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Can Peppermint Oil Repel Mice? Yes. Here’s How to Use It.

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I lived in New York City for 12 years. During that timeframe, I learned that city life means you’re always going to have some kind of battle with kitchen pests. I lived on the fourth floor of a relatively nice apartment complex in Brooklyn and I still saw my fair share of unwanted creatures. At one point, many years ago, I started seeing more mice than normal. What had been one or two mice a year somehow turned into a four-mice-a-month situation. Not good.

(Image credit: Ariel Knutson )

Instead of using traps, I wanted to try to stop the mice at the source. I’d heard all kinds of sneaky ways to get rid of mice, including spraying peppermint oil . Have you tried this?

When I told a few of my friends about my mice issues in my apartment, they all recommended I try peppermint oil. A quick search online explained that mice find the smell of peppermint overwhelming and confusing, so they stay away from the scent. You are supposed to use 100% peppermint oil and either dab it on cotton balls and place them around your home, or use a spray canister and combine two teaspoons of oil for every one cup of water and spray it around where you see the mice.

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Our Editor-in-Chief, Faith Durand had tried using peppermint oil to get rid of mice in the past with no success. I was, however, determined to give anything a shot and so I bought a spray canister and 100% peppermint oil off of Amazon and prepared for battle.

Before using the peppermint spray, I wanted to figure out exactly where the mice were coming from. To my horror, the superintendent of my apartment building pulled out our oven and revealed a rather large hole in the wall. So that’s where they are coming from! Ecks.

(Image credit: Ariel Knutson )

We were able to use foam to patch up the part of the hole that was behind the oven, but it also wrapped around to the sink area which we weren’t able to move. So, I sprayed the kitchen with the peppermint oil and the mouse sightings stopped!

Now I’m assuming this success is a combination of the hole patching and the peppermint spray, but with mice in New York City (and honestly everywhere!) you have to use everything you got.

Have you ever tried using peppermint oil to get rid of mice? What was your experience?

Ariel Knutson

Features Director

Arie is the Features Director at Kitchn. She lives in Los Angeles.

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Source : food