Do mice hate dryer sheets? Does this product deter them?
Here is a guide on how to use dryer sheets to keep mice away.
Placing dryer sheets in the same sentence with rodent control can be confusing for many. This is mainly because that these sheets have totally different uses that aren’t close to pest control.
At least dryer sheets aren’t manufactured for purposes of mice control.
So, why associate the two?
Do Dryer Sheets Keep Mice Away?
This isn’t the first time where certain items or products that are completely unrelated to pest control have been championed by some people.
While this is true, it’s not proper to simply ignore the potentials inherent with certain unconventional pest control ideas. At least it won’t hurt to learn a thing or two about them.
About Dryer Sheets
These are basically made from woven fiber sheets that are coated or treated with fatty acids or stearic acids.
Dryer sheets are also infused with several other chemicals and scents that seek to prevent the buildup of static electricity in fabrics during machine drying.
Additional uses of dryer sheets include serving as fabric softeners, making ironing much easier, preventing future stains, and reducing the possibility of clothes accumulating lint.
In all of these uses, it’s quite clear that pests aren’t mentioned.
Will Dryer Sheets Repel Mice?
Before a professional pest control technician gets called, a lot of homeowners will try out all sorts of treatment methods to resolve their mice problems.
While some of these methods are simply ineffective, others provide some form of results. So, do dryer sheets fall into the effective category of treatment methods?
They do!
Now, the term “effective” used in describing the effect of dryer sheets isn’t literal. It simply means dryer sheets have some form of mice repellent effect.
The use of dryer sheets as a home remedy for mice control is steadily gaining steam among a lot of homeowners due to the results obtained.
However, such results are mostly short-lived as the mice are only repelled for a few days before they adapt to the new treatment.
Because these rodents are highly adaptive to their environments, it becomes challenging to have them completely repelled using home remedy treatments like dryer sheets.
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Never a Long-Term Solution
If you must use dryer sheets to repel mice, it shouldn’t be done for long due to the explanations given above.
When dryer sheet use is persisted, it eventually becomes ineffective. The best application of this repellent strategy will be to use it for only a few days.
So, is that enough to get these mice out of your home? Not at all!
Repelling mice with dryer sheets for only a few days will be most ideal with secondary measures are taken to get rid of the problem.
You might use this strategy while you place a call through and wait for a professional pest management service.
It won’t be up to a few days before these professionals respond.
In most cases, pest management services operate round the clock and show up within a short time of being called upon.
Dryer Sheets For Mice: How It Works
Affirming the repellent effect of dyer sheets on mice provides readers with the answers they seek. However, a full understanding of how this repellent treatment works is equally important.
We earlier stated that dryer sheets are treated with certain chemicals and scents.
The sheets themselves contribute nothing to mice treatment. It’s the chemicals on the sheets that help repel these rodents. Now, mice are known to have excellent senses of smell.
Such allows them to locate food sources within your home.
With dryer sheets used for treatment, your home is made to smell these chemicals. There can be no such smell without smearing such chemicals around your furniture and mice paths.
The scents linger on for a few days (at most a weak) before waning.
Mice are unable to withstand such smell and stay off as far as possible. For treatment to be effective, dryer sheets have to be used around the most infested locations. So, how are these sheets used?
Using dryer sheets for mice control isn’t difficult to implement.
How to Use Dryer Sheets For Repelling Mice
Before treatment begins, it’s important to figure out the most infested areas of your home. Also, look out for common pathways used by mice.
Such may be evident by droppings and gnaw marks on nearby furniture. Sometimes, you might be lucky to hear these mice scratching or scurrying by.
With possible pathways figured out, what remains is to get fresh dryer sheets and have them rubbed along these pathways. Rubbing these sheets automatically leaves a strong scent trail that mice find unwelcoming.
After rubbing these sheets along mice paths, you can go further by placing unused sheets along such paths.
Now, not every path used by mice is readily accessible. When faced with narrow pathways, consider cutting smaller strips of these dryer sheets and placing them along such pathways.
The pathways you just treated only lead to certain locations such as your kitchen area. So, you’ll have to treat your kitchen with dryer sheets. Treatment is done by rubbing these sheets around kitchen cabinets.
Other areas to target include pantry crevices, kitchen baseboards, as well as corners.
You can still go further to place some of these sheets in your cabinets. With such treatments, mice are overwhelmed when they come around to feed.
Not only do they notice the awful smell coming from their pathways, but the same smell also extends to targeted areas.
Find Reliable Alternatives
When treating mice with dryer sheets, it’s important to make the extra effort to find a more comprehensive treatment. Most DIY methods hardly give reliable results.
You’ll need to call for professional pest control.
Reputable pest management companies have trained and experienced technicians that perform all sorts of treatments.
Treatment starts by inspecting the area before the type of treatment to use is determined. One of the main benefits of professional mice treatments is that guarantees are given.
Here, a repeat treatment will have to be performed at no added cost to you.
Dryer sheets will repel mice. However, this repellent method does little to solve difficult mice infestations. It’s best to have such handled by trained technicians.
Their expertise does a lot to rid your home of all pest problems.