Not again!

[Darren Wright]

As part of the new house purchase, we’re getting my MILs 2007 Lexus, which is in good condition overall. It did have some mouse houses in various places due to being parks for over a year. I’ve since cleared out those, but have parked it outside the past few weeks.

My wife went to start it last week and it dies in the street. She got it restarted after a bit and was able to pull it back into the driveway. I looked at it that evening and found a critter had recently chewed off one wire to the temperature sensor. I got it patched back up and running fine again.

This morning I went to move the car for a flooring delivery tomorrow and found it was not starting again. This time the little (coc banned words here) chewed both wires as well as a few others.


I’ve got it patched back up and also removed all the extra plastic engine covers. I found a huge mouse houses on top of the engine along with some injector wires that also needed patching.

I’ve sprayed the engine compartment down with some peppermint oil my wife had around. It’s got quite the aroma now with the peppermint mouse pee/poo smell.

I’ll be washing the whole engine compartment down tonight and reapplying the peppermint oil. Also have some bags of mouse repellent to toss under there and in my trucks engine compartment to maybe prevent anymore issues.

I’ll also have my daughter come get the car and take it to her place. We’re still waiting on the title transfer to give it to her anyway.

 

[Vaughn McMillan]

Yeah, the CoC doesn't allow us to properly express our dislike of wire-eating vermin.

My Ranger sits parked for months at a time, and I've had a few instances of squirrels getting in the engine compartment and chewing stuff up. So far no real damage (knock on wood). I put a bag of mothballs under the hood and that seemed to keep them out. I'd forgotten about the mothballs until a few months ago when I took the Ranger to the emissions testing place. The tech and I were trying to figure out why the truck smelled so funky and our eyes were tearing up when it was running. Note to self: heating mothballs up on an engine manifold creates a very strong toxic odor, lol.

 

[glenn bradley]

Back in the day we would prop the hood up a foot or so. This removes the "safe dark place" that destructive critters prefer. May or may not work for you but it is easy, free, and does not involve poisons that desirable critters may get into. Several times we would suddenly lose the floor of a building network-wise. The techs would dispatch and find fiber optic lines chewed right up to the back of the jack field panel. Mice just love the flavor of that plastic material

 

[Bill Satko]

The wife puts at least two mouse traps baited with peanut butter under her Subaru, one at each front wheel. Apparently they like the peanut butter and never make it up into the engine compartment.

 

[Jay Caughron]

One of the problems with a lot of wiring is they started using vegetable oils when making the insulation instead of petroleum base oil to satisfy the environmentalist. The critters love the veggie oil wires and the tree huggers are happy

 

[steve ramsey]

Use a heavy plastic bottle like Gatorade drill holes around the top, half fill with mothballs and zip tie one on each side of engine compartment.

 

[Brent Dowell]

We've had this problem quite a lot in the past. I've done everything from putting mouse traps in there, spraying with essential oils, electronic devices, little repellent packages, etc...

The traps seemed to work the best. I have opened up the hood of my truck before to seeing a pack rat just sitting there staring at me blinking his eyes in the sunlight.

Best things was getting a couple of outdoor cats to patrol the property. They've done a great job over the last couple of years of keeping the rodents away. One bonus in addition to saving the vehicle wiring is the lack of rodents seems to keep the no leggers (snakes) away as well, since there isn't much around for them to eat.

 

[Darren Wright]

Apparently a few neighbors have had issues. The one across the street brought over some spray he uses to help keep the at bay. He sprays the under side of his front wheel wells where they normally crawl up at.

I got some of the peppermint packets and stuffed them around the engine bay.

The Lexus I got running, washed down the entire engine bay, sprayed it with peppermint oil, put a few packets in it, then had my daughter come take it to her house.

A few more rat bait chunks got left out around the house last night also. I saw a few of them have disappeared overnight, so will replenish those areas again today.

 

[Rennie Heuer]

Our problem here is the combination of squirrels and walnut trees. Under the hood seems to be a favorite storage space. I use a couple of mesh bags of mothballs. Very effective and they last for about 6 to 8 months. Yes, my truck smells like grandma's attic, but no nuts on my manifold!

