20 Ultimate Home Remedies to Get Rid of Rodents (Rats and Mice) – Easy, Inexpensive, and Natural Methods

You may have the latest designer leather couches, sprawled living space with avant garde coffee tables and plush beanbags. But everything goes to waste if your guests manage to spot a quivering nose or hear a subdued squeak from behind the bookcase or the neglected flower pots. Rats and mice have the power to kill a party and drive your friends and family away for good. In addition to the fear associated with rodent bites, the real threat comes in the form of fleas, mites, and microbes they may be carrying on their fur.

What attracts rats and mice to homes?

If you want to stop the infiltration of rats and mice into your household you will need to pinpoint the source of their entry. Once you figure out what is making your house the rodent central of the locality it becomes much easier to finally bid adieu to the critters. In most cases, the easy availability of food and water draws rats to your kitchen and living room. The lack of poorly maintained pipelines and basements make it much easier for the rats to become members of your household.

So when can you be sure you have a rodent problem?

Like every disease has its symptom, rat infestation leaves its own signature marks. From rat droppings to unidentifiable gnawing marks on furniture and walls. Rats are notorious for cutting through the fabric and once in a while you may notice holes in your favorite pair of plaid trousers or your powder blue cardigan. You will begin to notice large holes in furniture and floorboards. Norway rats have the habit of digging burrows under the roots of trees and grassy fields. These are a few of the sure signs of rodent infestation.

How to get rid of rats without killing them? Easy Home Remedies to Answer Your Rat Problem

We live in an era where we are breathing pollutants and harmful chemicals during everyday activities. So we will try to enlist all the home remedy for rats in the house which are maximally effective in redressing a rat infestation. Finding working home remedies for getting rid of rats can be a doozy if you do not know your herbs and essential oils right.

1. Ammonia

Apart from being very good cleaning agent ammonia is a wonderful rodent repellent. A mix of 2 cups of ammonia, 100 ml of water and 2 spoons of detergent can be placed in a bowl where rats appear most often. The smell is very repulsive for the rats and this is enough to drive them away for years to come.

2. Mothballs

This may come as quite a surprise to most readers, but mothballs can be used readily (the way they are bought from market) to repel rats and mice. Avoid touching them with bare hands and for maximum effect place them in deserted areas of the house like the attic or the basement.

3. Pepper

Besides being an indispensable condiment in your kitchen and the occasional sneeze inducer, pepper can be a very good rat repellent. The very smell of ground pepper is intolerable for rats and they flee the vicinity within minutes. The easiest way to go about it is to sprinkle some ground pepper around the corners and holes where rats come from and maintain a continuous practice of doing so for quite a few months.

4. Onions

We may love onions in our salads, but rats detest the very flavor and odor of the vegetable to the core. If you place a sliced onion near or inside their burrows they will flee in the speed of light. This is one of the most effective home remedies for getting rid of rats naturally.

5. Bay leaf

This is one of the best home remedies for killing rats. Bay leaves attract rats by their smell. However the secondary metabolites in the leaves are lethal for a rodent system. This is possibly the most humane way to kill rats and attain a permanent solution to your rodent problem.

6. Model Owls and Snakes

Since they are natural predators of rats and mice, the strategic placement of snake toys and mobile owl toys deters the frequency of rodents in the household. In fact placement of a bunch of owl feathers sometimes proves enough to drive the rats away. These are quite inexpensive and handy for rats in house home remedies.

7. Peppermint Oil

As you must have understood by now, rats do not like anything pungent or overly aromatic. Peppermint oil has a punch which is detested by rats. If you place a few drops of pure peppermint oil around the house, including your kitchen (since it is harmless even for kids and pets) this will discourage rats from entering that zone. Even growing mint plants around the house is the best way to reduce rat infestations in your property.

8. Castor Oil

You can get some castor oil from the pharmacy and place a few drops of it all around the house. Put some more in the regions of their probable nests and watch them scurry out of the house. Citronella oil works just as fine as castor oil if you want to drive the rodents away.

9. Cow Dung

It might sound yucky, but while doing this keep the greater purpose in sight. Get some cow dung cakes and be sure to spread them around your garden, attic and basement liberally. When rats consume cow dung it bloats inside their stomach and causes them to run out for air. Hence the rats die outside your house leaving one less thing to worry about. In addition to driving away rodents, they are a storehouse of nitrogen which automatically fertilizes your garden or lawn for next spring.

