Mouse problems in vehicles

[Fermion]

I have a question for you guys, just to see if there are any clever ideas I have not considered.

We own some ~30 acres of mountain land where we have built a large open side pole barn. I would like to switch out our Ford Transit van for our Ford F150 4x4 for the winter season because we will be driving a lot in the snow (we ride snowmobiles on trails in the mountains from Jan to March and use the truck to get them to the trailheads).

I would like to park the van in our pole barn but we have had a serious mouse issue up there where they started eating the tofu wiring in the F150 after just a week or so. They have also built a nest twice on top of the engine in our Kubota excavator which DID NOT make me happy at all. I killed a bunch of the suckers but it is impossible to get them all.

So....what clever way could I keep them out of the Ford Transit's engine compartment? Moth balls and dryer sheets don't work, tried that with the excavator.

I was thinking about elevating the van on jack stands (the barn is 16 feet tall) but that is a lot of work and the floor is dirt so not really comfortable with the idea. I was also thinking about driving the van onto some wire mesh and then kind of folding it up around the tires, thinking that the mice are jumping onto the tire and then into the engine compartment and they don't like metal wire. For all I know that is a myth though.

It may be that all of the mice and animals have hunkered down for the winter and we would not actually have a problem right now (it is 20 degrees overnight already). I don't want to go check on the van in a few weeks though and find $3,000 worth of damage to the wiring harness...

The local storage facility is sold out of units that have a tall enough roof for the van.

 

[REWahoo]

After battling mouse problems for years in our RV while parked over the winter I've never found anything 100% effective. However, when a few feral cats moved into the area the mouse population declined drastically. That, combined with some baited traps inside the RV have made a big difference.

 

[bingybear]

get a couple cats or a kia

 

[Fermion]

Cats are not really an option, although we do have a ~120 pound mountain lion on the property according to the game cam. He/she doesn't seem to do anything about the mice though.

 

[cooch96]

I’m dubious about the metal wire trick. I’ve seen plenty of mice climbing hardware cloth and chicken wire. Maybe the thick gauge stuff is too big for their feet.

I’ve seen an ad for a flood bag. You drive your car into it and seal it up before an incoming deluge. That might be tough enough to discourage mice, but it sounds like an expensive experiment.

 

[Ronstar]

I think mice could climb jack stands. I put dryer sheets in the engine compartment and inside on the seats. I don't know if this really works, but I haven't had any mice.

 

[Car-Guy]

I had problems with mice in my barn 8 to 10 years ago "after" I had killed off most of the snakes in the area. Traps were to slow and never seemed to get them all. I put out some mouse and rat poison and no more problems. I don't recall how long it took to work but it was pretty fast. Of course be careful to keep it away from the kids and pets. Also I remember I started keeping the grass cut much more often around the barn which probably helped too...

 

[Fermion]

I had problems with mice in my barn 8 to 10 years ago "after" I had kiled of most of the snakes in the area. Traps were to slow and never seemed to get them all. I put out some mouse and rat poison and no more problems. I don't recall how long it took but it work but it was pretty fast. Of course be careful to keep it away from the kids and pets.

Yeah I am considering the poison. We don't have any pets up there and the new poison is *supposed* to be safe for other animals who consume the poisoned mice because it requires several feedings before the mouse is killed. I am not sure though how to keep deer and turkeys from getting to the poison, unless maybe I put it under cinder blocks that are spaced only a inch off the ground or something.

I am pissed off enough about the excavator that I would kill every mouse in the county if I could.

 

[Car-Guy]

Yeah I am considering the poison. We don't have any pets up there and the new poison is *supposed* to be safe for other animals who consume the poisoned mice because it requires several feedings before the mouse is killed. I am not sure though how to keep deer and turkeys from getting to the poison, unless maybe I put it under cinder blocks that are spaced only a inch off the ground or something.

I am pissed off enough about the excavator that I would kill every mouse in the county if I could.

Maybe consider a small enclosed area that the mice can get to but the deer and turkeys can't? I actually had mine in a wire cage off the ground that the mice could get to but not my dogs.

 

[JoeWras]

I can just say that auto enthusiasts share your pain. I like to watch "Garage Squad," and on a recent episode, they had a little celebration because it was one of the first projects they worked on without a mouse or rat problem. (The vehicles they work on tend to have been parked for a while.)

Also, there are a lot of videos on youtube showing mice jumping, swimming, climbing, etc. Barriers don't seem to be an issue, metal or otherwise.

The only thing that works decently is daily driving of the vehicle. As you say, after about a week of no activity, they get bold and go for it. We've seen activity after long vacations. You might also want to ban all food eating in the vehicles to keep any scent out. Of course, in your case they just probably want a mountain home.

I'll leave you with a video showing how athletic a determined mouse is.

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

I had problems with mice in my barn 8 to 10 years ago "after" I had killed off most of the snakes in the area. Traps were to slow and never seemed to get them all. I put out some mouse and rat poison and no more problems. I don't recall how long it took but it work but it was pretty fast. Of course be careful to keep it away from the kids and pets. Also I remember I started keeping the grass cut much more often around the barn which probably helped too...

Living in a rural area we've found poison is the only effective means of control. Set out a couple of bait stations and keep them loaded.

