It's that time of year again... mice
 

I know many of you have vehicles that aren't driven frequently. With the cold weather our furry friends are building winter homes, so take precautions.

On the way home from Summit Sunday in my BMW, I got an occasional hot engine smell. Popped the hood when I got home and could smell something, just couldn't find anything. Assuming it was another oil leak I probed further yesterday. I removed an engine cover and found the below. The gray fluff is sound dampening foam from the underside of the cover. The gnawed wires are for #1 injector. :shock: Luckily they didn't touch and short out on the drive home...
Popped the hood of the track car and found some scat but no nest. Both vehicles live outside.

Looking for advice on proven mouse-repellants. Have tried moth balls w/ no success. Peppermint oil seemed to work OK last year, but have to recharge every few days. Cat not possible due to the red foxes in the area.

fun

they got my truck a while ago, pita

traps and bait stations, I havent found a repellant that works/lasts

yup. repellants and those electric sound things are useless.

can't keep them away, have to reduce the population. traps and bait stations.

my brother (not in VA) bought a pellet gun. handed it to his 16yo son and said "$10 for every ground squirrel eliminated".

not just the mice either, the chipmunks love vehicles left outside.

Had similar problem last year with my 2012 DD last year, only the rodent committed suicide in the interior fan. Took technician two-three weeks to basically take front of car apart to repair. Front doors even had to come off, dash out, new parts, etc. Over $2,000. Insurance took care of it. Car had been stored outside. I am currently using all available means to fight the menace ... but it is a constant war. Traps do work, but mice reproduce at tremendous rate.

Dang, Richard, that's bad.

A few years ago I was driving my truck in the winter and was getting a strong fuel smell when stopped. Found the mice had built a nest on the top of the fuel tank and had chewed a small hole in the high-pressure fuel line, resulting in a constant drip.. Mechanic had to drop the tank to replace the line. Grr...

Traps and bait stations set. Let's see how many I get by the weekend....

NO proven mice repellants. I fight the little buggers in 7 buildings in Tysons and one home deep in the woods. Traps, traps and more traps. Snappers and sticky traps for low mice traffic areas and where sub adult mice can be found. "Tin cats" for high traffic areas. Check the tin cats every day. While they can catch many per day they don't kill the mice. Sticky traps don't kill ether but they are by far the most effective in getting the small smart ones with a little dab of peanut butter in the center. Set and maintain the traps Before you have the problems. Getting a roaming adult before it sets up a home in yours is the goal.

The white plastic Tomcat brand snap traps get more mice than the old style ones. Easy to set, trip on smaller mice and easy to unload and reset.
Peanut butter is my go to bait in all but the tun cats, there I use 1/2 a peanut butter cracker. You know the ones that are that "presidential" color. Replace the bait once a week or so if no hits and after each hit. Run the Tomcat snap trap bait pocket under hot running water and it will come out no muss no fuss. Clean fresh baited traps get more mice.

I have had 2 air cooled 911s come through my shop with nests on top of the oil cooler. Killed one motor and frustrated the owner of the other one for a long while.

This is a sucky situation. No good solution that is foolproof. Instead of bait stations please try this.


https://www.pinterest.com/pin/644929609108340090/


Bait stations that poison the mouse leave a dead poisoned carcass for birds of prey to eat. It does make them sick and kill them if they eat enough.

So far have caught 1 each night around the track car. More traps to be set today. Peanut butter is doing the trick... They also gnawed in a bait block I put inside the engine bay.

I tried the bucket trick Dave posted in an area known to have mice. Nothing ended up in the bucket, but you could tell they were sure having a party on the floor around it...

Yep we never use poison baits. Baits also leave dead mice and rats in your walls to stink up the place while they dry out. If blue bottle flies find them they use the carcass and breed up a bunch more flies. A bit later you are inundated in flies for a few days as they hatch out.

Try some tin cats. I have had good success with them. YMMV

After all is said and done they will still get you now and then.
Fired up the garden tractor to mow the lawn. Made about 20 feet of cut before noticing that the mower was down on power and there was a bit of vibration. Flipped up the hood and spotted black fuzzy fiber clumps poking out of some of the air holes and the like. Seems a mouse took the fibers of a roll of geo textile cloth and made a nest in the motor. saw fuzz around the carb throttle/ governor and figured that was why it was down on power. took the cover and ....The little fucker chewed off one of the spark plug wires. :grrr:

Cut a chunk of plug wire from some old stuff slobbered it together with some black tape, cleaned out the motor and finished mowing. Going to have to replace the magneto for that cylinder for a proper fix.

This is why I like black snakes.