There are lots of things you can use peppermint oil for to enjoy its many health benefits. But did you also know that it could help to get rid of unwanted mice in your home?

While having a mouse problem can be stressful, ultimately, they are just living as mice do and aren’t looking to cause harm with intention. Using a natural deterrent can be a kinder alternative to the chemical-based solutions that often kill them off. Here we look at the reasons why you need to remove mice if they get into your home and if peppermint oil can repel mice.

• Urine and faecal matter: Diseases such as salmonella, hantavirus, and lymphocytic choriomeningitis can spread through their waste. Mouse faeces and urine dries and turns to dust, which can spread hantavirus, which in extreme cases can lead to kidney failure if the symptoms are left untreated. If mice get onto countertops, their waste can also infect surfaces and cause food poisoning.
• Carrying parasites: Lyme disease is transmitted by ticks who love to take a free ride inside the furry backs of mice. If mice get inside your lawn, this can lead to a tick infestation. Tapeworms and pinworms are also common intestinal parasites of mice, both of which you do not want inside your home.
• Biting: This is less of a concern as mice do not often bite, but there are incidents of it occurring, and it can spread the bacteria that causes rat-bite fever. It can also be caught by touching a dead rodent that already has the infection or eating consumables that mice have already contaminated.

What’s the best peppermint oil for mice?

If you have a mice problem in your home and want a natural solution to scare them away, we recommend trying peppermint essential oil. Mice have an extremely strong sense of smell, and when confronted with the strong, minty scent of peppermint oil, it can help to scare them off.

It’s a natural solution that could work well for small scale mice problems, although it may require some time to work as the scent can wear off quite quickly and they may move to another part of the house in the meantime. On the other hand, it means there are no toxic chemicals laying around the house (which is important for anyone with children) and it is a far kinder way of scaring mice away.

How to use peppermint oil for mice

There are a few different ways you can use peppermint oil for mice. You can try the below to see if they work for you:

1. Soak in cotton wool: A relatively simple way of deterring mice in your home is by soaking cotton wool balls in peppermint oil and placing them in different spaces around your home. Placing them along skirting boards and in and around holes that the mice might be using to enter and exit your property will prove useful. Using this method will create powerful pockets of the peppermint scent that they will hopefully want to avoid at all costs.
2. Use a diffuser: Diffusing peppermint is something many people already do to enjoy its health benefits and it can also help to keep mice away from your home. The scent is also not favourable to ants, fruit flies or spiders, so it could work as a catch all to reduce the number of bugs you experience on a daily basis. And if you manage to get rid of the mice, it might be a good idea to keep a peppermint diffuser in your home so there is less chance of them coming back.
3. Make a peppermint spray: Mix two teaspoons of the peppermint essential oil with one cup of water to make your own homemade mice spray. Pour into a spray bottle and shake well to blend the mixture, before spraying in problem areas where you have seen mice activity. Repeat this process every two weeks for a while to help keep mice away from your home in the long term.  

Does peppermint oil deter rats?

Some studies have been conducted that show peppermint essential oils have helped to prevent the presence of rats. Their natural sensory systems have a disliking for the clear and distinct scent produced by peppermint and often try to avoid it. However, if your home is experiencing a large infestation of rats, peppermint oil will not be enough to solve the problem. If this happens, we advise that you contact a professional pest control company as soon as possible who should be able to offer a long-term solution. 

If you have mice in your home or struggled to get rid of them in the past, peppermint essential oil could offer a natural deterrent to keep them away. Of course, if you have a larger infestation of mice, then peppermint oil might not be enough to get rid of them, and the best course of action would be to contact a professional firm. But for small-scale mice problems, peppermint essential oil offers a kinder way to deal with mice without having to kill them and will likely cost a little less than many of the chemical-based products available on the market.