Someone had suggested Irish Spring soap to deter mice in the greenhouse

[Guest]

Is it normal for them to eat it? Will it kill them?

[Liz]

The most successful trap I've used is the electric and/or battery operated ones that electrocute the rodents. They key is to bait the trap and leave it out (turned off) for a few nights until the rodents get used to going in it for a snack. Then turn it on - but you need to check it pretty frequently to remove the dead ones because it turns itself off until the dead rodent is removed and the trap reset. They make one that has a gadget that dumps the dead mouse into a hopper and resets itself but that one is kind of expensive.

The other trap that works well is a homemade one. This is most effective with rats because (unlike mice) they can't get enough water from their food and they need to drink. Fill a fairly tall bucket about halfway with water - deep enough that the rat can't touch the bottom and jump out. Make sure that the water is far enough down that the rat can't hold on to the rim and reach the water to drink. I fish rats out of my livestock water tanks/buckets regularly.

A variation of the bucket trap is to float just enough perlite on the surface that it looks solid, then sprinkle some sunflower seed on top. Mice & rats love sunflower seeds! They will jump in thinking they have an easy meal. I've gotten up to 3 rats in a single night in one of these.

[Liz]

Peppermint oil does not work, at least not in my feed shed. They chewed through the feed containers even though they were coated with peppermint oil. The best solution I've ever used is to put one or two Western Ratsnakes in my feed shed every spring. I also encourage the snakes to stay in my hoophouse and garden. They are harmless unless you are a mouse, rat, or egg (they do like to steal eggs out of nests, but I'd rather lose a few eggs than put up with the damage and spread of disease from mice/rats).

[Jadin]

Try cotton balls with anything minty, peppermint essential oils woks best but you could get away with cheap flavor from dollar store if it has a strong sent lol or Vicksburg vapor rub and toss in corners! As long as you can smell it it should work, replenish went scent gone good luck!

[Darcie]

Mix flour or powdered sugar with either cement or plaster powder and leave a shallow dish of water near it. They eat the powder, then get a drink, the cement or plaster harden and they die.

[Roger]

Try this; 1/3 cup Baking soda, 1/3 cup flour, 1/3 cup sugar. I saw a video that said they die if they eat baking soda. Also 1 box Jiffy corn bread mix and equal purt of baking soda.

I made the first one last night. This morning I saw foot prints and tail marks in the little piles I made in a few places. Now I wait for the funeral of the little creeps.

[Lori]

I places container out with the lid on and hole cut a hole in one end .Then you place 4 Teaspoons of cornmeal and 4 teaspoons of baking soda.Mix together together they the corn meal but it is the baking soda that will kill them.I had a rat here and did this and it works she kept coming and eating it.And I have not seen her in two days.

[Rebecca]

Fresh Cab sachets about every 6-8 feet work the best for me. I heard one little rodent run away screaming, it hated the smell so much.

[April]

That doesn't work. Get a bucket trap that's guaranteed to work. You can live trap and release or put water in and well then not live trap.

[Dodie]

It doesn’t work. Yep they just snack on it! Get a cat.

[Stacy]

I tried it once and they ate some of it, so it doesn't really work. What I did find that works is Mint Oil. I bought a 16 oz bottle of pure mint oil and I mix some of it with water in a spray bottle and spray it in areas that I want to keep mice away. It is a powerful smell and they do not like it. It has worked every time for me so I continue to spray it often.