Image from the Altoids facebook page
Truthfully, that was almost done since the house had been vacant for a month and their easily accessible food supply was no longer around and I had promptly destroyed their hiding places. I know, rude. Oh, and half of them were already dead, of course. I saw one run into a wall in my garage and I just wondered how many more there were. Where there is one, there is usually one dozen.
With the field behind us it's just a fact of life to deal with.
Initially I used some poison, but it stressed me out to no end. Is it humane to kill anything? Even if they are pests? So I started looking up alternative ways to repel rodents.
Evidently, they don't love lavender or peppermint. Two things I am okey dokey with.
One suggestion I read was to soak cotton balls with peppermint essential oil and place them strategically around your home. Pet safe. Kid safe. And smells delightful - at least seasonally.
Only problem was, I didn't have any essential oil. And I wasn't thrilled about driving to the store to spend what I imagined to be about $20 on a bottle. (That was all in my head. I've no clue what it really costs.) I tried peppermint extract soaked cotton balls but since it's half alcohol it was not the most long lasting thing.
So the experiment was born.
Altoids run about $3 and are made with natural peppermint oil.
I bought a tin and placed mints next to every place a mouse was ever known to be, dropped them in window wells, and placed them in window and door frames that I thought might be vulnerable to infiltration by the little buggers.
And then I waited.
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So far, so good.
Where some of my neighbors are not so lucky. This random idea has merit!
***If you do not find this the most random thing and wish to try it, think about the sugar. If you are prone to ants, look into the Peppermint altoids smalls which are sugar-free. ***
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1 comments:
Really? That is awesome. I'll have to remember this next spring for the Cracroft cabin at Bear Lake.
My current use of mouse control is two large dogs. We have a field behind our house too, but so far I haven't seen any evidence of them whatsoever. And the resident marmots don't tunnel into our yard either!
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