Does Black Pepper Keep Mice Away?

While black pepper can keep mice away, it is not wise to take it up as your only mouse-repelling option. Although it clearly has a scent that mice will not like, it only takes a wind’s blow to push the peppercorns out of position. This, then, renders them completely useless. Instead of using peppercorns, you should use cracked black pepper. Whichever option you take, ensure that the pepper is crushed. This will help release its scent more powerfully, meaning that it will be more effective.

In large quantities, black pepper is very toxic to any rodents. However, the mice or rats involved will not cram the pepper down; they will only nibble at it. This is because it is an ‘ethnic cuisine’ and rodents behave the same around all new foods: they take a tiny little bite to ensure that the food is safe. If it is, they will come back to it and take larger chunks.

One of the anatomical features that rats and mice rely on is their strong olfactory sense. With that said, the black pepper’s spiciness is an excellent turnoff to the rodents since it naturally irritates them. The nasal irritation that they experience makes them flee and avoid any areas that they think or feel have black pepper. So, the mice will see the pepper as something – as a sort of barrier – that they will try as hard to avoid if they meet it in the future.

Rodents and humans, however, have different and drastic reactions when their noses meet black peppers. On the one hand, rats and mice do not sneeze at all when they accidentally or intentionally ingest black pepper into their nasal cavities. On the other hand, humans almost always sneeze at the thought of black pepper (exaggeration of the year).

For many people, black pepper has proven itself reliable. It is a safer, better solution to taking care of a rodent infestation problem. So, you shouldn’t have to be worried about making the mice go through pain – black pepper is not harmful; it is only irritating. If you try out black pepper and fail to succeed, you can use several home remedies to take care of the mice, such as baking soda.

You will know the whole kit and caboodle of using black pepper as a mice repellent in this post. As a bonus, you will also learn other scents that repel mice. This read is out to equip you with all the information you need to keep the mice away – those tiny little rodent critters will know that you’re not out to play. Now, it’s time for business – let’s roll.

Mice And Black Pepper: The Explainer

Why should you even consider black pepper as you look for the best way of getting rid of rats? Talking from a very science-based point of view, the contents of black pepper are the ones that deliver the sucker punch on the black of a mouse’s head. In black pepper is found a chemical called piperine, which is highly toxic to rodents. This pepper usually irritates the nasal cavity and causes a lot of discomfort in the rats. Black pepper, at any rate, is safe to use than mice or rat poison or snap traps.

Natural remedies like using black pepper provide people with a harmless way of dealing with rodent infestations. As mentioned somewhere in the starter, mice and rats have a natural intelligence that guides them to nibbling food to taste if they can accommodate it or not. So, mice will not find themselves consuming a lot of black pepper since they will have already hated it during the nibbling. Now, the following sub-section will teach you how to use black pepper in ridding yourself of mice, step by step. All the steps are straightforward, and you should find yourself to the last option easily:

1. The Preparation And Cleaning Up

The first step you should make is to ensure that your place is clean. Specifically, you should clean all food scraps and trashed food leftovers. On top of that, you need to ensure that all the possible water sources are drained or closed – running or dripping taps should be tightened, and pools of stagnant water should be disturbed or drained. Once you do that, the mice and rats will not get the nourishment and sustenance that they would wish to have. This will force them to start looking elsewhere. Once the cleanup is done, check and see for any access holes that are being used by the rodents. If you find them, block them or seal them with tough material – the kind that the rodents will not try to nibble. The places to look for access points are broken pipes, crack on your floors, and holes and chinks in your home’s foundation.

2.Then, Lay Down Your Barrier That Is Made Of Black Pepper

If you don’t have any black pepper in your home, you can get it in the corner store or grocery store. Get adequate amounts of it – the more black pepper you have, the longer you will keep mice away from your house. Now, you will need to crush it (if you didn’t buy it crushed). Then, you should go ahead and place it in areas that have the most mice traffic. If you have no ideas of the places that mice have been to, just spread the black pepper in the following areas: behind dryers and washers, near trash cans, along walls, and behind refrigerators. Since there are more hard-to-access areas in your home, take your time, and spread the pepper in those areas – mice will surely pass through them.

3. Seek Out The Mice’s Cradles And Nests

The best way to break the mice infestation is by displacing all the rodents from their nests. Mice usually build their nests using shredded paper, meaning that it will be easy to identify those places. Patiently look around and know where the mice are hiding. Once you do, load the area down with a lot of black pepper. More often than not, this move alone will drive all the mice away, and they will start looking for new nesting places. Do what you have to do with little worry since black pepper will neither harm your pets, not any members of your family. Even if small children consume it, there won’t be much to worry about – except the sneezing and some little gastrointestinal discomfort.

