house for any places where you’ve seen mice or mouse droppings since these are the areas where you’ll need to sprinkle your peppermint Altoid powder.

Because mice generally stick to a trail, they mark by rubbing their fur against surfaces to learn their routes from their nest to food sources and advise the other mice where to go. You should sprinkle peppermint Altoid powder in the areas where you may have observed mice or droppings. Peppermint not only repels mice but also helps to disguise the pheromone trail they leave behind in your home.

Most mouse droppings are likely to be found in your kitchen cupboards, as it is where they look for food. While dusting your peppermint Altoid powder, put any food in your cabinets into plastic containers with lids to keep rodents out.

Make sure to sprinkle the peppermint powder throughout the bedrooms, closets, under furniture, and wherever else you don’t want rodents to go.

2. Making a Spray and Spraying Around Your House

Keep two tablespoons of peppermint Altoid powder aside since you’ll need to prepare a peppermint spray with it after dusting some over your house. Fill a spray bottle halfway with two teaspoons of peppermint Altoid powder, 2 cups of hot water, and one tablespoon of dish soap to make this. When you’ve combined all three components in a squirt bottle, please give it a good shake before using it.

Spray the peppermint water and soap combination over all of the entryway, windows, baseboards, and any other places you suspect mice are entering your home. Many individuals overlook the need to spray the outside of their homes. So, when you’ve finished spraying the interior of your house, make sure to spray the outside as well. This will assist in scaring the mice away before they enter your home.

3. Keep Doing It

If you neglect to keep up on this process, the peppermint smell that the mice hate will eventually fade away, and your makeshift barrier will cease to function. Repeat this process every few days. Respray, and reline your home with peppermint powder. 

Keep in mind that this peppermint method is not guaranteed to work. Many other forms will work better without the smell of peppermint throughout your home.

Other Methods To Consider When Trying To Repel Or Get Rid Of Mice

While you can use peppermint candy to repel mice and get them out of your home, it is not a foolproof method and is not entirely guaranteed. Below we will talk about other ways to consider before using peppermint candy for mice.

1. Block All Entry Points

The most critical preventative precaution to keep mice and rats out of your house is checking the foundation and walls for potential access spots. When rats or mice seek shelter from the cold in the fall, it’s an excellent opportunity to do your inspection tour.

Mice may squeeze through gaps as tiny as 1/4 inch in diameter, so seal foundation fractures with masonry repair material and check joints around windows and door sills for cracks that might let mice in.

Check the condition of the weather seals at the bottom edges of garage doors. Your garage may become a lovely home for a mouse if it is insulated. Rodents enjoy the warmth of insulation, so check your attic as well. However, there is currently no rodent-proof insulation on the market, but spray foam insulation may help keep rats away.

2. Sealing Pet Food

If you have pets and see signs of mice or want to prevent them from entering your home, putting your pet food in an airtight container is a great way to cut off a potential food source for these rodents. Mice typically only stick around if they have a reliable food source and water to live off of. 

Keeping your pet’s food off the ground and in airtight containers will drastically reduce the likelihood of mice entering your home and setting up nests.

3. Sealing Off Garbage Bins

Sealing garbage bins will fall under the same category as the previous step for preventing mice from entering or staying in your home. Garbage can be easy for rats and mice to get the food they need to survive. Keeping lids on your garbage pails inside and outside your home reduces the chances of mice staying.

Along with mice sealing the garbage pails outside of your home will also reduce the chances of having problems with other pests like raccoons or stray dogs and cats.

4. Seal Dry Foods

Rodents and pests like mice, rats, and even other pests like weevils may easily access flour, sugar, and other food stored in bags or paper cartons. Keep these goods on high shelves or in the refrigerator in firmly sealed plastic or metal containers. If your home does not smell like a food source, it will not entice rodents to live there.

5. Controlling Your Outside Garden

Mice and rats seek access holes via foundations or walls, while dense bushes and garden vegetation that butt up close to the home give hiding locations. Plant shrubs along the house’s perimeter a few feet away from the foundation and keep the soil level low so mice cannot slip beneath the siding.

6. Keeping Your Home Nice And Clean

Keeping your home nice and clean is an excellent deterrent for mice and rats. These pests can live on a surprisingly low amount of food, so leaving a few crumbs on your countertops or the floor can be enough food for these pests to live. 

So, keeping up on messes you and your family make will help you keep these pests at bay.

7. Keep Outside Doors Closed

Garage doors left wide open can be an invitation to rats and mice, especially in the fall when these rodents are seeking a warm place for winter. Get into the habit of closing your garage door immediately after entering or exiting with your car, and also keep side entry doors to the garage closed.

Keep sliding patio doors and basement windows closed or protected with screens to prevent rodents from entering. Never leave a garage door, or other entries open overnight, as the dark hours are when rodents are especially active.

8. Set Traps and Bait

Set a few traps and bait stations indoors throughout the year, mainly as a diagnostic measure. A live trap is a non-poisonous and humane approach to catching and releasing rats while also notifying you when they gain access to your house.

The finest live traps are chamber traps with a spring-loaded door closing when mice enter looking for food. It would be best to avoid sticky traps since mice have been known to gnaw their own feet to release themselves from the adhesive, as these traps are far from humane.

Traditional spring traps are an excellent alternative if you have no qualms about killing mice; they generally kill mice fast and with little harm to the critter.

Poisonous, thirst-inducing pellets at a bait station cause the mouse to seek water outside, where it dies. It’s far easier to trap one or two mice or rats early on in an infestation than to deal with an infestation after a colony has established itself in your walls. Keep all traps and rodent poison baits out of the reach of youngsters and pets.

Final Thoughts

Mice are a terrible pest to have to thrive in your home. They destroy your property and can make you quite sick. So there are plenty of reasons you would want to keep them out of your home. We hope to have provided you with the information you sought to keep these pests from entering your home and eliminate them.