10. Baby powder

This method is not as effective as the peppermint oil or cow dung methods, but it doesn’t hurt one to try. You can sprinkle little amounts of baby powder around the corners and junctions of walls where the rats are most commonly seen. The powder actually acts as an intoxicant and it will help you to physically trap the rodents and get rid of them.

11. Instant mashed potatoes

This may sound crazy but it definitely works. Since the potato flakes are dehydrated before storage, once the rats eat them the flakes start expanding in their stomach. The rodents die of bloating before they can make sense of the situation. So when you see a rat in your house welcome him with some instant potatoes and ranch dip.

12. Use steel wool to patch holes

Rats love holes, they hate steel wool. Ergo patch the holes in those walls with some good quality steel wool and seal it with something solid which rats will not be able to gnaw through.

13. Fool them into thinking that you own a cat

Place some amounts of used kitty litter around the house. Since rats are mortally scared of cats they usually do not frequent households with feline friends. Just place the tubs of used (borrowed) litter near the holes and entry points of the intruders to scare them away.

14. Get some cat urine

Yes this definitely grosses you out. But it works miraculously. Even better than the litter box trick. If you can combine them both then it becomes one of the most effective home remedies in getting rid of all rodents from the house. Cat urine has a strong odor which even human beings find hard to tolerate. The rats usually scurry at the speed of the lightning when they get a whiff of that concoction.

15. Build humane traps

This part is easy and the best for the ones with a creative spark. These simple traps will always let the rats in by luring them with food (and no! rats do not like cheese) but they do not let them out. So you can actually carry them out and release them in a field (or your neighbor’s lawn) the next day.

16. Plaster of Paris

This is more of a homemade rat poison; hence definitely keep it out of reach of children and pets. You can mix 100 gm of Plaster of Paris with 100 gm of cornmeal in a bowl and add about 1.5 cups of milk to it. Knead it evenly and tear them into balls. For best effect, leave small balls of this concoction around the house. Replace them from time to time or the plaster of Paris will harden. This is non-toxic for adult human beings.

17. Toilet cakes

This is a proven remedy for rat problems in the house. You can leave around quite a few toilet cakes in the attic, basement, toilets and the porch. The strong smell acts as a natural repellent and it also refreshes the stagnant air inside the house, which is a plus since rats bring with the lots of stink and weird odors.

18. Baking soda

From dandruff to rat infestation, apparently baking soda is the Omni-potent solution to all household problems. For getting rid of rats in a jiffy simply sprinkle baking soda at the suspected entry points. It may be the smell or the caustic nature, but this compound drives away rats from the house overnight.

19. Flour, baking soda, and sugar mix

Mix equal quantities of flour, baking soda and sugar in a big bowl. Transfer the content to smaller cups and bowls which can be placed near the rodent hotspots of your house. Once the rodents consume this mixture the baking soda starts reacting with the acid of their gastric juices. This produces a lot of bloating and causes the rats to die of internal system rupture. Generally, the rats do not die instantly and run to open grounds before dying.

20. Get a cat

This is possibly the most time-tested solution and one of the most widely accepted home remedies for getting rid of unwanted guests. Peasants and kings, everyone has tried this at least once to rid their abode of rodents. Cats are amazing hunters and are born to kill rats, mice, and voles. So if everything else fails to get your own 100 percent eco-friendly and natural killing machine.

How to prevent a rat rampage?

Taking proper care of your household is usually enough to reduce the chances of a rat infestation. After all, getting rid of rats all naturally is not an easy task and if possible you should always try to prevent their entry into the house rather than wait for an opportunity to try out the new remedies.

• Clean out our basement, attic, and garage regularly.
• Be regular when it comes to garbage disposal.
• Get rid of leftover food and clean your grills after barbeque parties.
• Keep your garden in shape, trim the hedges and keep an eye out for mysterious holes.
• Do not leave out food on your porch for birds, squirrels or cats.
• Clean your house with a disinfectant solution as frequently as possible.
• If nothing works seek professional cleaning aid.