How to Get Rid of Field Mice

The term field mouse is a generic one used to describe several different types of mice found throughout the United States, including the house mouse. As the name suggests, field mice are most often found in fields, but so are many other types of mice. As with all other mice, field mice are inquisitive, so it is crucial to learn how to get rid of field mice before they make their way into your home and yard.

Although no method has been proven to keep field mice away forever, there are several methods you can use to help keep them at bay.

The key to keeping field mice away from your home, garage, sheds, etc. is employing a combination of methods such as keeping the areas clean and eliminating food sources. Applying preventative measures early reduces the risk of a full-blown infestation that can take months to control.

Are Field Mice a Serious Problem?

While they may look harmless, field mice can cause all sorts of problems, and the amount of damage they can do once inside your homes is extensive. Mice contaminate a variety of things found inside your home through their urine and feces.

They gnaw on or chew through just about anything, including electrical wires, food containers, and many other items. Chewed wires led to an increased fire risk. Mice once inside the home will also rip out insulation to build their nests.

Clever Ways to Get Rid of Field Mice

They chew through stored items you have in attics or garages. They leave mouse droppings everywhere and oil marks along your walls and baseboards.

Droppings and oil marks are often the first signs of a mouse problem, so to prevent serious health issues, you need to get serious about pest management to keep mice out of your house.

Best Tips for How to Get Rid of Mice in Garage or Home

You can use either snap traps that kill mice or a more humane trap to get rid of mice from your garage, sheds, or homes. Lay out several different types of traps, including bait traps, glue traps, and live traps.

The more traps you set out, the better your chances are of catching the mice. Don’t skimp on the number of traps used, as these are the cheapest and most effective form of mouse control.

For bait, you can use peanut butter, gumdrops, dried fruit, nuts, chocolate candy, or fresh fruit. These types of bait are also useful for killing chipmunks in traps. Do not use cheese as it is not effective bait.

Secure the bait to the trap with hot glue, fishing line, or dental floss. Doing so ensures the mice cannot escape the trap with the bait. Replace fresh bait every couple of days.

Place your traps six feet apart in your garden, around the garage, or inside the home. Set traps so they are perpendicular to walls with the trigger facing the baseboard. Mice will not travel more than 20 feet from a food source, so place traps in all areas where you see evidence of mice.

As mice are naturally curious, they do not avoid traps the way rats will. For rats, traps won’t always work, but many DIY rat repellent recipes will.

Use latex gloves and check your mouse traps daily. For kill traps, remove the dead rodent and dispose of it in a plastic bag in your outside garbage can.

Humane traps need emptying according to their instructions. There are several types of traps available, as well as different styles of traps, so read the manufacturer’s directions carefully before using them. Make a DIY mouse trap of your own with simple materials and release the pests far away from your house.

Something else to consider with house mice inside your garage is your car. Nobody wants to get mice out of car vents, so take steps to prevent them from making their home there. Keep your vehicle clean, don’t leave garbage piled up inside, and always remove food and food wrappers.

Keep windows rolled up. If your car is going to sit in the garage for an extended period, place traps on the wheels and inside the engine compartment and trunk to prevent mice from making your car and vents their new home.

How to Keep Mice Away Naturally

As foragers, it makes sense that mice love gardens, but most gardeners don’t feel the same way about field mice or a chipmunk infestation. There are things you can do to keep mice away from your garden without resorting to harsh chemicals or kill traps. The same applies to getting rid of other rodents, as well, like chipmunks and squirrels.

One method to keep mice away naturally is hardware cloth around your plants. You will want ¼-inch hardware cloth that is about 24 inches tall and 36 inches wide.

When encircling your plants, bury about 6 inches of the hardware cloth in the soil to prevent various rodents from digging under it. Instead of one plant at a time, encircle an entire area with hardware cloth.

