How to get mice out of the garage

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Mice in the garage are bad for a wide number of reasons. Firstly, they're rodents and these are well known to carry and spread disease. Secondly, they will be a real pain in the backside once they're settled and all moved-in. Thirdly, they'll cause a number of threats to human health that you might not even have thought of, and no, we're not talking about disease again.



Mice and other rodents, rats included, are very well known to chew and gnaw. They do this to get through various materials — brick, for example, trying to get into your home. They also do this as a matter of habit. This can cause all sorts of problems in your garage, particularly when they start chewing through wooden beams and other things, perhaps weakening the structural integrity of the outbuilding. What happens if they were to get into your vehicle, however? And not just inside your vehicle, potentially causing you to be petrified out of your wits and end up crashing the car. They can get inside the actual engine compartments of your vehicle, and when they do this and start chewing, you really will be in for a dangerous ride.

There are plenty of different approaches you can take when trying to get mice out of the garage. You could try using repellents to start with, but there's a good chance that these won't work. Mothballs, ammonia, light and noise machines have already proven themselves to be basically ineffective when you're up against a seriously durable creature like the humble house mouse.

Peppermint oil has kept some mice at bay, according to some homeowners, but you do need to remember that you are just putting down a bad scent. This might not be quite enough to keep them at bay, permanently, if at all.

Repellents and deterrents rarely work, especially with rats and mice, and you'll find that there is only one real way to deal with your mouse problem, and it'll take just three stages.

1 - Declutter and clean your garage. While you're doing this, keep an eye out for patches of damage or weakness. A small hole can easily be made into a much bigger hole, allowing first mice, and then bigger rats, and then maybe even larger wild animals after that. If you notice these patches during your cleanup and inspection process, you should repair them with the most durable materials you can get your hands on. In most cases, metal-based materials are best, and the most durable. Mice can chew through a wide range of seemingly tough materials, including wood, plastic and even concrete blocks in some cases.

2 - Place mouse traps. This means actual mouse traps, not rat traps, or traps designed for any other animal, but mouse traps. They are built to match the specific size your mouse is likely to be. Rat traps are often too large for mice. In the same sense, mouse traps will often be too small to get to the job done with rats, so make sure you know what rodent you're up against to start with. When placing the traps, place multiple traps — the more traps you set, the better it will be. The faster you'll catch the critters causing all that damage in your garage too.

3 - Keep checking the traps AND your garage. You may need to rebait the traps every now and again, and hopefully you will find some dead mice in those traps which you will then need to dispose of in the right way — safely. If you keep on top of the state of your home, outbuildings included, you will find that rodents such as mice and rats won't be able to get in.

For more information, you may want to click on one of these guides that I wrote:
How to get rid of mice - my main mouse removal info guide.
how to get rid of mice in the attic
how to kill mice
What does mouse poop look like
mice in the walls