Reviewed by William "Willy" Vizcarrondo, NYS DEC Certified Commercial Pesticide Applicator C1825832. Updated September 23, 2026.
Short answer
No. UC IPM says there is little evidence that sound, magnetic or vibrational devices of any kind will drive established mice or rats from a building, and Utah State's extension specialist says the high-pitched and electromagnetic devices don't work in their experience. Peppermint oil and dryer sheets aren't on any university's list of mouse controls. Sealing and trapping are.
The plug-in repellers are the most tested and the most clearly dismissed. UC IPM's house mouse guidance states that ultrasonic sounds have very limited use in rodent control and that there is little evidence that sound, magnetic or vibrational devices of any kind will drive established house mice or rats from buildings. Utah State University's extension specialist puts it more directly: beware of claims about devices that make high-pitched noises or produce electromagnetic fields to deter mice; in our experience, these devices don't work. Mice may avoid a new sound for a few days, then go back to the food.
There's no university extension guidance that recommends peppermint oil or dryer sheets against mice, and the control methods UC IPM, Utah State and the National Pesticide Information Center list are the same three every time: exclusion, sanitation and trapping. A strong smell in one cabinet doesn't change the fact that there's food in the next one and a warm nest in the wall. Mothballs are a separate problem: they're a registered pesticide, using them loose in a house is against the label, and the fumes are a health hazard to people, which our mothball answer page covers.
The boring answer. Seal every gap larger than a quarter inch with steel wool and caulk, hardware cloth or metal, especially where pipes and lines enter, at the garage door and around vents. Put food, pet food and birdseed in sealed containers. Set a lot of traps, six or more, no more than 10 feet apart where there's activity, baited with peanut butter. That's the whole method, and it's what a 60-day guarantee is built on.
Every fall we walk into Long Island kitchens with three plug-in repellers on the outlets, peppermint cotton balls in the cabinets and mouse droppings on top of them. The devices didn't fail because they were cheap; they failed because a mouse with a nest behind the stove and a pantry full of cereal has no reason to leave. The house that stays mouse-free in November is the one with the garage-door gap sealed in September.
Related
No, and using them loose in a house is against the label and a health hazard. Mothballs are a registered pesticide meant for sealed containers of clothing, and the fumes that would bother a mouse bother people more. Our answer on mothballs and mice covers it in detail.
Not reliably. UC IPM notes some cats catch mice but there are few situations where they control a population, and a predator in the house can make mice more secretive, so you see fewer and assume they're gone. A cat doesn't seal the garage door.
Because mice avoid anything new for a few days, then adjust. A new sound, smell or object in their territory gets a wide berth at first, which looks like the problem is solved, and then the mice go back to the food. The droppings return within a week or two.
Still not sure? Call (516) 509-6001 and we'll tell you what you're dealing with.