Rodents are stubborn small to medium-sized rodents that thrive within human settlements. Most will scavenge the trash, destroy property, and spread diseases.
As a homeowner, you should understand all the practical techniques for dealing with these persistent creatures. Using toothpaste is one technique for addressing this issue and dealing with mice.
But will it be effective? Is toothpaste poisonous to mice? This article looks at the most effective techniques to deal with mice at home. Find out more.
Will Toothpaste Kill Mice?
Yes. Toothpaste is poisonous to mice and will kill them. These oral cleaning pastes contain fluorine and ethylene glycol chemicals toxic to mice. However, toothpaste will not harm a mouse if consumed in small quantities. But excess consumption guarantees death.
Remember that mice do not vomit. So, any toxic matter ingested in its system will not be eliminated instantly – meaning that a mouse’s system can naturally flush small quantities of toothpaste.
Toothpaste, the size of a pea, weighs about 0.4 grams and is enough to kill a mouse. Fluorine and ethylene glycol can block the mouse’s muzzle, causing discomfort, asphyxia, and slow death.
Toothpaste contains 52mg sodium fluoride. A mouse weighs 17-25 grams. So, 52mg of sodium fluoride in a mouse’s system is fatal.
Even though mice do not find toothpaste appealing because it contains a peppermint scent, they will keep off any toothpaste tube and avoid poisoning. Instead, they will consume other foods in your home.
Mixing toothpaste with treats guarantees effective results if you want to kill mice. First, you must lure them with peanut butter or sugary treats and mix pea-size toothpaste with a portion of the peanut butter to kill the mice instantly. You can also mix toothpaste with cheese or butter if you do not have peanut butter.
Why are Mice Attracted to my Home?
Mice are usually attracted to areas with enough food supply and comfortable shelter. These persistent rodents need warm and cozy refuge in cold months. Furthermore, mice enjoy areas with few predators. So, they will be attracted to a messy kitchen with plenty of food waste.
Here are the other reasons mice are attracted to your home.
Improper Hygiene
Mice love areas with lots of trash, like boxes and wood piles. They prefer untidy spots like the pantry around the home. Improper hygiene might include food crumbs on the floor, leftover foods in the cupboards, poor food storage, and scattered garbage cans.
Escape from Predators
Mice will look for a safe place inside your house to hide from predators like cats, snakes, and birds.
Incorrect food packing
Mice are attracted to leftover foods in your home. Leaving foods scattered on top of surfaces and the floor will attract mice. Moreover, the smell of food will also attract them.
Warm, comfortable nests
Mice often look for shelter inside the house in cold or winter. Pregnant mice will instinctively look for ways to seek shelter or a nest in your home.
Open entry points
Mice visit houses with cunning cracks, holes, and crevices; they hide in dark and untidy spots after they are inside.
Previous mice odor
An area will smell ammonia if it was infested with mice previously. This odor will attract more mice.
Water
Water will attract mice and other rodents to your house. They will look for water points, ponds, or swamps. Also, you might notice mice if you leave pots and drums open. Spilled water on the driveway or garden will also attract mice.
Bad weather
Mice seek sanctuary in comfortable and warm sheds in bad weather – particularly when it is raining or freezing. So, they will get into your house if you leave doors and windows open.
Various Reasons to Kill Mice
Indoor mice chew a carpet, plastic, or anything on which they can lay their teeth. Thus, the main reason why homeowners would want to kill them. Moreover, many people consider mice dirty critters because of their activities around untidy spots.
Note that mice multiply rapidly. So, you should deal with them using the most effective techniques.
Here are the four main reasons you should kill mice invading your home.
1. Damage property
Mice will destroy your house by chewing through wooden walls, ceiling boards, basement foundations, and other construction materials to create nests. They will also eat clothes, chew furniture, and destroy electrical appliances.
2. Fire Hazards
Mice are fire hazards. As you might know, rodents’ have open-rooted dentition – meaning that their teeth grow continuously until death. So, they will chew material to trim their teeth. As a result, chew electrical cables along the walls or the attic and cause an inferno.
