Mice dislike a wide variety of different smells such as mint, cinnamon and clove oil. Mice hate a variety of smells including mint oil, cayenne pepper, dryer sheets, cinnamon, ammonia, clove, vinegar, mothballs, and minty kinds of toothpaste.
Mice are small rodents that can cause big problems. Aside from tearing up your home and leaving their droppings everywhere, they can spread a variety of diseases to humans. Keeping them out of your home can be a hassle, too. Yet, knowing the smells they dislike can give you an edge. So, what smells do mice hate the most? We’ll show you several different smells that mice are known for hating and how you can use them to your advantage to keep these tiny mammals away from your home.
Cayenne pepper, along with many other types of pepper, is known to make mice avoid an area. Not only is this a strong smell, but it also irritates their nose. The only problem is that you need a way to put down the pepper that won’t irritate you or your family members.
Some people swear by putting flakes or powder down in less-traveled areas of their homes. Others make a concentrated spray with pepper, dish soap, and water. You can also find commercial, pre-made sprays to help you, too.
3. Dryer Sheets
Although we love the smell, mice hate the smell of dryer sheets. They are too strong for the mice to enjoy. The way to use these is simple. You take dryer sheets and rub them along areas where you think mice could be trying to enter your home. Baseboards, inside cabinets, and doorways are all places to use them.
Given their small space, a lot of RV owners swear by keeping dryer sheets in their pantry cabinets.
4. Cinnamon
Cinnamon is a very powerful smell that can deter and irritate mice. You can’t just throw down some sticks of cinnamon, though. Instead, you need to soak cotton balls in pure cinnamon oil and place them in spots where you think mice are getting into your home. They’ll avoid that area in the future.
Clove is a powerful spice that is similar to cinnamon in that it is very strong and bitterly divides people over whether they like it or not. You can use the spice raw, or you can use the essential oil in places where mice travel. This spice is powerful, so you need to like the smell to use it around your home.
7. White Vinegar
White vinegar is a common household item that can deter mice. You can spray this item or use the cotton ball soaking method to potentially make mice avoid an area. However, white vinegar is one of the less-likely items to keep mice out of an area. It’s potent, but hard to concentrate and keep around.
8. Mothballs
Mothballs are powerful-smelling items that have been used in the past to discourage mice from going into parts of a home. Although mice don’t like the scent of mothballs, you would need to use a lot of mothballs to repel mice. Even then, it may not stop a mouse from entering your home.
A high concentration of mothballs will adversely affect your health, though. So, while mice don’t like the smell of mothballs, it’s not worth the threat to your health.
Just like peppermint oil, mice can’t stand the smell of minty toothpaste. You can place this around your home in a few ways, but it will probably dry up before it keeps mice away. You’re better off sticking with the peppermint essential oil. Toothpaste can kill mice if taken in large quantities. But the probability of this happening is very low.
What smells do mice hate the most? It seems to be a toss-up between mint and pepper, but other options exist, too. Remember, you should only use these items to form a barrier in a safe manner. That means understanding their potential drawbacks.
Furthermore, mice can hate these smells, but that might not keep them all away. Mice can easily find another, less smelly route into your home. In other words, relying on smell alone to keep mice from entering your house or going into a certain cabinet is not best used as part of a multi-pronged method to deter mice.
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Photo: George Milton
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