4. Repeat Steps One, Two, And Three Until All The Mice Are Gone

After you have successfully laid down all the black pepper barriers and peppered the mice’s nests, ensure that you clean up. As you engaging in spicing up the house (get it?), you shouldn’t use all the pepper.

The mice will not give up on your home very quickly. They will keep coming back, and you need to be prepared to reiterate and regurgitate your message. Anytime you detect that some of the notorious critters are crawling in the shadows, you should add more people. The mice or rats will have enough of it, flee, and be gone. Thus, the rodent infestation mystery will be solved.

As has been noted, using black pepper is being fair to yourself and the mice as well. It is a less expensive way, and no rodent will be hurt in the process. Peppering the house black will not deliver any harmful chemicals, and thus, no mouse will be harmed heavily. They will just be irritated.

A Plus: Scents To Keep The Mice Away

For being such a focused reader, I wish to interest you in a bonus section that is entirely related to the subject. The question to guide us through is this: apart from black pepper, which scents will help in keeping mice away? The following small table captures the heart of this section. Run your eyes through:

Scents That Keep A Mouse Away
Peppermint Oil Bleach Cats Scent	Cayenne Pepper Kitty Litter

Let’s get the ball rolling with this fact – the best way to keep any rodents away is by sealing their entry points. I mean – if a mouse cannot get into your house, you won’t have to keep them away or deter them. So, if there are no mice, there is nothing to deal with.

But mice are, well, mice, and they will invite themselves into your house without getting in touch with you. So, you need to know about all the ways of repelling them, and scents are the best. Now, it’s time to break down all the options listed in the table, one at a time:

A. Peppermint Oil

If you use peppermint oil correctly, it will surely repel all mice. Before using it, there are some things you need to know about it. This will help you to make it as effective as it can get.

1. Topping the peppermint oil should be done regularly.

2. It would be best if you used lots of it.

3. It would help if you used it more in confined spaces.

Many people have tried and tested peppermint oil but haven’t been successful. This is probably because they used it in wide-open areas where it dissipated quickly. I have tried it, and mice don’t like it. Actually, the critters entirely avoid any areas that have peppermint oil balls.

B. Cayenne Pepper

This one is very similar to our main item of the day, black pepper. You need to apply it in very confined areas where it cannot be blown away. To avoid wasting it, ensure that you put it in places with evidence of mice activity. But before that, ensure that the application you make will be useful.

Use cayenne pepper in areas that the mice might have used as nests. Also, you can look at tight corners. If you have identified any mouse traveling zones, it would be best to apply the spice there. You will have better chances of affecting the rodents.

While cayenne pepper may be used in powder form, you will achieve more success by using cayenne pepper that’s been sliced up into tiny chunks. If you take the pieces and place them on the mice travel routes, they won’t like it at all.

C. Bleach

You should know that bleach effectively repels mice. What you should work on ensuring is that it is used in mouse-frequented areas. The bleach will keep the mice while cleaning the messes made by the tiny critters.

D. Kitty Litter

Reliable sources have it that kitty litter is one of the things that can easily repel mice. If you don’t have a feline yourself, you can go to a pet parent friend and ask for some cat litter or go to a pet store. They shouldn’t charge you anything for the poop. You can then glove up, pick the pieces of waste, and place them in areas where you have noticed some mice activity. The powerful thing in the litter is the scent – mice do not like it at all.

E. Cats Scent

If all the other options are unavailable, you should bring in a cat. The feline may not take care of an entire infestation, but its effect will be felt by the mice immediately it comes in. This option will need you to involve a cat. While it is more challenging to implement it, it is, in no way, impossible. Cats are the natural predators of mice. So, when the mice pick out the scent, they will know that predation is looming and will stay hidden. The ones who are more scared will even move out of your house.

When you get a cat, let the feline walk into the attic. If the cat is still intact (has not been spayed), its scent will be left in the attic.

Can Leaving The Lights On Keep Mice-y Mice Away?

By virtue of being nocturnal animals, mice do not appreciate the light. But that does not mean that they fear it. They just don’t like to be seen. If you keep the light on at all times, the mice will only stay in hiding but not go away. As mentioned in the earlier parts of this post, the best way to keep mice at bay is by sealing all the possible entry points. Also, letting your light stay will mean that your utility bill will become heavier.