Mice in your car and Hantavirus

[silver912e]

My 912 is stored in a friend's barn and I can often find evidence of mice when I'm working on it. After hearing about Gene Hackman's wife, I feel like I need to get smart about wearing some respiratory protection when I'm in there. Anybody here already taking precautions against rodent diseases?

[KNS]

It's really more of an issue in the West and Southwestern states. If you're in Virginia it's far less of a concern.

Many years ago while living in Arizona I cleaned out a storage shed with a whole mess of rats living under the floor. I must have breathed in a ton of dust and dirt and a bunch of other nastiness. Never got sick from it.

[onewhippedpuppy]

I would definitely take precautions, beyond the health risks the little SOBs can do a lot of damage. I would definitely deploy traps and if the car is stored, keep it on jack stands vs sitting on the garage floor. I’ve had a couple of cars with mouse damage, it’s a PITA. Fortunately unless it’s relatively fresh you won’t get sick, but they still like to make nests everywhere and eat your wiring harnesses.

[LEAKYSEALS951]

I'm near c-ville. You should be afraid of this. Very afraid! I will come take the car off your hands!
Seriously though, I was just looking at some ads for some mold infested cars, and thought I wanted none of it. We've got some mice probably nibbling on my wiring right now, but no hanta yet, although I find myself wearing leftover n95 masks from work a bit more when cleaning out cars/dust/mold/mouse poop/etc. I'm not 16 like I once was.

Fortunately, the mice in Afton seem to prefer Mitsubishi wiring, not volvo or mid 70's p-car wiring. Hopefully, your mice are related.

[VINMAN]

Had that problem with my old Mercury which is stored out in my yard.
I spray the underside of the car , and engine compartment.
Really helped keep them to a minimum.

[Evans, Marv]

Originally Posted by VINMAN

Had that problem with my old Mercury which is stored out in my yard.
I spray the underside of the car , and engine compartment.
Really helped keep them to a minimum.

I think I'm going to buy some of this. My van is in the dealership right now getting the steering replaced (failed steering gear ???) and wiring/harnesses replaced because of rodent damage - to the tune of $6K+. I have a bottle of coyote pee, but it doesn't seem to have much in the way of deterence. I need to make some other arrangements other than parking my van outside under the metal cover.,

[VINMAN]

Its pretty good Marv. Has a mint smell to it, so not bad.

I've tried the mothball thing, but didn't work well plus it reeks.

.

[porsche930dude]

Regular mouse traps with peanut butter seems to work just fine. Just have to keep up with them. My dad cleaned out the neighbors truck and it put him in the hospital for a week. He definately almost died.

[greglepore]

I once picked up a derelict 914 that had been sitting. We didn't have a winch on the trailer, so we parked the trailer at the bottom of an incline and rolled the car down the hill. My buddy was in the driver's seat. As it began to roll, a couple mice scurried out of the glovebox. He's afraid of mice. Damn near ran the car into the tailgate of the pickup...good times.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

I use this professional bait, it works well. Just put bricks by tires and in the car where you see droppings. You can see if they have eaten any.

CONTRAC All-Weather BLOX Bromadiolone Rat and Mouse Bait

[Cajundaddy]

Rodents are bad juju for a Porsche. I would spray any feces with a bleach disinfectant to avoid disease and remove it. Then take steps to keep the damn critters the heck out.

[juanbenae]

I use peppermint oil for rodent infesting of my jeep & truck. Not concerned about then getting into the driver compartments but will spray it in the motor compartment from time to time. Don't hit the hot portions of the motor but the firewall, fender wells, around fuse boxes and wiring harnesses. You have to look around some cause it can be stupid expensive but mix it with water in a fern sprayer.

Spray it in other areas of the garage as well. No more mouse poop in the garage where I found it when I first moved in.

[thingmon]

We rebuilt a barn find Beetle years ago and I think half the weight of the car was mouse poo. Heater channels and every other spot in the car were full.

Took hours at a car wash to clear it all out.

[DWBOX2000]

Get a cat. Done.

[bmcuscgr94]

Originally Posted by Cajundaddy

Rodents are bad juju for a Porsche. I would spray any feces with a bleach disinfectant to avoid disease and remove it. Then take steps to keep the damn critters the heck out.

Yep. Rodents did $2,000 damage to my Boxster, even chewed fuel lines on top of gas tank. Disinfected everything. I'm now using Grandpa Gus' rodent repellant, after 6 months so far so good. Luckily insurance paid for most of it.

Last couple of years rodent population has exploded on our farm. We've put out traps and bait and now have a very good barn cat. Seems to be working

[Wetwork]

From a Google search...

Hantavirus infections are rare, with most cases occurring in the western United States. Since medical researchers began tracking it in 1993, there have been only 833 recorded cases of Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) in the US.


So it depends on how worried you want to be about "rare"-WW

[HobieMarty]

This is what I used to evict the squirrels from my attic. It works, and it says it works for mice as well as a whole bunch of other animals you may not want around.

Sent from my SM-S916U using Tapatalk

[porsche930dude]

Originally Posted by Wetwork

From a Google search...

Hantavirus infections are rare, with most cases occurring in the western United States. Since medical researchers began tracking it in 1993, there have been only 833 recorded cases of Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) in the US.


So it depends on how worried you want to be about "rare"-WW

Its not just hantavirus they carry alot of other crap too. When my dad was in the hospital they didnt find hanta in his system they never pinpointed anything really.