Can You Actually Get Rid Of Mice With Laundry Detergent?

Droppings, gnaw marks, nests, tracks, and a musty smell are good indicators that you may be cohabiting with mice. If you see these signs, you should act fast, as mice can eat through furniture and walls and spread diseases. They're also prodigious eaters and reproduce year-round. A cottage industry that's a combination of home remedies and commercial pest-control fixes has sprung up around getting rid of the pesky critters, but mice are remarkably hard to get rid of, both inside your house and out. Ultrasonic devices, mothballs, castor beans, predator urine, soap bars, dryer sheets, and laundry detergent will not get rid of mice. Relying on ineffective treatments is a mistake most people make when dealing with a mouse infestation. 

The belief that mice can be deterred by laundry detergent is rooted in the myth that they hate strong smells. Home remedies abound that include spraying a mixture of laundry detergent and water around your home, or sprinkling powder detergent in problem areas. Many people also rely on a few well-placed dryer sheets to deter rodents. While mice may not like strong smells, they are highly motivated to find food and shelter and will quickly adapt. Also, you'd need to drench the entire house in your chosen aroma, be it ammonia, peppermint, cloves, or strongly-scented laundry detergent. Otherwise, mice would simply move on to another crack or hole and enter your house anyway. 

Because mice are not repelled by household items like laundry detergent, killing them may seem to be the most reasonable solution. Mouse traps and toxic baits are commonly used to kill mice, but traps have major drawbacks. Snap traps leave you with the problem of setting traps where children and pets can't get to them, and also leave you with a dead animal to dispose of. Toxic baits share the same problems while introducing poison into the equation. Eliminating mice with rodenticides in bait blocks can also mean the mice die in the walls and eventually begin to smell.

While you can't get rid of mice with laundry detergent, there are steps you can take to keep them out of your house, barn, or garage without using traps or baits to kill them. Mice can worm their way through a hole as small as a dime. Blocking holes with mouse-proof materials like metal mesh or hardware cloth and sealing garage door gaps keeps them from coming in. Do the same thing to holes indoors if mice are in your walls, and cut off their food supply by putting food away, sweeping up crumbs, and fixing leaky faucets. Keep trash cans well sealed and don't leave pet food out overnight. If you have tried these methods and are unable to eliminate a mouse infestation, it may be time to seek professional help.