 

[Ted Calver]

Our pest control company tried to upsell us on a rodent treatment plan. I impressed the guy who actually does the various treatments by putting on a tyvec coverall and joining him in the crawl space when he did the annual termite inspection under our house a few years ago. We found no termites, but rodent signs and a small hole in one of the vent screens. He was happy to share information about how the rodents nest in the insulation and use the tops of ducting and drainage pipes as highways, rubbing various glands against objects to mark territory. He said their company used a product callled Pro-Pell to spray around the perimiter of the house every three months to deter rodents from coming in. I didn't buy their $$$ service, but did buy a gallon of the Pro-pell from amazon. Just finished spraying the contents of the garage tent I had to empty out last week...including the wiring on a generator, power washer and plate compactor that live there. No nibbles for years. The stuff has gone up in price since I bought it and there are other similar and less expensive products now, some even tailored to automotive wiring. You might check them out.
Another option is to to reduce the tree rat population around your property, if circumstances permit. We have squirrel resistant bird feeders, but they are always around, gleaning the bird seed rejects and gnawing on anything else that might be food,
and generally tearing up the garden During the last three days a total of sixteen,edit seventeen eighteen and counting have been made available to the local carnivore food chain in the back woods.

 

[Brent Dowell]

but did buy a gallon of the Pro-pell from amazon. Just finished spraying the contents of the garage tent I had to empty out last week...including the wiring on a generator, power washer and plate compactor that live there.

Thanks Ted! Ordered some pro-pell for treating the auto areas.

I already have a quiet high speed lead dispenser I use for local carnivore food chain supplementation.

 

[Darren Wright]

The neighbor across the street asked if I would be willing to drive his trapped critters out to the country side and release them, since I have a pickup truck. I declined, but offered to introduce them to scuba diving in a water filled bucket or barrel.

 

[Mike Stafford]

I spent quite a bit of time over the last 40 years dealing with rodent problems as part of my job. Mice like to live in things that are undisturbed. And they will live in almost anything. I have seen them live in and under firewood, lumber stacks, behind old cabinets, under the refrigerator, inside the base of soft serve ice cream machines, in desks in office areas, in filing cabinets, in chests of drawers with infrequently used clothing and about anywhere else you can imagine.

A mouse can squeeze through a hole as small as the width and depth of a mortar joint in a block or brick wall. If a wooden structure is attached to those walls and the mortar joints aren't properly sealed the mice will use them as highways into the wooden structure affixed to the wall.

Somewhere on your property is a nesting area. It may be in the garage, under the garage or even in the attic of the garage. If they are nesting under the garage walk around the perimeter and look closely for any small holes or disturbed soil that might indicate burrows. Exterior bait boxes firmly anchored to the ground or Ketch-all type traps are your best bet for exterior control although the Ketch-alls are expensive.

Inside you could have mice nesting in the walls or under the floor if there are any holes in the walls, around the perimeter of the slab or behind any fixed objects such as benches etc. I have seen mice nesting in between the metal skins of walk-in coolers that had interior or exterior damage. It is not unusual for mice to have as many 20 or more members including the pups in a nest. Interior control includes things like Ketch-alls and glue boards. Bait the glue boards with a single peanut in the center. I have seen glue boards carpeted with mice in one night.

Mice can climb vertically and easily climb block and brick walls. If the top of those walls are not properly sealed with mortar or wooden top plates they will happily live in the spaces provided by those pieces of masonry. They can also find access to the attic by climbing the walls. Sometimes they can squeeze behind items pushed tight against the wall and use that small space to access higher areas. They also can climb walls by using the corners if the wall covering provides them with any grip at all.

If you have access to a portable blacklight you can use it in subdued lighting to find their most frequently traveled paths. These paths will glow under blacklight because rodents do not have bladder control. They are constantly dribbling urine and their urine glows under blacklight. They will also dribble all over food stuffs such as canned goods which will show evidence via a blacklight. These trails exist both indoors and outdoors and other mice can detect the odors from their cousins and will follow the smell to an active burrow or nest. This makes it difficult to completely eradicate a population quickly because of the residual trails and odors.

