I'd be interested in feedback on this subject.

Mice can cause quite a bit of damage to pianos. About a year ago I happened across an entry in an article on storing chicken feed that said peppermint or spearmint plants would keep mice out of feed storage areas.

I decided to try it. I have trouble with them getting into buildings, fed storage areas, and most annoying of all various small engines particularly a log splitter engine. I lost track of the times I had to take the fan shroud off that engine and the lawn tractor engine to remove active mouse nests.

Since putting crushed peppermint leaves and stems in and around the engines and storage buildings, I've had no infestations at all! 'Nothing! The areas smell faintly of peppermint for a while, but it's a whole lot more pleasant than that OTHER smell.

Apparently the mice don't like the smell of mint, and can detect it long after we can't, and don't like the oils from the plants. Supposedly it bothers their feet.

I have a couple of tuning customers who have had mouse damage in the past, and I'm going to make a suggestion that they try the "mint fix". A few crushed leaves seems to work for six months - maybe longer.

You can get the mints in the form of essential oils, maybe you could spray it on, if that's more convenient. But you can grow real mint plants very easily,even in Maine. They grow like weeds, as long as they get enough water.

Some members on another forum scoffed openly at the idea that mice can get into piano cases and damage them. I struggled with my better nature, but I found myself with a smug and evil smile when I saw your note.

I keep thinking of that line drawing of The Mad Tea Party, with the doormouse actually sitting in the teapot, with the lid for a hat (they were trying to shut him up; he kept going OT). I guess it wasn't peppermint tea.

Interesting. Cats hate the smell of mint too. Everytime I offer my cat a sniff of peppermint tea, he turns tail and runs.

One of the problems with some pianos is that they have openings in the bottom board where they can squeeze themselves in. I've heard for years that they don't like to chew through steel wool so that's what I usually try to plug the holes with. I'll have to add some peppermint leaves too for a double whammy!

We have used in our shop, our RV, and most importantly in customer's homes, PURE PEPPERMINT OIL...

Unbelievable results! I have a client from Chicago...and elderly couple, who have a lake Michigan cottage in a very expensive, remote place. Its only accessible during the summer months. I went there to see a Yamaha upright three years ago that was so damaged by mice it was almost a complete loss...the urine was so strong it watered the eyes...they had tried mouse poisen and the mice had bled all over the hammers.

I shuddered to think of bringing that action back to my shop, but after looking it all over up and down, I decided that I could fix it. We bleached the wood parts carefully, and I (wearing gloves, mask and next to our jet engine fan!! for exhaust) cleaned up and sanded much of the blood stains out.

The next thing was, HOW DO WE KEEP THE MICE FROM COMING BACK?? Well, we knew that we'd had success with Peppermint oil...we purchased a bottle from the health food store (it must be PURE peppermint oil to be most effective) and Jane and I loaded four dixie cups up with cotten, and about 1/4 inch at the bottom of peppermint oil. The cups are placed inside the piano at the bottom.

I got a letter the next spring from my elated client. Not only did it entirely clear any mouse infestation from the piano, but the entire house!! Since that time, there has not been one single mouse turd anywhere near that piano...I'm only there once a year, but it worked.

We had another friend who was so distraught about her mice in her farmhouse that she was thinking of selling the place...it was a years' long battle. We told her about the peppermint oil, and she was crying with joy, literally!!, the next time we saw her...she said it completely cured her home of the mice...

You've hit upon it David...We have an RV we use for musical travel...a few years ago mice infested the heating ducts, and we had to remove all the ducts for cleaning and replacement. We started putting peppermint oil in the ducts and around the trailer and, you guessed it, no evidence of mice since...not one single dropping.

It takes re-invigorating the cups with oil every month or two ideally...my clients from Chicago have a local person do that for them during the winter months a couple times...but it works almost like a miracle for us.

Great topic...it takes mouse turds to get me to post at 1:30am!

RPD

I had mice nests under the keys, how I wasn't crushing them as I played I'll never know - right out of a cartoon! Peppermint did the trick.

I get about 100 mice in the traps at the hunting cabin every year, and there isn't a piano within miles of the place. I'll have to give peppermint oil a try.

Itchy & Scratchy ?

OK David... You got my attention.

For 24 years I have managed a pest control company in the Chicagoland area and, of course, used all kinds of products for rodent control. As a licensed operator we are restricted by the label of the product which, in this case does not include any instructions for controlling mice. This means that in my business we can't "legally" use pepper mint as a form of rodent control. But hey, I'm not much of a guy for following label instructions or the law, for that matter. I'm going to field test this concept in various rodent situations and document the results.

Thanks for the post.

Do let us know....

Camphor, pine tar and granularized fox urine have all been used along with mint and mint oil for years. They don't seem to all work, all the time, but many people claim good results. I think their effectiveness has to do with the availability of an alternate dry/warm location for the mice to move to in order to avoid the smell. Nothing beats a good sized, hungry, feral cat for keeping mice at bay IMHO.

This thread has really got me thinking! We're all familiar with "Bird-cage" pianos but I think a "Cat Cage" piano may have some real merit! The challenge will be figuring out a clever way to change the litter. I'm sure the engineering types out there can come up with something!

I've heard of people using snakes, with very good results (except for surprised visitors).

A tech here suggested Irish Spring soap. I was just vacuuming mouse turds out of a piano today...

Yes but how will the snake and the feral cat get along?!

I don't know Ryan but, I'd like to watch the video....

Can you play "Cat Scratch fever" on that piano?

Scooter

"Interesting. Cats hate the smell of mint too. Everytime I offer my cat a sniff of peppermint tea, he turns tail and runs."

Hmmm. Catnip is a species in the mint family. But they have a lot of very different smells.

Hungry cats and mouse-eating snakes are excellent examples of Integrated Pest Management practices. Then there are elephants; I hear they can't stand the sight of a mouse. But, the overhead is high. You thought mouse turds were bad.

Mice are not as innocent as being mere producers of turds and urine, or as makers of nests from chewed bridle straps and piano felts, might seem. Mouse urine of some species is a vector for hantavirus--- very bad news, and no cure. And mice carry fleas, which carry bubonic plague. Yes, it's still with us; at least it's treatable.

Peppermint, did you say?