How To Keep Mice Out of Your Garage

How To Keep Mice Out of Your Garage – Tips for mice prevention in garages, sheds, and campers. Best mouse traps and ways to keep mice away – especially in the winter months. You don’t even have to pay an exterminator.

If your garage or shed has even a minor heat source or a tiny food source in the winter, it’s likely mice will seek it out and try to make it a home for the winter. Every fall when the temperatures dip, the mice flock to my garage and shed. Even the most sealed buildings are no match for a mouse that is desperate for warmth (or food). If you live in a rural area, you can bet mice will be creeping at the signs of the first frost through the first few major freezes or snowfalls.

If you have a rodent problem, here are some great tips on how to get rid of them AND keep them away.

How To Keep Mice Out of Your Garage – Winterize

• Do a thorough cleaning of your floorspace in your garage or shed.
• Store items in plastic, sealable containers and stack them high in an effort to leave as much open floorspace as possible
• Store any pet food or bird seed in air tight cans or buckets. A bag with a chip clip on it won’t do it. I use a white feed container with a clamping lid for my birdseed. The white lid easily shows any mouse droppings so I know whether or not I have a rodent problem.
• Keep the corners of any structure as clear and open as possible. Give mice as few places to congregate as possible
• Garage refrigerators are magnets for mice. Not only is the smell of food around, the warmth of motor and residual condensation are a source for heat & water.

How To Keep Mice Out of Your Garage – Removal

If you’ve got droppings, you’ve got mice… and it’s hard to tell if you have 1 mouse, or dozens of mice. You have to eliminate them. Fortunately, this is very easy. Decent traps, when properly baited, lure the hungry mice out from the shadows very quickly. Use any of the following traps (placed in corners of your structure) and keep changing them out daily until there are no mice. If done properly, this shouldn’t more than a few days unless you have a serious infestation.

These are my favorite mouse traps

• Glue Traps – like this one – are my favorite. They fold into little tents so once caught, they are easy to dispose of without touching. You’ll rarely even see them outside of a tail sticking out. Simply fold the tent and bait it with a piece of chocolate or dab of peanut butter in the middle of the trap. Place the trap in a corner or where you notice droppings. You likely won’t have to wait long. If you don’t get your mouse/mice within a few days, move the glue traps to other parts of the shed / garage / RV / or basement.
• Traditional Traps – like this one – are just as effective, but a bit gruesome. On the plus side, they’re reusable and affordable.
• D-Con Bait Station & Bait Blocks – like these – are a great way to eliminate mice if you don’t necessarily want to see them. Simply bait the included trap with these green blocks and place the traps in corners. If you see nibbles, you’ve got mice (or a mouse). If the whole block is devoured overnight, you have many mice. The downside of this trap is that this bait is often a “last resort” for mice. If there is a better food source, they will attack that and not the D-Con blocks. D-Con block poison is NOT a quick kill either, the mice succumb to the poison after 2 or 3 days. Also, a poisoned mouse COULD make its way outside to be devoured by a bird of prey (like an owl) which will then also be poisoned (and suffer) in the process.
• Mouse Bucket Traps – like this one – are most effective if you have a large infestation and gives you the choice of killing the rodents or releasing them. All you need is a 5 gallon bucket and this kit. The mice roll off the bait tube into the bucket. A bucket filled with 3 inches of water (or antifreeze) will kill them. If you use 2 inches of water, you can catch & release them humanely. Bucket not included.

Mice Prevention in Garages, Sheds, Mobile Homes, and Vehicles

Now that you’ve eliminated the mice, how do you keep them from coming back? Here are some tried and true (and creative) methods to prevent mice. And… some ones that don’t.

• Peppermint Oil Spray – Rodents HATE the smell. This an easy, safe, humane mouse deterrent. The down side is that the spray scent doesn’t last long and you’ll have to spray often. Also, it’s a relatively expensive option – even if you make your own. If a mouse has to choose between smelling peppermint and freezing to death outside, it’ll opt for walk through peppermint oil.
• Peppermint Tea Bags – Same as above. Mice FLOCK to vehicles parked outside in the late fall/early winter months. Brew some tea and use the bags in your vehicles glove box to prevent mice from nesting in your car. Think of it as a bonus car air-freshener BUT… it’s not super effective
• Talk Radio – Tune a cheap clock radio into a talk radio format at moderate volume. This really works! But… it won’t work if you already have mice. Rodents won’t want to gather where they think humans are. Use talk radio to keep them away. Music stations aren’t nearly as effective.
• Tougher Than Tom Repellent Pouches and Spray – Place these odorous bags filled with all-natural ingredients in various spots that haven’t been infected yet and it will keep mice away. NOPE! Wow! These were a waste of time. These didn’t work for me at all.

Of all the mice prevention tips above, none was a lock to keep a mouse from coming in but a combination of peppermint oil spray and talk radio helps greatly.

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How To Keep Mice Out of Your Garage