- LAST UPDATED: December 5, 2023
Are you sick of having mice around your home? These rodents are not only a nuisance to you but also a primary health hazard. Their eating habits can quickly lead to spread of dirt and disease-causing microorganisms into your family meals. Some people will develop allergic reactions which can be harmful. As such, you should always strive to keep the mice away from your home. This article provides useful tips on how you can use cedar to eliminate the mice permanently. You’ll learn the benefits of using a natural method (cedar oils), how to apply it and how efficiently it will free you from the menace.
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Does Cedar Keep Mice Away?
If you prefer natural techniques to eliminate mice, cedar may be the best mouse repellent for you. It is a safe and natural method of repelling the rodent away from your home. It contains essential oils that provide natural effluvium that’s unwanted by the mice. Read more here: What smells do mice hate? It also includes hydrocarbons, such as phenol, and acids that are harmful to the mice. These acids, in large concentrations, can cause skin irritations and respiratory problems among the mice.
When the rodents detect the unfavorable smell, they will avoid the area thus keeping your house safe from these stubborn creatures.
How to Use Cedar to Repel Mice
Cedar oil is a derivative of conifer trees of the cypress family. These essential oils are harvested and sold as repellents in your favorite pest control depot.
What’s best about cedar is that it will not cause any harm to your family members. Additionally, it offers flexibility in the application options since it allows you to either use the cedar chips or the cedar oils. It is, however, important to note that cedar essential oils have been shown to be more efficient in repulsing mice than the cedar chips.
As you walk into the depot, ensure that you insist on getting the right formulation of the repellent to have a successful elimination of the rodents. After purchasing the cedar oils, you have three options for preparing it for use.
These methods include:
- Sprinkling the product directly.
- Spraying it.
- Soaking cotton balls into the liquid and placing them in strategic positions in your house.
Sprinkling
This is the easiest application method since it involves sprinkling of the undiluted cedar oil at various points that offer entry to the mice.
You just need to open the bottle and carefully sprinkle it in a widespread way. While this method is simple, it can consume a significant amount of the repellent which may lead to unnecessarily high application cost.
Spraying
Immediately after purchasing the cedar oil, you can opt to dilute it using distilled water or alcohol and then spray it along the entry routes. Ensure that you have a functional spray bottle where you transfer the diluted cedar oil and comfortably spray the entire house, outdoors, garage and other mice-infested regions.
This method is economical and gives you an edge of spraying other areas that are infested by different bugs. You can spray it on your carpet, furniture and any other area that requires its repellent activity.
Cotton Balls
This method involves soaking a ball of cotton into the cedar essential oils. Always ensure that you let the ball soak entirely to pick the maximum volume of the oils.
After several minutes, remove the cotton balls and place them at the entry points used by the mice to access your house. Ensure that you spread the cotton balls to a larger area since they will produce a smell that will diffuse within a relatively larger diameter. You may require to regularly soak the balls since the product loses potency after approximately two hours. Although not mandatory, you may consider mixing the cedar oil with lemongrass or citronella oil to increase its strength to last for more than two hours. Other oils such as peppermint can also be used. Does peppermint oil get rid of mice? Find more information here.
While cedar oil is harmless when used externally, you should avoid direct contact with your mouth, eyes, and nose. As such, be careful when applying the oils in the presence of children. Internal consumption may lead to an illness!
The Pros and Cons of Using Cedar as a Repellent
This product, when used as a mice repellent, has some benefits as well as shortcomings.
You should follow the following analysis to determine whether it’s fit for use in your home:
- Cedar Oil is Safe. The product neither affects the quality of air in your house nor causes any illness when responsibly used. This gives it an edge over other poisonous methods that keep you worried all day long.
- It is a Natural Repellent. Numerous advantages are associated with the use of natural repellents. The primary benefit is that its use does not contaminate the environment and is thus harmless to other normal flora within your environment. You wouldn’t want a repellent that will result in long-term health effects, right? Using natural products is a sure way of guaranteeing your safety.
- It is Relatively Cheap. When compared with other repellents, cedar oil is not only affordable but also highly effective. Even better, the product is readily available in your nearby pesticides shop.
- Highly Effective. You’ll need a product that will indeed eliminate the stubborn mice from your home. This approach has been tested and proven to create discomfort among the mice, preventing them from entering into your house and driving away those that are already in the house.
- It Requires Close Monitoring. This method requires close monitoring to ensure that the mice do not re-infest. You’ll need to frequently re-apply the cedar oils since the concentration reduces significantly over time.
- You Require to Identify the Entry Points. Spreading the cedar oils all over your house may, in the long run, be very expensive. Identifying the primary entry points is a plus since it will save you on cost and enhance efficiency.
Identifying the best method to eliminate mice from your house is a crucial milestone in achieving a mice-free home. What’s more important is getting a solution that is effective yet safe for use inside your house without the worry of losing your pets or your family members developing health complications. Well, one such option is the use of cedar essential oils acquired naturally from coniferous plants. Be sure to cautiously go through the application methods to identify the ideal procedure for use.
