10 Mouse-Killing Strategies

1. Clean the house. It lowers your house's profile as a target. Not only does it minimize the incentive for a mouse invasion but it helps deny them cover. Outdoors, keep your compost heap away from the house. Keep grass and weeds down.

2. Dry up. No standing water in the sink to draw mice who, like any other animal, need water.

3. Set out glue traps. Not messy. Just be prepared if the mouse struggles to get out of them and you wind up finding them stuck on a piece of furniture.

4. Leave out traps. In my rural area, we get a field mouse invasion in the fall when the weather turns. Small traps for these little mice are baited and left out. If you want to use cunning, bait the trap a couple days in a row but don't set it. After they've taken the bait a couple days, rebait it then set it. This is an especially useful tactic if you find yourself with an especially smart adversary. Tests show peanut butter is the absolute best bait. Cheese is not highly regarded, Speedy Gonzales notwithstanding. There are also humane traps which catch the mouse alive, but you will have to remove your catch far enough away from home that he can't come back.

5. One strategy you can use is to place a small container of cola on the floor where the mouse runs are (look for droppings). Mice are nocturnal, so they'll come out at night and drink the cola, attracted by the sugar. The carbonation kills them because they have no mechanism for relieving the gas. That's what I've heard, anyway.

6. Mice reportedly hate peppermint, camphor, and pine tar. The story is they are allergic to peppermint. Soak cotton balls with peppermint extract and set them around where mice may appear. You can do the same with camphor and pine tar.

7. You can seal up small holes that might provide access...and mice can squeeze through very tiny holes...with steel wool which they can't chew through.

8. Put fabric softener sheets in drawers and cabinets. The smell repels mice. So does the odor of moth balls.

9. Get mouse-killing allies. One explanation for the severity of the Black Death which killed a quarter of the European population in the Middle Ages was the witchcraft hysteria which led people to slaughter cats as witch's familiars allowing mice and rats free reign. Just be prepared if your cat proudly leaves the dead critter at your feet as an offering. The Main Coon breed is noted for it's mousing skills as well as for being child-friendly. Ask around; you need to a Kitty Terminator, not a Garfield-like cat who turns up his nose at mice. Keep in mind that having a pet like this will require you use care in the other means you use for mouse control, such as poisons and traps. There are other animals that will help you catch mice. Dogs are a possibility, especially if you are more a dog person than a cat type. In fact, terriers such as Jack Russell, Rat, and Parsons, were bred for rodent control.

10. Outdoors you can have your property patrolled for a mouse invasion simply by encouraging hawks, owls, and other wildlife to take up residence. Do some research on wildlife attraction. Daffodils and hyacinths planted around the house might discourage mice. These plants are alleged to be shunned by mice.