 

[GreenEggs]

I like the large bars of Ramik poison. Since they're large, the mice can't carry them away and have to consume it there. That allows you to gauge the mouse activity & determine when & how much to reapply.

 

[Bamaman]

When I have any questions on pest control or getting rid of critters, I go to the largest online supplier to the pest industry: BugSpray.com

https://bugspray.com/mice.html

https://bugspray.com/rodent-repeller-for-engine-compartment.html

They have good solutions to mice, including sticky pads, granules, live traps, electrocution traps and ultrasonic sound generators.

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

I'm skeptical about the ultrasonic devices. We put one in a vacant dwelling we owned and later found mouse droppings in its immediate vicinity. Unless you buy into the theory that the sound scared the mice sh!tless, I'd chalk that idea up as a nice concept that doesn't work in reality.

I had a similar experience with the old home remedy of stashing Irish Spring bar soap in strategic areas. I checked in to discover gnaw marks on the bars. "Manly, yes -- but mice love it too."

 

[Fermion]

Bucket traps work but they are messy compared to poison. We have killed 10 or 12 with the simple 5 gallon bucket 2/3 full of water with sunflower seeds floating on top and a 2x4 board up against the lip for them to springboard off of into the "solid" surface of infinite seeds they see. It also isn't great in the winter and I don't want to leave a bucket of antifreeze out in the open.

 

[Andre1969]

A couple months ago, I noticed some mouse turds in my garage, so I bought four mouse traps, and one of those ultra-sound thingies that's supposed to deter them. Two of the traps never caught anything. One trap caught two mice, on two separate occasions. The fourth trap managed to disappear...so either it caught something pretty big, or something big carried it off after it caught a mouse!



Actually, "ultrasound" might not be the right word for the thing I bought, because I can hear it. It's not all that loud, but I could see it getting really annoying if there's no other noise.

 

[Another Reader]

Sticky traps are cruel. Poison is not much less cruel plus other animals higher up the food chain can be killed by it. Obviously you can't control access in an open shed, but I would work on deterrence over cruelty.

 

[Fermion]

Sticky traps are cruel. Poison is not much less cruel plus other animals higher up the food chain can be killed by it. Obviously you can't control access in an open shed, but I would work on deterrence over cruelty.

Making a nest and chewing the wiring in a brand new $40,000 excavator is pretty cruel too imo.

 

[Andre1969]

Making a nest and chewing the wiring in a brand new $40,000 excavator is pretty cruel too imo.

Chewing up the fabrics in a 1957 DeSoto isn't exactly charitable, either. You don't simply go out and buy reproduction fabrics and such for a 1957 DeSoto like you would a '57 Chevy or '65 Mustang...you have them re-created. And that ain't cheap!


That being said, I still don't like sticky traps, and prefer the old fashioned ones that just smack down and kill instantly.

 

[24601NoMore]

We had a mouse find it's way into the windshield wiper container in my wife's Jeep. It died after not being able to get out, and slowly decomposed until there was the most God-awful smell you could imagine coming from her car. We looked for quite a while and never found the source of the smell. Took it to her brother, who's a mechanic and he managed to track it down..it was literally not much more than a few pieces of decomposed flesh and bones by the time he pulled it out.

Funny story - when he was working on the car, the smell was SO bad that he said that every other mechanic and person who'd normally be in the work bays had to clear out of the building. It was vile beyond words..

How the little bugger managed to find his way into the windshield fluid reservoir is a mystery..

 

[Sunset]

Bucket traps work but they are messy compared to poison. We have killed 10 or 12 with the simple 5 gallon bucket 2/3 full of water with sunflower seeds floating on top and a 2x4 board up against the lip for them to springboard off of into the "solid" surface of infinite seeds they see. It also isn't great in the winter and I don't want to leave a bucket of antifreeze out in the open.

The antifreeze is of course bad out in the open.

I would vote for poison, I nail the poison blocks (mine had a hole in them) to a board so the mouse won't run off with the block. The manufacturer sold 15 blocks of poison with 1 trap and I needed to put out all the poison at once.

Mice like in the video climb everywhere, and will eat soap or nearly anything in the winter when food is scarce.

Mice also will come out on warm winter days, they tunnel under the snow where it's warmer and run on top on nice warm days.

 

[LOL!]

I just kept a closed plastic bucket of poison cubes in the attic and would just bring out one or two at a time that would disappear. Well, until the vermin chewed through the plastic bucket to feast on the rest of the poison.

My dog does not sample nor eat dead animals.

 

[REWahoo]

We had a mouse find it's way into the windshield wiper container in my wife's Jeep. It died after not being able to get out, and slowly decomposed until there was the most God-awful smell you could imagine coming from her car. We looked for quite a while and never found the source of the smell. Took it to her brother, who's a mechanic and he managed to track it down..it was literally not much more than a few pieces of decomposed flesh and bones by the time he pulled it out.

We had something similar happen - only the smell was coming from our water. Found a mouse floating in our 2,000 gallon storage tank - fortunately still in one piece.

Fished it out, drained the tank, washed the inside with bleach, & resealed around the lid.

This is one of the reasons we don't drink our well water...

 

[savory]

The first step in good pest elimination is to build out the problem. