While some rodents might not harm your house, they can ruin your clothes. Seeing your favorite shirt chewed into little pieces by mice is never a good sight. If you have been unlucky enough to find mice in your wardrobe, you must be looking for ways to keep mice out of your clothes.
One of the best methods to prevent mice from getting into your clothes is cleanliness. Just wash your Clothing and arrange it nicely in the closet, hanging or folded. Mice will have a place to hide if piles of soiled clothes lie around.
- Use natural repellants to keep mice away from your house.
- Use steel wool to cover any holes that mice can use to get into your wardrobe.
- Don’t use fabric softeners after washing clothes because they attract rodents.
Whether putting away your seasonal clothes or storing them for future use, consider the following tips to keep mice out.
6 Ways To Keep Mice Out of Your Clothes
Tired of digging through a closet full of clothes with holes? Use these tips to keep mice out of your home and away from your wardrobe.
1. Use Natural Repellants
You can use a variety of plant-based remedies to prevent insects and rodents from getting on your clothes. They are not only more efficient than conventional mothballs, which frequently contain harmful substances like paradichlorobenzene or naphthalene but also safer and healthier.
Here are a few plant-based remedies that can help protect your Clothing against pests:
- Cedar blocks, rings, or chips: Many pests, including mice, moths, and silverfish, are naturally repelled by cedar’s strong odor. Cedar rings or blocks can be hung on clothes hangers, or you can put cedar chips in sachets with your Clothing.
- Herb sachets: The herbs we generally associate as relaxing or spa-like are usually the least attractive to rodents that harm Clothing. Choose herbs like lavender, mint, clove, and rosemary for the most effective defense against mice.
- Peppermint oil: The overpowering scent of peppermint repulses rodents. Apply a peppermint oil spray around your valuable items or potential rodent entry points.
- Natural pepper: Natural pepper can keep rodents away from your closet or any other place where you keep your Clothing. You can spread powdered pepper near the entry points of your wardrobe.
- Camphor: Camphor also has a strong smell that rodents find intimidating. When the mice come near the camphor, their nose will start to burn and itch from the smell, keeping them away.
2. Wash Your Clothes, but Skip the Fabric Softener
Indeed, the oils and other organic stuff we leave behind on our shirts make them more appealing to pests. Wash your Clothing in warm water to remove the debris before packing it away for the season. Allow it to air dry completely before putting it away.
Pro tip: Refrain from fabric softener and starch because mice are drawn to these products.
3. Use Proper Clothing Storage
Put your clothes in airtight plastic containers rather than on hangers or a dresser. Plastic containers are hard for mice to chew through, unlike drawers, which frequently have weak woodwork and holes that are just the right size for mice. Hard, plastic containers will provide the best protection for your Clothing.
Note: Don’t use cardboard boxes to store your clothes because the mice will easily chew through them.
4. Seal All the Entry Points
Your doors and windows should be the first places to inspect for holes or cracks. Look for any caulk, weather-sealing, or worn-out door sweeps that need to be replaced. Never overlook checking the screens for tears or gaps.
Then, inspect the exterior of your home carefully for any gaps or holes that require sealing. Seal any entry points from which mice or other pests could enter with steel wool.
Steel wool is impossible for mice to chew through because it prickles and pierces their mouth and nose while they chew. They could also die if they accidentally eat the microscopic steel wool pieces.
5. Keep Clothing off the floor
Avoid letting clothes sit in your hamper or on the floor for an extended period. Mice will believe last week’s dirty laundry to be their children’s “home sweet home” if they come across undisturbed piles of Clothing.
Always put your dirty clothes in the hamper, and wash your clothes once or twice a week at the very least.
6. Invest in an Ultrasonic Device
Ultrasonic devices don’t catch mice as mouse traps do; instead, they emit sound waves at a pitch that mice find insufferably irritating. The most effective ultrasonic mouse repellents have a sound frequency of 10,000 Hz.
It is best to get several of these devices and replace them every three weeks.
Signs That Show Mice Have Entered Your House
You’re more likely to see the signs of a mouse infestation before actually seeing the mice. For example, finding chewed clothes indicates a mouse infestation. Other indications that your home might have a mouse problem include the following:
- Gnaw marks on furniture made from wood.
- Baseboards covered in dark, pellet-like poop.
- Walls with oily mouse tracks or shiny rub marks.
- Noises of scratching in the ceiling or walls.
Conclusion
Apart from creating a nuisance on your house furniture and clothes, mice can contaminate your food with infections. You might be able to catch a small mouse on your own, but it is best to contact a professional pest control service to prevent it from growing into an expensive infestation.
Take the preventive measures mentioned above to prevent mice from entering your house.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Is the Difference Between House Mice and Deer Mice?
Knowing the differences between deer mice and house mice is important if you find a mouse in your house. Although finding any mouse indoors should raise concern, the species does matter.
Deer mice mostly prefer the outdoors, but they occasionally enter homes in the winter in search of shelter and food. House mice, however, are determined to live in your home with you all year.
What Kinds of Scents Keep Mice Away?
It is believed that mice hate the smell of cloves, cayenne, pepper, and peppermint oil. Leave cotton balls lightly soaked with oils from one or more of these items in places where you see mice.
Will Aluminum Foil Keep the Mice Away?
Theoretically, mice hate the sound and smell of aluminum foil. Additionally, they can’t grip their paws on aluminum foil. So, you can wrap your items in aluminum foil to prevent mice from entering them.
However, it is not always practical to wrap all your things, especially large items like furniture, in aluminum foil.