Other methods you can try include essential oils, garlic cloves, dryer sheets, fresh or dried herbs, and homemade mouse repellents. Saturate cotton balls with peppermint oil, camphor oil, or garlic oil and place them every few feet in the garden.

You can toss a handful of garlic cloves in the blender and then soak cotton balls in the juices for another of the natural ways to get rid of mice. Dried or fresh herbs, including lavender, mint, or holly scattered around the garden beds may also keep mice out and make an ideal chipmunk repellent or squirrel deterrent.

How to Keep Field Mice Away from Outside of the House by Eliminating Their Food Source

When learning how to keep mice away from outside of the house, you will hear about eliminating their food source. One of the biggest culprits is cat or dog food for outdoor pets.

When feeding pets outdoors, always pick up their food bowls as soon as they are finished eating. Never leave the food outside after dusk. If you do store pet food outside, do so in airtight containers.

You will also need to eliminate a mouse’s water source, so avoid leaving water dishes outside overnight. Repair any leaking hoses, spigots, or sprinklers. Bird baths and bird seed need to be as far from the house and garden area as possible.

Best Ideas on How to Get Rid of Field Mice in Your Yard

A great way to get rid of mice naturally is to eliminate their hiding places around your home and yard. Keep up on the mowing as that prevents mice from scurrying across as they avoid exposing themselves to predators.

Clean up overgrown areas and keep trees and shrubs trimmed, so branches are not at ground level. Move bricks, firewood, stones, etc., as far away from the house as possible. Dispose of plant debris, lawn clippings, and garbage quickly.

This also works for moles and keeps you from killing moles in your yard since they will go elsewhere.

Get Rid of All Entry Points

To keep mice out, mouse-proof your home; it will also help prevent a mouse infestation from getting worse. To eliminate all entry points, do a walkthrough of your home inside and out. Mice fit through openings as small as a ¼ of an inch, so look for small holes or cracks along the foundation or siding.

Seal cracks in the foundation with caulking and make sure you seal all openings for utility pipes and vents, too. Steel wool works well on smaller holes; for larger cracks and crevices, caulking is preferred.

Do not use wood, rubber, plastic, or foam, as mice can easily chew through it and gain access back into your home. Inspect weather stripping on doors and windows, as well as the door sweep.

Keep Field Mice Out of the Chicken Coop

We all know poison works to get rid of field mice, but nobody wants to set out poison in their chicken coop. Luckily, we can teach you how to keep mice out of the chicken coop without harming your chickens. You need to make your coop undesirable to mice.

Remove potential food sources; feed chickens outside all year rather than inside the coop. Make the coop feel unsafe to a mouse by overwhelming their sense of smell that they rely on to warn them of predators. Overwhelm a mouse’s sense of smell with scents like mint, citrus, lavender, rosemary, or pine.

How to Keep Field Mice out of Sheds

Come winter; mice look for a warm place to stay. You already know how to keep mice away from outside of the house. Now you need to learn how to keep mice out of sheds. Your best choice is to make the shed as unappealing as a shelter as possible. Seal off any holes and cracks the same as you would your house.

Removing food sources is a necessary step for any rodent control. As sheds are far enough away from the house, you can set out bait stations along the perimeter or near items they may find useful as nesting materials. As the poison bait kills the rodents, check your shed regularly for dead mice and dispose of them.

How to Keep Mice Out of a Storage Unit

House mice infest storage units just as readily as they do houses. The last thing you want is mice, cockroaches, or other pests destroying your belongings. Cardboard boxes, mattresses, couches, papers, etc., are all attractive to mice and bugs, so take a few extra steps to protect your belongings.

Ask the facility what kind of pest control methods they use in addition to taking preventative measures. Avoid using cardboard boxes, do not store food or dirty items inside the unit, wrap your furniture with plastic, and use pest repellents.

Thank you for reading all about how to keep mice away from the outside of the house. If you have found any of our ideas on how to get rid of field mice useful, please share these pest control ideas with others on Pinterest and Facebook.