Winter is Coming and So Are The Mice

[Rot 911]

Every spring we get posts on mice eating wires, nesting on the cylinders and in the heat ducts, trunks, anywhere they can make a home. A guy on a motorcycle forum I am on posted some good information to keep the mice away. Get started now so in the spring you can just start driving!

"I've been in and around the pest-control industry as a consultant and regulator for over 20 years. You have several options:

1) Baits. All-weather blocks, pellets, liquids, treated seeds. If you use baits you ought to put them in a bait station or other container. The all-weather blocks are palatable, fast-acting, and last a long time. Mice are small - a dead mouse isn't going to stink very long even if you can't get to it.

2) Snap traps. My personal preference. No muss, no fuss, reasonably humane. Peanut butter is one of the best baits - not too much, though. You just want 'em to smell it, chew on the trigger, and... Cotton balls also work well. Mice love cotton balls for nest material. I've always had better luck with pre-baiting. Leave the unset traps out with bait on them for a few days, and let the mice get accustomed to feeding from them. Then set 'em. Use a lot of traps - the idea here is to get all the mice used to feeding from the traps, and then nail them all the first night. That way you don't have any educated mice hanging around.

3) Glue boards. Effective but grisly. And not a good idea if you have cats. Hell hath no Fury like a cat stuck on a glue board. And removing them takes gallons of vegetable oil, much patience, and rhinoceros-hide gloves. And then the cat licks all the vegetable oil out of its fur. And then, being pissed-off and very well lubed...

4) Ultrasonic repellers. Effective only as wallet-vacuums. It's been well-established for many many years that these devices do not work, do not work, do not work. They don't work on bugs, either.

Whatever you do be sure to caulk, foam, and otherwise seal up openings as best you can. If you can't do that then a regular routine of snap traps inside and bait stations outside will probably keep the local population low and catch any stragglers thaat come inside before they chew up anything important."

[vanwyk4257]

This is all good info.

I figured out that the little bastards were sneaking into my garage through a very small gap at the bottom of the aluminum flashing on either side of my garage door so I pumped about a half of a tube of white silicone caulk into each side so they'll never chew through it.
I also have numerous glue traps (no cats at my house) strategically placed. So far this fall I've caught four to six mice in the garage. My theory is to put the glue traps by the inside of the garage door because the little bastards have to get out to get water to drink, that's where I've caught almost all of them.

I also put moth balls behind the shelves, my freezer, and other places I can't get to just to keep the mice from making a cozy home back there since they hate moth balls.

I also keep my car on some of those rollable dolly's during the winter and put mothballs under the dolly's, I figure that makes it less likely the mice are going to try to climb up the tires to find a way into the car.

Knock on wood, I have yet to have a mouse get into any of my cars.

[CarreraDan]

Mice are easy to deal with--you just need one or two of these and about 30min for the capture and then about an hour for the inevitable kill. I cannot believe how fast my two cats can find a mouse in the garage b/c most of the time it is one big mess out there and I cannot find anything that I am looking for.

[Otto]

Place mint around the area you want protected.

[charleskieffner]

steel wool in crevices...........breaks their little teeth!

[pwd72s]

Daniel's method is deployed here as well. Two neutered female cats rule this place. I'm not opposed to baits or traps either. Another thing I do full time is to plug the exhaust pipe with a tennis ball, and always set the heater lever to full on, thus closing the holes in the heater boxes. I've read that these are two entry points into the car. Bottom line? Anything that works!

[Porsche virgin]

Excellent and timely topic.

Originally posted by pwd72s
Another thing I do full time is to plug the exhaust pipe with a tennis ball, and always set the heater lever to full on, thus closing the holes in the heater boxes. I've read that these are two entry points into the car.

Clever!

[azasadny]

Mothballs spread on the garage floor all the way around the car work well for me, but I don't drive the car in the winter. Don't put the mothballs in the car or the smell will never go away!!

[Two Tone]

I'm good friends with a guy who works at an RV trailer shop. He tells me that Bounce dryer sheets in all the drawers, cupboards and storage spaces will keep mice out of a trailer during the winter. Mice are a real problem with these trailers.

Has anyone else heard of this. He swears by it and I've found he's almost always right about things....

Not sure if I want my car to smell like Bounce in the spring though.

Also, someone mentioned earlier that they plug the exhaust pipe to keep mice out. I can't see too much trouble coming from having a mouse nest in there. Am I missing something here??

[Jim Sims]

"Also, someone mentioned earlier that they plug the exhaust pipe to keep mice out. I can't see too much trouble coming from having a mouse nest in there. Am I missing something here??"

Mice can and will "hike" a long way in the dark. One of the exhaust valves will be open; I have seen a nest complete with soil (as in silicon dioxide, clay, etc.) built on top of a piston inside the cylinder in a 911 engine.

[Rick V]

I have 4 cats, this seems to do the trick. I have one who, for some reason, loves the garage. We named her Panzer, that should give you an idea of her personality.

[Two Tone]

Originally posted by Jim Sims


Mice can and will "hike" a long way in the dark. One of the exhaust valves will be open; I have seen a nest complete with soil (as in silicon dioxide, clay, etc.) built on top of a piston inside the cylinder in a 911 engine.

That's all I needed to hear. I'll be plugging my exhaust this winter too now.

Thanks.

[Porsche virgin]

Funny, a month or so after I bought my car I was going through it carefully, and I found four or five dryer sheets under the seats. Now I know why.

[M725ROB]

I've used dryer sheets in stored cars for years. Keeps mice from hanging around there. Just go to the grocery store and smell boxes to decide what you want your car to smell like in the spring. Spred lots of em everywhere, they're cheap. I put them in engine compartments too, but after having to remove one from inside my shroud, I'll be more careful with air cooled.

[Shuie]

I splattered one of the little bastards in my fan last weekend. Fur and broken mouse parts all over my nicely detailed motor I cant wait to pull my alternator assembly to see what he was up before the fan ended him.

[Gene Wilkes]

Definitely need one of these!

[defcon65]

+1 on the cats - I have two and have not seen an entire mouse in years. What I have seen are the tails, entrails and back feet of literally hundreds of mice, chipmunks, baby rabbits, moles and small birds proudly displayed for me near the back door. My cats are stealthy and effective killers; I've watched them silently stalk through the grass and pause motionless for a half-hour, just waiting for the opportune moment to strike. It's like Wild Kingdom in my own backyard!
As far as traps, restaurant supply companies sometimes sell a wind-up, metal box trap that has a revolver-type chamber that flips the mouse into a holding tank then resets for the next interloper. The usual result is one really big mouse and the remains of the rest. Grisly, but effective and they don't have to be checked that often.
I've heard of mice crawling up exhausts and making nests in mufflers before, but I've not seen it. The tennis ball trick sounds like a great low-tech solution.
If only my cats could fly, I wouldn't have to worry about bird poop, either.

Regards,

[Gene Wilkes]

[azasadny]

My father uses Bounce dryrer sheets in his deer blind in northern MI and claims they keep the critters out. He replaces them several times a year so the deer don't seem to notice. He gets a deer every year, so he must know what he's doing... no mice in his blind...

[defcon65]

Careful with the cat in the computer room, Islandman - might be downloading kittieporn or snipe bidding for cat toys on ebay.
- you'll never be able to return them once they got spit all over 'em.

Regards,