In general, mice can smell peanut butter from a few feet away.
Instead: Pick Bait Mice Crave Forget the old cartoon image of mice eating cheese. The rodents are primarily nut and seed eaters, so the mouse trap bait they are most strongly attracted to is peanut butter or hazelnut spread. Their hunger for calories also entices them to try chocolate.
Mice are attracted to the smell of food, particularly high-calorie items like peanut butter and sweets. The aroma of grains and seeds can also lure them.
Peanut butter is an often-recommended bait, but I think Jelly Babies are better. Any mouse with half a brain can lick the peanut butter off a trap without setting it off, but a Jelly Baby is much chewier - they are far more likely to get caught.
A mouse's sense of smell is so powerful, it can identify the age and sex of another mouse up to 10 miles away! The house mouse's small size and impressive skills make them a challenging pest, but their ability to reproduce is overwhelming.
The strong scent of peppermint is overwhelming to mice. Similarly, essential oils such as eucalyptus oil, bergamot oil, clove oil, and cinnamon oil are potent in keeping mice at bay. One study noted that eucalyptus oil applied once a day was more effective as a rat repellant than once a week.
House mice can search for food and nesting materials in an area as small as 10 feet from the nest or as far as 50 feet away.
Dry Peanut Butter: If peanut butter dries out and loses its scent, it becomes far less appealing to mice and will mean your peanut butter mouse trap is not working as it should. Over time, exposure to air can cause this beloved bait to become less effective.
Mice Might Learn to Avoid the Trap in the Area
Although traps are new to them at first, they'll eventually know what it does and find different ways to get the bait while avoiding it.
Mice actually prefer to avoid human contact and are rather shy creatures, so the chances of them snuggling up with you in bed is not likely.
Now that we know mice hate strong, fresh smells, loud noises, bright lights, and anything that signifies danger, it's important to consider what may attract them to your home. These critters are omnivores and can eat almost anything.
Mice eat your bait off the mousetrap mostly because something is wrong with your placement. Reassess your plan and further observe rodent activity. Plant less bait on the mousetrap, but make sure they are high-value food for mice. Sticky food is one of the most recommended bait for mice.
Peppermint Oil, Cayenne Pepper, or Cloves – Have strong scents that may deter mice but can cause skin irritation or burning.
Signs of an Infestation
A much more likely scenario is that you're already too late. Spotting one elusive mouse typically means there are at least five or six hiding out in your walls, basement, or attic. This is particularly true if you see a mouse at night or in a low-traffic area of your home.
A dead mouse repels other mice, which is why it's important to get rid of them immediately.
While animals are stuck on glue boards, they cry out loudly in pain and have been known to bite through their limbs attempting to free themselves. Even if found and rescued, these animals might not survive the intense stress, injuries, or effects of the glue.”
No More Mice Droppings
If you've cleaned up droppings but continue to find fresh ones, it means the mice are still around. On the other hand, if you stop noticing signs like fresh mouse droppings for a while, it's a good sign the mice might be gone.
You can also try putting less bait on the traps, as putting too much bait can allow the mice to eat the bait off the traps without actually triggering them.
An olfactory hallucination, known as phantosmia, makes you detect smells that aren't in your environment. The odors you notice in phantosmia are different from person to person and may be foul or pleasant. You may notice the smells in one or both nostrils.
One way to attract mice is by mimicking their vocalizations. Rodents use a variety of vocalizations to communicate with each other, including squeaks, chirps, and ultrasonic sounds that are beyond the range of human hearing. By playing these sounds, it is possible to create an environment that is attractive to mice.
Mice will leave if there is no food, but since they'll eat almost anything, removing human food sources and pet food won't deter them. To determine if there are mice in your house, listen for unusual scratching sounds and sniff for foul smells, look out for shiny droppings, gnaw marks, or unusual behavior from pets.
Cloves/clove oil – Some people have found the smell of cloves works to irritate and put off mice. Chilli oil or powder – Mice aren't big fans of chilli, so if you don't mind the smell, it could come in handy as a deterrent.
In general, mice can smell peanut butter from a few feet away.