How to Lure Mice Out of Your Home & Stop Them from Returning

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Pest control specialist Chikezie Onyianta explains the best place to set a mouse trap

Co-authored by Chikezie Onyianta and Elaine Heredia, BA

Last Updated: August 26, 2026 Fact Checked

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• Getting Rid of a Mouse
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• Mice Prevention
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• Mice Infestation Signs
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• Video
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• Warnings

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If you have a mouse in your house, you'll have to do a little more than send them an eviction notice to remove them! The good news is we partnered with pest control specialists to guide you through getting rid of a mouse humanely using exclusion methods or traps. We'll also cover mice prevention tips, so you can stop mice from getting back into your personal space. Let's go!

How to Quickly Get a Mouse Out of Your House

Pest control specialist Chikezie Onyianta says to set a trap near the mouse's droppings or nesting site. Look next to walls in your house's structure to find droppings or holes with piles of fabric scraps and paper in them, then bait the trap with cheese, chocolate, bread, meat, peanut butter, or nesting material.

Steps

Section 1 of 3:

How to Get Rid of a Mouse in Your House

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   Shoo a single mouse out of your house with a broom or a newspaper. Sometimes a mouse will just wander in, confused and wanting to leave just as much as you want it to. Help it along by using a broom or a big piece of paper, like a newspaper, to scoot it toward an open door. This may require chasing the mouse around a little before you’re able to get it outside. However, when all’s said and done, it’s faster than trying to trap and release it.

   • Caution: Avoid touching the mouse, its droppings, or its nest with your bare hands! Mice carry germs and sometimes diseases that can be harmful to humans. Always wear gloves and disinfect any surfaces the mouse has touched or walked on.
   • Pro tip: A bleach and water solution makes a great deodorizer and disinfectant, says rodent control specialist Kevin Carrillo. Fill a plastic spray bottle with 1 part bleach to 9 parts water and spray the mixture on the area where the mouse has been. Let it sit for 5 minutes, then wipe it up with a paper towel. Remember to wear gloves!
     • This disinfectant works for cleaning up after a dead mouse, too!

   Meet the wikiHow Experts

   Chikezie Onyianta is a pest control specialist with over 5 years of experience. He specializes in pest control in residential and commercial spaces.

   Kevin Carrillo is a rodent control specialist and a senior project manager for a pest control service called MMPC. The service's work has been featured on CNN, NPR, and ABC News.

   Hussam Bin Break is a pest control professional and the co-founder of Diagno Pest Control in Philadelphia. Diagno Pest Control is known for its quality of work and customer service.
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   Set a trap near signs of mouse activity. If you seal up all their entrances, but you're still finding mice in your home, it's time to trap them. Onyianta advises setting a mouse trap directly on or next to their droppings, which you can usually find on the floor right next to the walls where they typically walk. He also says you can set it next to the hole they've been using to enter and exit your house. You can either use a live mouse trap and relocate the mouse once it's caught, or a snap trap that kills the mouse by snapping its neck.

   • Next to a live trap, the snap trap is the most humane option because it kills the mouse instantly instead of making it suffer.
   • Best mouse bait: Contrary to popular belief, some mice don't like cheese. Chocolate, bread, meat, hard caramel, and peanut butter are also good bait options. Mice also like corn chicken feed.
   • Pro tip: If food doesn't work, Onyianta suggests baiting the traps with cotton balls or ripped up paper towels. He says the mouse could be a female on the hunt for nesting materials instead of sustenance.
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   Check the traps often and dispose of dead mice. Once you set a mousetrap of any kind, check it every day. You may need to replace the bait if a smart mouse figured out how to steal it. And if you caught a mouse, just leaving it to sit for several days is unsanitary. If it's dead, it could attract bugs and start to smell. Remove the dead mouse and place it in a plastic bag, then throw the bag into a trash can with a secure lid..

   • To protect yourself from disease, put on gloves when you handle a dead mouse, and wash your hands thoroughly with soap and warm water afterwards.
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   Release any mice caught in a live trap outside. Don’t just take the mouse into your backyard to release it. Walk, bike, or drive your trap at least 1 mile (1.6 km) from your house, since you don’t want it to come right back inside. Release the mouse in a park or a forest. When you’re ready to release it, just open the trap and let it hop out.

   • Some animal rights organizations advocate releasing the mouse into another part of your property, such as your garage or shed. This will give the mouse a better chance of surviving, especially if it’s been living in your house its whole life.
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   Avoid using inhumane glue traps. Glue traps look like little cardboard houses or trays. The floor of the trap is lined with a very sticky glue that holds mice in place as soon as they run inside. Once mice are caught, they eventually die of starvation. Because these traps cause unnecessary stress, pain, and suffering for the animal, most animal rights organizations strongly recommend not using them. If you must outright kill the mouse, choose a snap trap instead of a glue trap.

   • The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also doesn't recommend glue traps, since live mice or other animals caught in the traps may urinate or defecate, potentially exposing anyone who handles the trap to disease.
   • Glue traps can also be harmful to pets in your home, who may step on the glue and get it stuck to their paws or fur.
   • Some countries and regions have strict laws regulating the sale and use of glue traps.
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Section 2 of 3:

How to Keep Mice Out of Your House

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   Seal or plug the holes that mice may use to get inside your house. The fastest way to get rid of mice, says Carrillo, is to plug any holes in your house's structure they're using to go in and out. This strategy is called "exclusion." Carrillo explains that mice move around a lot, so sealing their regular entrances will prevent them from being able to return to your home.

   • Look around the outside of your house to see if there are any places mice could be getting through. If you see any holes or cracks the size of a dime (or larger), repair them or stuff them with steel wool.
   • Cover any vents around your home, such as dryer or attic vents, with mesh screen, and check your screen doors for holes, too.
   • Pro tip: Don't forget to plug holes inside your house, too! Pest control professional Hussam Bin Break says to look under your cabinets, under the kitchen sink, around your drain pipes, and under the kitchen counter cabinets. Seal any small gaps you find with caulk or stuff them with steel wool.
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   Clean and declutter inside and outside your home. When you leave food out, neglect to pick up crumbs, or have a pile of trash in your yard, mice may start to move in. Keep your home neat and clean to make it less hospitable to mice.
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   Store food and trash in containers with lids. Mice are attracted to food smells, so it’s important to keep your food and trash contained. Trash can also be a source of nesting materials for the mouse. Store cereal and other unsealed food in plastic or glass containers with airtight lids. Use trash cans with tight-fitting lids both inside and outside your home. Make sure trash gets removed from the premises on trash collection day.

   • Mice may also be attracted to recycling containers, since the bottles, cans, and boxes they contain could still have traces of food in them. Keep recycling in a container with a secure lid as well.
   • If you have a compost bin, make sure it’s located far away from your home, as it could attract mice.
   • If you have pets, pick up or discard their food overnight instead of leaving it out.

   Tip: If you feed birds outside your home, it may be a good idea to stop until you have your mouse problem under control. Alternatively, stick to foods that don’t leave husks for the mice to eat, such as suet, hummingbird nectar, or pre-shelled birdseed.
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   Try using mouse repellents along with other pest control methods. Some people advocate using peppermint oil as a natural mouse repellent, but it’s unclear how effective this method actually is. Try mixing 2 teaspoons (9.9 mL) of peppermint oil with 1 cup (240 mL) of water in a spray bottle and spritzing it around in areas where mice tend to congregate. You can also buy ultrasonic mouse repellent devices and install them in your home.

   • Note: There’s no strong evidence that peppermint or other essential oils can effectively keep mice away. And while ultrasonic mouse repellents may keep mice away for a while, they'll eventually get used to them. Use these methods in combination with other pest control techniques.
   • Ammonia can also repel mice, but the smell fades fast. It's also not recommended to use it around pets or kids.
   • Capsaicin, which is what makes chili powder so spicy, can temporarily put a mouse off entering whatever area you sprinkle it in. Much like ammonia, though, capsaicin's smell and strength fade fast, so it's not a great long-term prevention method.
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   Trim and tidy up your yards and gardens. Mice can use vines and hedges to climb up into the house, so trim your garden plants, shrubs, and other vegetation away from the exterior walls. Cut the grass and weeds growing next to your home's foundation to expose mouse holes, so you can plug or seal them. Discard piles of dead leaves and mulch, which mice might use to build nests.
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   Invest in a cat for long-term rodent control. Cats are natural predators of mice, and having one around is a great way to keep the rodent population down. If you don’t already have one, see if a friend who’s a cat owner would mind if you had the cat come stay with you for a few days. Not all cats like to catch mice, so this isn’t guaranteed to work, but it’s often just as effective as setting a trap.

   • Some animal rescue organizations adopt out rescued feral cats to homes and businesses to work as mousers. Search “adopt a working cat” to find mousers for adoption near you.
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Section 3 of 3:

Signs of a Mouse Infestation

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   Mouse droppings The biggest telltale sign that mice have moved into your home is their droppings. Mice defecate while they walk, so they leave poop everywhere they go. Their poop is dark brown or black and smaller than a grain of rice.
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   Mouse nests and a musky odor If you find a pile of cotton balls, insulation, shredded paper, or plant matter, it's probably a mouse nest. They typically build them in sheltered areas, like a dark corner of your basement or the inside of a little-used cabinet. This area might also have an unpleasant musky smell.
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   Holes in the walls and packages of food Mice use holes in your walls to nest in and travel in and out of your house. If they've decided to move into your home, they might also explore your pantry and countertops and start biting into plastic or paper food packages.
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Warnings

• It is illegal in many areas to release trapped animals of any kind onto property that belongs to other people. If you catch a mouse, release it either into the wild or on your own property.
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