SoapZone Community Message Board

Earlier last week, I was in the kitchen and startled a small field mouse, who went scurrying across our kitchen and disappeared under a cabinet. Actually, we startled each other...anyways, I looked under the cabinet and couldn't see any visible holes the mouse could've crawled through. I told Dad, and he set a mouse trap Saturday night. Yesterday afternoon, I once again saw ol' Mickey go scurrying across the kitchen floor. I told Dad the trap didn't work and he said yes, it did. He'd disposed of a mouse body before I got up yesterday *sigh*. So he reset the trap, and I checked online to see if I could do anything to keep the mice out. I read several places that mice don't like the smell of peppermint oil, so I liberally anointed a cotton pad and set it by the cabinet where the last mouse made his exit. I set another oil-soaked pad in another corner. The whole house now smells like a giant candy cane. I was pretty proud of myself for repelling the mice instead of luring them into a death trap--I *like* mice and think they're cute but I don't want them in my kitchen (the only place I ever see them). But this morning, there was another mouse dead in the trap Dad set :-( My good church friend recommended Grandpa Gus' Mouse Pouches but I'm debating if they'll work considering they're basically...peppermint oil (and some cinnamon oil).

I used to think a mouse in the kitchen was a sign of poor housekeeping. But the kitchen floor, cabinets and counters get scrubbed pretty regularly, and food gets stashed away in either the fridge or air-tight containers. Now I figure it's just like the bugs; it's an old house in a semi-rural area, and even the mice don't want to be outside on a cold NE Ohio day.