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I posted this on the Pet forum because I want kind responses. I have mice constantly getting into my vehicles. I can catch some in mouse-sized live traps but I'm wondering if there's some way to discourage them. I will not use poison or any other cruel methods. I'm not the only one here with this problem but I seem to have it worse than most.
Yours is probably worse than everyone else because you aren't using mouse traps. Catching them and just letting them loose means they are probably coming right back into your car. You also probably have them making nests and having and raising babies in your car. Possibly getting the undercarriage of your car sealed may work. Do you keep your car in an enclosed garage? If so I would not only be concentrating on getting rid of the mice in your car, but in your garage as well.
I don't know if the repellent in this article works or not.
But like the article says, cleaning out the vehicles is number one. My friend had her expensive car mutilated by chewing, even the wiring. It says get every last sunflower seed OUT etc.
She kept the spare bag of dog food in the trunk.
She had the inside and carriage, motor etc completely superscrubbed professionally and removed food and they didn't come back. This was in PA in the cold.
Even if you DO kill them there are always more where they came from so traps of any sort aren't being effective IMO. But I'd still use them so they don't damage. But the nests and stuff have to go along with the food.
I had a pet store and a rat got loose. We figured he was gone. But two weeks later found him living so happily in a small closet under our front window with an entire selection of bagged treats in his nest that he stole from the variety store attached to mine. I'm talking Frito Lay, Ruffles, cereal, pasta - dried fruit - a complete "rat salad" etc and a couple of dead animals on top for dressing. We were laughing ALOT. He actually went shopping, made selections and brought them "home". Several times we found escaped pregnant moms living happily in the drywall with their 18 babies and yet MORE free food she found all over the place. I think they were getting water from our FISH TANKS!
I had to remove the drywall half way up the wall to get the families. You cannot reach in and grab rodents you need to net them or something and have room to maneuver picking them up by the tail if necessary. Plus with babies they'll bite you when normally otherwise sweet and calm and not paranoid of people.
I don't know if the repellent in this article works or not.
But like the article says, cleaning out the vehicles is number one. My friend had her expensive car mutilated by chewing, even the wiring. It says get every last sunflower seed OUT etc.
She kept the spare bag of dog food in the trunk.
She had the inside and carriage, motor etc completely superscrubbed professionally and removed food and they didn't come back. This was in PA in the cold.
Even if you DO kill them there are always more where they came from so traps of any sort aren't being effective IMO. But I'd still use them so they don't damage. But the nests and stuff have to go along with the food.
I had a pet store and a rat got loose. We figured he was gone. But two weeks later found him living so happily in a small closet under our front window with an entire selection of bagged treats in his nest that he stole from the variety store attached to mine. I'm talking Frito Lay, Ruffles, cereal, pasta - dried fruit - a complete "rat salad" etc and a couple of dead animals on top for dressing. We were laughing ALOT. He actually went shopping, made selections and brought them "home". Several times we found escaped pregnant moms living happily in the drywall with their 18 babies and yet MORE free food she found all over the place. I think they were getting water from our FISH TANKS!
I had to remove the drywall half way up the wall to get the families. You cannot reach in and grab rodents you need to net them or something and have room to maneuver picking them up by the tail if necessary. Plus with babies they'll bite you when normally otherwise sweet and calm and not paranoid of people.
You may have some of that somewhere.
Did you pay the tab at the varity store?
Did the profit from the sale of the babies pay for the dry wall repair?
LOL yup. They were actually my landlord the old McCrory's chain that closed. They used to rent out space and rented me a former restaurant space. The manager and I were "partners" so I'd never rip him off. He was laughing too.
Quote:
Originally Posted by suzy_q2010
Did the profit from the sale of the babies pay for the dry wall repair?
Let's see. Um no. $1.99 x 18 = $35.82 - a loss leader, even if DIY. I figured out two months after opening that business that it was a really dumb move.
Mice can cause so much damage in a car. They chew up hoses, belts, and wiring, and make nests all over, not to mention they can carry diseases.
And they lay down a urine trail so that other mice come calling. We had a Suburban that developed a mouse problem. For some reason the mice were going into a nearby tool shed and carrying birdseed out of the shed and into the Suburban and storing it in the head liner (which we didn't notice). Unfortunately, my husband was driving one day and the head liner let go and he was showered with bird seed and mouse poop. We got out the traps at that point.
We've never had it happen with another car though, thank goodness.
BrokenCrayola already alluded to this but another thing you will want to consider (since you live in WY) is the possible danger of hantavirus if the mice in your car are deer mice.
Seems the scent of mint/peppermint is a natural mouse repellant. Mice apparently dislike strong pungent odors. Other spices they seem to hate include, cayenne pepper, cinnamon, red pepper flakes, and garlic. You can try some cotton balls and/or clothes soaked in extract placed in strategic places or make spicy potpourri bags with cheesecloth and the above spices to hang in the car. But I'm guessing that the smell needs to be strong so that they will be bothered by it and move out.
I also hear that mice will avoid places where there is a heavy scent of rats. Mice naturally fear rats and the scent of them is very disturbing to them, even more so than cats or dogs, probably because rats can easily get to where mice are hidden and will kill and eat them if given the chance. Though, I'm not sure if you want to try rat pheromones or scent as a repellant (not sure where you would get them either, unless you personally know an exterminator or someone with a pet rat). It might be worth trying as a last resort if the other methods don't work. As an pet owner of both mice and rats, I find rat urine smell more far more tolerable than that of mouse musk. But that's just me. Maybe you can combine rat scent and mint for a double whammy and to disguise the odor for human noses.
I posted this on the Pet forum because I want kind responses. I have mice constantly getting into my vehicles. I can catch some in mouse-sized live traps but I'm wondering if there's some way to discourage them. I will not use poison or any other cruel methods. I'm not the only one here with this problem but I seem to have it worse than most.
Are your vehicles in a garage?.. We discovered a little item called a `pest chaser"...If you can plug it the garage it emits a very high frequency unheard by human ears but intolerable to mice (and spiders, and some other insects)...The smallest covers a 250' square area, but the larger ones cover more. We found that they REALLY work...we paid about 35$ for ours....good luck
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