I would like to try and deter mice from our house. My problem is this: There is a hole on the outside of the house where the top of the foundation meets the house. I am afraid that if I put mint in the hole they will find "another" point of exit for the mice that are already in the hole, creating yet another hole, or there could be dead mice in the house walls if they have no other exit.
I was talking to a pest control officer and He told me that the spray expanding foam is a good deterrent because it seals up the cracks or holes causing them to find another place to take up residence. Foil and steel wool work well too. But I would take the expense of a few cans of expanding foam and seal all the way around the house. I don't know what the area between the house and foundation looks like but for an added bonus after the foam you can construct some kind of encasement or cover so nothing will chew threw. I hope this helps you some.
Forget the mint. You need to block all holes in the foundation to prevent mice from getting in the house. Now is a good time to do that.
Mice are pretty good at squeezing throught he smallest spaces (and will chew through just about anything. Try stuffing steel wool in cracks/small holes. They can't chew through steel.
At the hardware store you can get a can of foaming insulation. You spray it into the hold or even a crack and it expands to fill the area. Ask at you hardware store. You can also get liquid cement in a can to fill cracks and holes All cracks and holes must be filled or MICE will get in.
My grandma just told about this subject she said that mice do not like foil. She says if you put foil in the holes that would get rid of them.
Steel wool is one thing the little critters can't eat. When we moved into our new house I went around with steel wool and plugged all the holes around the openings into the house. Around pipes coming in around sinks everywhere. We live behind a field and of course, the mice love it there. I just don't want them in my house.
The steel wool is the best. They can't stand it in their mouths. You see how small one mouse is, and how small his little headbone is?
We had mice coming in thru my DD's closet. My husband tried to block the cracks but forgot or couldnt get some of the holes. They were coming in thru the cracks in the floor where the wall and floor meet. I heard about putting baking soda in there. I poured the baking soda in the cracks and all over the floor of the end of the closet where they were coming in. We have 2 mouse traps in there, and there have not been any mice, or tracks from mice since, Been doing this for a couple years now.I vaccum up the old and put down new only couple times/year.
Use peppermint oil and speriment oil - I live in Texas so everything is bigger here -and the field mice were horrible in my litle Pier and Beam home - so I went to Whole Foods in Dallas - and they told me to use that - it has been 4 years now - no mice -
I have stuffed holes with aluminum foil. Also in every drawer and cupboards, under counters, I put a sheet of regular bounce sheets and I have no signs of mice anymore. When I pack keepsakes items or anything I put bounce in the box and no signs of mice.
I have tried using the spray expanding insulation foam, & it did work for a bit. BUT the mice chewed through it. The only bonus to having used the spray foam was that I can now clearly see their points of entry. So I'm going to try let another idea.
I also live in a field of 5 acres I have been fighting mice alot and now that it's summer it's worse I have done the steel wool and aluminum foil through out I also have about 70 cubes of decon in and out of my home and I'm still getting more mice any thing you can help me with in trying to get these Nast little guys away from my home and 4 baby's
Put the steel wool in the crack, then fill it with the expanding foam. It works wonders. Guy at the hardware store told us to use the type for windows so that it would expand less and do less damage to the wood we were foaming around.