It is estimated that rats cause 20% of undetermined fires in the United States.
3. Attracts insects, bugs, and pests
Mice and unhygienic insects relate. Similarly, mice have a distinctively musky ammonia scent. This ammonia attracts insects like flies, fleas, and ticks into your house.
4. Transmit diseases
When mice seek shelter inside your home (particularly deer mice), they can spread diseases like salmonellosis, the bubonic plague, and the Hantavirus.
You can contract these diseases with the mice’s feces, urine, or saliva.
Does Salt Kill Mice?
Typically, mice won’t die from salt in their bodies. However, high salt levels can cause other health complications resulting in death—furthermore, mice like salty snacks. So, ingesting high concentrated salt content will damage the brain. Excess salt in the body will also affect a mouse’s immune system.
Excess salt in the system can be poisonous and might slowly kill any rodent. As rodents require enough salt to survive, ingesting extra salt might decrease blood flow to the brain.
Mice with excess salt concentrations can, unfortunately, develop brain disorders.
Does Vinegar Kill Mice?
No. Vinegar does not kill or physically harm mice. Instead, it repels them. Mice are odor-sensitive and can smell vinegar from afar. The pungent smell of white vinegar will irritate them and keep them away from it.
Use pungent-smelling vinegar (white vinegar) to clean indoor surfaces. Also, you can spray white vinegar outdoors and potential spots where you might have noticed mice activity.
Home Remedies to Take Care of a Mice Infestation
You can use natural home remedies apart from using commercial products to eliminate mice. These natural remedies should be practical and affordable. Furthermore, you should deal with the minor infestation before the situation escalates.
Get rid of mice as soon as you notice a few effective home remedies mentioned below.
Ammonia
Ammonia smells like mice urine. Sprinkle enough drops of ammonia on areas you might have noticed mice activity or place ammonia in small cups around the house to drive them away. It is a natural and effective deterrent.
How it works: When mice smell ammonia, they will think that larger predators have swallowed other mice. So, they will relocate elsewhere.
Corn flour & cement
Dry cement mixed with corn flour is another effective technique to eliminate mice in your home. When mice consume cement mixed with corn flour, they will be thirsty, then look for water. After drinking water, the cement will start to dry inside the stomach, and the mouse will eventually die.
Cayenne pepper flakes
Mice find pepper flakes irritating. They will avoid spots with a cayenne scent. So, scatter hot pepper or chili in areas where you have noticed mice activity or a nest.
Bay Leaves
These leaves control mice invasion and might also kill them if consumed. Mice choke on bay leaves because it contains bioactive ingredients.
Drinking soda
Carbonated gas remains in a mouse’s stomach if it drinks soda. Mice get stomach complications instantly after consuming soda.
Pour soda into a bowl, and place it in pots you have seen mice activity.
Other home remedies that guarantee efficient results include peppermint oil, cloves, garlic, kitty litter, apple cider vinegar, dryer sheets, and mashed potatoes.
Effective Ways to Kill Mice
Using snap traps is considered the most effective way to kill mice. Nonetheless, some mice might familiarize themselves with a snap trap and avoid it.
So, the other three ways can include bait-poisoning, carbon dioxide euthanizing, and drowning. These techniques will deal with a major or minor infestation.
Bait poisoning mice can include mixing corn flour & cement and placing the mixture around the mice nests or mixing commercial rat poison with treats.
Euthanizing mice also asphyxiation by CO2 with carbon dioxide is a humane way of killing mice. However, you need directions to execute this process effectively.
Although not a humane process, drowning a mouse guarantees efficient results. Trap the rodent and put it in a tight container. Add the recommended amount of water until all air escapes.
Tip: Never use poison baits if you have other pets in your home. Also, contact a veterinarian in case of an accident.
Conclusion
Dealing with mice invasion can be challenging if you do not know the effective techniques or what to expect. Fortunately, this guide has looked at ways to repel or kill pesky mice invading your home.