How to Catch Mice Living in Refrigerator -Effective Ways to Catch Mice Living in Your Refrigerator
Usually, mice will nest right behind the refrigerator as that’s where it’s nice and warm. However, in some cases, the rodents might end up getting inside the appliance.
To catch the mice living inside your refrigerator, you would first have to figure out how the rodent got in there. After you find the entry point, seal the hole, and use snap traps outside of the appliance to catch the unwanted guests.
You will find detailed instructions for each step below.
How to Catch Mice Living in Refrigerator
Find the Entry Point
Once you know where to look for the entry point, finding it shouldn’t be too hard. In the majority of cases, all you would have to do is take everything out of the fridge and carefully inspect the interior for any holes.
Your fridge has three main entry points that the mice might take advantage of:
- The door seal
If your door seal is old and damaged, it might be preventing the door from properly closing, and the mice would be getting inside the fridge through the open door.
The rodents can also easily chew through door seals as the lining is typically made of rubber.
- Drainage pipes and fan openings
The back wall of the inside of the fridge has plenty of openings that lead to the motor, compressor and some other parts of the appliance. These holes are typically covered with a plastic grate that the mouse can gnaw through.
Your refrigerator also has a defrost drain that is, basically, a tiny hole inside the appliance. Unfortunately, some mice are so small that they can fit through that hole if they somehow get into the drain tube.
- The cavity liner
Finally, the rodents can get inside the fridge by chewing through the plastic liner of the refrigerator cabinet.
As the outer shell of the appliance is typically made out of metal, the rodent won’t be able to cause any damage to it. But if the creature manages to find a way in between the outer shell and the cavity liner, the mouse would be able to get inside.
Seal the Fridge
If, for some reason, you have only a few minutes to spare, you can opt for a quick, temporary solution – fill the entry points with wire mesh or cotton balls that have been soaked in peppermint oil.
How exactly you are going to permanently cover the hole would depend on where you discovered the entry point:
- In the door seal
Ideally, you would want to install a completely new refrigerator door gasket. This will not only help make sure that the mice stay out of your fridge but will also improve the appliance’s efficiency.
- In the cavity liner
As you can’t change the entire cavity liner, you might choose to glue a piece of plastic over the hole and create a patch. Simply make sure to use the type of glue that works in a cold environment (like epoxy adhesives, for example).
By the way, the plastic that you’re using should be strong. Otherwise, you might decrease the refrigerator’s efficiency.
- The defrost drain is the only hole in the fridge
If you haven’t discovered any additional holes except for the defrost drain, you can install metal mesh over the drainpipe. You can also fill the end of the pipe with steel wool.
Catch the Mice
Now that you have made sure that the mice are no longer able to get inside the fridge, you can try to catch the rodents.
You would have to buy and set lots of mouse traps in the places where you have seen the creatures (Victor traps with the yellow plastic bait pan would do). Set at least 6 traps out before going to bed each night and bait with peanut butter, Tootsie Rolls, or pretzels.
There are more articles available on our website like Can Peanut Butter Be Refrigerated?, Can Pancake Batter Be Refrigerated? and Can Pedialyte Be Refrigerated?
Final Thoughts
Unfortunately, the only thing that you can really do to catch the mice living in your fridge is use a trap.
Poison can cause severe dehydration or blood coagulation – and that’s definitely not a painless death. Sticky mouse traps and live traps leave you with the question ‘What should I do next?’. Simply letting the creatures go outside of your house is not enough as the chances are extremely high that they will come back.
So, the best thing that you can do is seal your fridge and place a few snap traps around the appliance.