Mice can jump pretty high and far. I have seen mice jump more than 12 inches vertically and over a couple of feet horizontally. This sometimes makes access for them to areas that are not immediately recognized as nesting areas. Mice can live without ever drinking water. They obtain enough water from their food for survival. Rats need a source of water to drink daily.

Do you know how to tell the difference between mouse and rat droppings. Well, mouse droppings are quite salty due to the fact they consume less water. Rat droppings are blunt on each while mouse droppings are tapered on each end. Why are mouse droppings tapered you ask? To keep their little rear ends from snapping shut, of course.

P.S. After I finished my initial post I saw where you posted this: "I declined, but offered to introduce them to scuba diving in a water filled bucket or barrel. "

I was once in a facility where they were using buckets of water as rodent controls. They had long boards that served as ramps that ran from the top of a bucket to some point along the wall where rodent trails were noted. The mice would come to the board and climb the ramp and walk off the end into the bucket partially filled with water. Mice do not have good vision and one of the reasons they travel along the edges of walls is that they use their whiskers as feelers. So when they come to the board they walk the plank and end up in the bucket of water since there is no wall to guide them. Lots of pest control people drown mice that are still alive in the Ketch-alls by dunking them in a bucket of water.

 

[Darren Wright]

I’m m much like Ted at the farm, the Gamo comes out once they come into the yard. Here in the city I’ve not yet met all the neighbors, but so far more than a handful of them would have no complaints about seeing the squirrel population decline. None seem to be fans of cats though, so it limits the options.

 

[Charles Lent]

My neighbor just had to replace his plastic HVAC duct because a rodent chewed holes in it everywhere under his house. He was blaming mice, but I think I know what his problem was. He had his ductwork replaced just before I started having the problems with my wiring, so I think maybe the HVAC contractors working under his house may have driven Mrs Opossum out of his crawl space and into mine.

I've just recently been having problems with Opossums getting under my house and chewing my internet and phone wires. I finally caught Mrs Opossum and deported her using a borrowed live catch trap. No more internet and phone wire problems since I caught her. She will have a 12 mile walk to get back here, so I think she will become someone else's problem long before she makes it back here.

I also put mouse/rat bait traps around the house foundation and inside the crawl space. So far, two mice and one very young Opossum have died at their water hole (my AC Condensate drain). The poison bait makes them very thirsty. They were too small to catch with the live trap, but the bait did it's job. I just wish they had sought a drink of water somewhere out from under my house.

My Internet and phone lines are still working, now 2 weeks since last repair, since Mrs Opossum got deported. As an experiment, I put a 1' length of internet cable in the trap with her a few hours before she was deported, and an hour later the insulation was completely gone off the wires. This verified to me that she was the one causing the damage, but the live trap is still under the house and I check it at least every other day. Mice aren't nearly this destructive, but they do like to build nests in dark, seldom used, places. I'm forever having problems with mice getting into my woodshop. Nests made from my rags, one canvas tool bag, and fiberglass insulation is the usual construction method, and they get found frequently in drawers of my metal tool boxes (former key punch card files), and also behind lumber piles, etc. I have a whole wire rack of nice tasty wire of many colors and sizes (about 30 reels of it), but the mice have never touched any of this in the last 30 years, since they found and moved into my woodshop, and it's hanging on the wall and open for the taking.

Your problems are likely squirrel, rat, or Opossum related. Opossums can be very beneficial, since they clean up just about anything dead, but they can do a lot of damage if they get in/under your house or under the hood of your car. Squirrels and rats can do similar damage, but they don't tend to eat dead animals and plastic wiring insulation like Opossums do.

Charley

 

[bill kaminski]

Whooee, Ted...that is an impressive bit of kit.
As I too, live in da' woods, have many squirrels. not to much of a problem, tho.
Damn chipmunks, are a far greater problem. I put out my water bucket trap, last week. So far 4 chippies..2 mice.
Air guns are much more fun!

 

[Dave Hawksford]

Couple black snakes or the local snake for mousing.