Can non-poisonous mouse control work?

In the last few years, many concerned individuals, animal rights activists, and conservationists have contacted Inoculand Ltd. looking for non-poisonous mouse control, painless, and/or harmless solutions against their rodent issue. They chose our company because of the approach given by our Head Biologist Daniel Neves.

Inoculand has been offering a mouse proofing service with a one-year guarantee for more than a decade. And in principle, it would get rid of mice naturally without rodenticides. But in practice, it will not always be enough, as a stand-alone approach, to solve all of the issues linked to mice infestations. Mice would eventually keep on reaching your home, and given enough time, they will create new holes. Also, in some instances, the proofing keeps the mice out of the living space, but the clients still hear them underneath the floorboards, within the walls, or above the ceiling.

How to ward off mice naturally?

The best way to get rid of mice naturally is not to have them in the first place. A Mice population that keeps on expanding is like a marching army, consuming supplies on their way. The more supplies available, the larger the army can become. So, every homeowner should be careful to keep his house in good shape. You would not take to sea with a leaky boat. The second thing would be to ensure that the homes around you are doing the same. You would not want to have the best boat in the middle of the worst storm.

But in reality, we do not always have a handle on what problems are surrounding us. So, when you see a mouse or find droppings in your kitchen, there are several things you can try.

Five steps to a non-poisonous mouse control approach

1- Raise the alarm with the neighbours.

2- Do a thorough round of cleaning. In the process, you may identify and should remove any food items or debris the mice may have got to. Remove and clean around your pet’s dish and sweep up any kibbles’ debris there may be after every meal.

3- Check the boundary of the building for broken masonry or damaged air vents. They may need air brick mesh covers.

4- Do the full mouse proofing of the home, starting with the kitchen. Above all, in a terrace or semi-detached house, the pipework runs underneath the building from one house to the next. You can find out how to keep mice out of your house naturally here.

5- Then, you can consider the use of a natural mouse deterrent or use of humane rodent traps if you are looking for a non-lethal solution.

How to eradicate mice naturally?

We need to be sensitive to the need and motivations of others. At Inoculand, we have strong views about animal welfare and condemn senseless killing and animal suffering. Having said that, we do use pesticides and traps of all kinds, but in a considerate way and when appropriate. 

How to kill mice naturally?

To kill mice with non-poisonous mouse control methods will normally require the use of physical means, such as brute force. There are a large number of designs that are available, but the spring traps are by far the most widely use and efficient. They are able to kill the mouse instantly, causing no pain in the process. However, they are not foolproof and can catch the mouse by a leg only, causing distress and potentially a slow, agonising death. At Inoculand, we do not like using them for that very reason. And we would urge anyone who places them at void space level, under the kitchen units, or below the floor to check them daily.

Glue traps are another kind of trap that can be quite gruesome. I would advise anyone against using them, as they would need to be checked every twelve hours, and the live mice that are caught need to be dispatched. You cannot put a live mouse in the bin; this is against the law.

Finally, there are a number of electronic devices that are very effective and shock them to death. It is following this technique that poultry is being slaughtered in the meat industry and could be considered the least cruel form of killing.

How to get rid of mice with natural repellent?

Peppermint oil, cayenne pepper, and cloves all give away a smell that mice are supposed to hate. A lot of our clients have cotton balls soaked in these natural mouse repellents and leave them where they found mouse droppings. It is far from being a magic bullet, but it may render your home that little bit less welcoming to them.

Otherwise, a very mainstream, non-poisonous mouse control device is the ultra-sonic repeller that can easily be plugged in anywhere. It is actually another form of electronic device, but a natural repellent nonetheless.

A cat is possibly the best bio pest control you could hope for, as it is a natural predator, and mice have an ingrained fear of them. But having a cat may not be for everyone. However, you may approach a neighbour and get the next best thing, which would be the smell of cats. Cat litter can actually smell quite a lot when heavily soiled. But if you drop very little freshly soiled cat litter under the kitchen units, or on a tray in strategic places, it will give a smell that will ward off mice. Ideally, you would want to replace it every week, so the smell is always of fresh urine.

We treated a block of five flats that was heavily infested, but for one flat that had cats. Cats are not a magic bullet either, but I had a number of clients who borrowed cats from their friends for that very purpose. And if you do not have the real thing, you may try with ammonia. If it will not mimic the smell of cat urine, it will give away strong vapours that will render the space under the kitchen units inhospitable to mice.

Can a non-poisonous mouse control procedure keep them out?

When we normally carry out mouse proofing, we y plant poison at the back of it. That mouse bait serves two purposes. It depletes the population of mice present at void space level and protects the proofing and the home from mice creating new access points. The logic behind this is that we used poison now that there are mice and carry out the mouse proofing to remove the need in the future to need poison again.

But otherwise, it is possible to do it all without poison as well. We actually have a number of clients who want it so for whatever motives they see fit. But I will tell you this, without bait able to take care of mice at void space level, the mice will have all the time they need to creates new holes. Since they travel ten to twelve meters around the nest, the mice may well live within your walls and get their food from your neighbours.

As and when they break through, you can generally find the new hole they made easily enough and plug it again. But if the mice population at your neighbours and within the void space of the house is large, it will cause such a high pressure on the proofing and your home that you may have a very hard time staying on top of things.

As you may have guessed, many of my clients tried a non-poisonous mouse control approach without any good outcome. But they are many more who have managed to get rid of mice with natural repellent successfully. It all depends on a number of factors and equilibrium between your property and the neighbouring ones. At Inoculand Ltd., we encourage you to get a survey from professional pest controllers and consider what your best options are. You can read more about our mice control service in London here.