I am reading conflicting reports about using moth balls to repel mice. I am wanting to store my lay down blinds in the house attic this year. Any support for using moth balls or ideas on a better repellant? Bait bars didn't solve the problem when I stored them in a storage unit last year. My barn the years before that was even worse. I had rats that did a lot of damage. I use bait bars up there anyway, but I have seen a few mouse turds in my attic is why I am concerned. If the moth balls work, I will use them also. Just hate the smell if they don't work.

I don't know about mice, but moth balls worked to keep cats from pooping in our hedges next to the house.

We had a rat nest in my wife's old car. We were told to put moth balls in the engine block somewhere. Seemed to solve the rat problem.

We used them under the travel trailer that was kept on our recreational property and they seemed to help quite a bit. We'd sprinkle a healthy dose under the trailer each time we were out there and we certainly had fewer problems with mice getting in the trailer. Not a 100% foolproof solution however as we'd still have one or two find their way into the subfloor of the trailer.

Don't do it. I know someone that used mothballs under their house to keep skunks out. Overtime they didn't have skunks but then their office/classmates started telling them they smelled like mothballs. Then they had to climb under the house to remove all the mothballs.
Just use a good bait and make sure any available drinking water is away from the house.
I tried the bars too. They ate them like energy bars. Tried some type of granules that worked...

We use moth balls on our ranch in barns and tac rooms etc. It works very well. No rats or mice. Also seems to deter rattlesnakes somewhat as well.

Never heard about mothballs and mice. My wife seems think that mothballs repel snakes. Then again, instead buying mothballs, buy snakes. No more mice!

They do not work! My old roommate bought a house that was loaded with moth balls. We had mice and smelt like Naptha all the time. We tried trapping but that got us no where. We closed the holes and poisoned them. Then got rid of all the moth balls. two years later when I moved out, my cloths still smelt like moth balls. It was awkward going to the bar. Someone would always bring up the strange smell. Maybe BBS will be along shortly to verify.

CTGilley said:

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They do not work! My old roommate bought a house that was loaded with moth balls. We had mice and smelt like Naptha all the time. We tried trapping but that got us no where. We closed the holes and poisoned them. Then got rid of all the moth balls. two years later when I moved out, my cloths still smelt like moth balls. It was awkward going to the bar. Someone would always bring up the strange smell. Maybe BBS will be along shortly to verify.

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I was raised by my grandparents. My grandmother was the best cook in the world! The first year I was at A&M I brought a buddy home with me and we went to my grandparents. She laid out a spread of steak, steak fingers, and fried pork chops with mashed potatoes etc. The first bite I took had a somewhat wierd taste. Next bite same taste. I finally figured it out, this tastes and smells like mothballs. Turns out she had been keeping mothballs in the freezer "to keep them fresh". Right up until she died, everything she cooked tasted (smelled) like mothballs. Don't put them anywhere in your domicile in large quantities.

How does one harvest moth balls?

Seven said:

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How does one harvest moth balls?

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Use your teeth.

Seven said:

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How does one harvest moth balls?

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Shop vac.

NOOOOOOO!!!!! Moth Balls (Napthalene) is toxic to anything that might consume it and they don't work very well anyway. Better off making strips of cloth from an old towel or t-shirt, tying it in a knot and soaking it in ammonia. You need to repeat the application of ammonia every few days, but it works better and is less toxic.

Tursiops93 said:

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NOOOOOOO!!!!! Moth Balls (Napthalene) is toxic to anything that might consume it and they don't work very well anyway. Better off making strips of cloth from an old towel or t-shirt, tying it in a knot and soaking it in ammonia. You need to repeat the application of ammonia every few days, but it works better and is less toxic.

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Welp, guess I am screwed. Always figured it would be something more fun that killed me, but I guess latent mothball poisoning it is. It's been a good 46 years. At least I went out from eating steak fingers.

I almost posed the SDS for Napthalene when I read your post.

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Welp, guess I am screwed. Always figured it would be something more fun that killed me, but I guess latent mothball poisoning it is. It's been a good 46 years. At least I went out from eating steak fingers.

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Lol. No mothballs then. I have survived stage 4 cancer and I'll be damned if an insect's testicles are going to be my demise. But I also got to realizing I would be smelling them every time I used the blinds and that wouldn't do either. Thanks, ob.