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How to Get Rid of Mice: What Works and What's a Waste of Money???
Are you alive in 2026? Well, then you likely have noticed this year seems to be the year of the mouse whether you have poultry or not. I know my poultry attracts mice because they like to try and access the chicken feed but neighbors all across town this year are complaining about mice and a lot of those neighbors aren't near livestock and don't have pets but yet the mice are still deciding to take up residence in their homes. Annoying huh? Well, great news is my experience with trying various products can hopefully save you time and money as you try and combat this problem. Here's what I've found that works and also what doesn't work and is a waste of time and money
Live Catch Mouse Traps
First up we have one of these live humane catch mouse traps. The idea is they go up a ramp and into the box then the ramp goes back up and blocks their escape and then the mouse is caught-not poisoned or killed just caught and you can do with it what you like.
So far I have used 4 of these and over months have not caught a single mouse. I use these indoor and outdoor in high traffic areas with bait and still no mouse has entered. So, my vote is it doesn't work.
D-Con Kill Catch-No Contact Trap
Ok next, we have something very similar except this thing when it catches a mouse, kills it and then closes so no more mice can enter and then you discard the entire trap so you don't have to touch the mouse. This is also a no and in my mind also a waste of money. I haven't caught a single mouse-indoors or outdoors and these are baited.
Let's talk NATURAL rodent repellents...
Mice are supposedly know to detest the smell of mint hence why most rodent repellents contain peppermint essential oils. I have used these in throw packs and sprays and let me tell you what happened....First, I used the throw packs and the mice opened the mint scented packs and threw the pieces of peppermint oil infused things inside all over the quail shed! If it was supposed to deter them it almost did the opposite and I just had more of a mess to clean up although it did smell nice.... Next, I recently tried repellent peppermint spray like the one picture and guess what? It made my shed smell amazing and the flies didn't favor the smell buuuuut it didn't deter any mice...big shock.
So far these repellents do not work but maybe if I'm playing devil's advocate it's supposed to be used way ahead of time before any mice decide to set up shop in hopes that they don't but I'm not convinced it's worth the money but I'll likely keep getting the spray because I think some insects don't like it, it's safe and it makes my quail poop trays smell nice.
Wives Tales: Irish Spring Soap
Another, deterrent and an old school wives tale I've found to be completely false is using Irish Spring soap to deter mice. You place it around and even rub it on door frames and they are supposed to hate it. We'll if you watch the YouTube video I attached on this you can see that the mice actually ATE the soap. They friggin ate it, so NO this doesn't work at all!
Ex-lax Chocolate Bars
Do they work? Absolutely friggin NOT! The mice gobbled them up and I didn't see anything dead and it isn't cheap if you need to buy these in bulk. I mean, the theory is they eat it, then go back to their nests and poop themselves either to death or poop all over their nests so much they decide they don't want to live there anymore and go somewhere else. If this did work it didn't work well enough to get all the mice to leave and I don't know how many it killed either so I would say my next trick is going to be more wallet friendly and save the ex-lax for your favorite neighbors...tee hee.
Bucket Traps
We have also tried good old bucket traps where they climb up the ramp and fall down into a 5 gallon bucket which works for a little bit and then they seem to wise up to it and then it won't work for a bit but I've noticed if you use it for a few weeks to a month then take it down for a bit and put it back up in like a month it'll work again. So yes, those can work and will get rid of a bunch in a short amount of time to decrease the population.
Snap Traps
Lastly, we have snap traps. Be careful where you place these so they don't get your poultry by the toes or legs. I only use these in my quail shed under the cages so I don't run into them and the birds in there are in cages so they cannot get injured by the triggering the traps. These work great and don't poison the mice so they are safe for my ducks and chickens to fight over as snacks. I never use these in the house because of have kids and indoor roaming pets that could get injured so for indoors I only use glue traps. Glue traps work in the quail shed too but usually get too dusty to be very effective so I reserve the glue traps for indoors only.
Conclusion
I hope this helps you guys so you don't go through as many mice deterents and traps as I have but let me know in the comments if I missed one so I can add to this post in the future.
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