Rats and mice are most likely to enter your home on the lookout for food and shelter. And these unwelcome guests are very skilled at finding ways in. 

If left, these pests can breed quickly and become even harder to get rid of. While traps, poison and filling in all the holes and cracks will help, deterring them from entering in the first place is key to keeping the problem under control. Elizabeth Adams from Urban Locker has shared a little-known tip to keep rats away, and it could be at the back of your cupboard.

Firstly, Elizabeth said rats can smell food from just over a mile away, so if you have overflowing bins or rubbish in your garden, you may as well have a neon sign pointing at your home inviting them in.

But she also said this strong sense of smell can be used against them. Often people will use expensive chemicals to keep rats away from their homes, but a lesser-known yet highly effective deterrent is using vinegar, specifically pickled onions.

Elizabeth said: “You can use expensive chemicals or you can use old rags soaked in pickled onion vinegar.

” While it sounds silly, the overpowering acidity of the vinegar in the pickled onion disrupts the rat’s ability to detect scents which makes your home and garden a no-go zone.

“You can soak old rags in pickled onion juice and place them near suspected entry points, bin areas and corners of the garden so you can discourage them from lingering in your garden.  

“Your rags will need to be replaced every few days to maintain effectiveness.”

Beyond using rags you can also create your own rat-repellent spray by combining equal parts pickled onion vinegar and water in a spray bottle and spraying this at entry points to your home and near your bin areas too, this can eliminate food odours that can attract rodents.

Elizabeth said: “Other essential oils such as peppermint can deter rats, but they contain volatile organic compounds which are extremely flammable and are a fire hazard, so I would not recommend spraying them around your home.”

She also said there are some plants that can deter rats, she added: “Plants such as lavender, mint, marigolds, daffodils, rosemary, sage and several others can be planted in your garden to disrupt the smell of a rat.

“If a rat can’t smell inside of your home then it is far less likely to try.”

For best results, plant these plants along fences, around sheds, and near compost bins or generally anywhere that rodents might be tempted to settle.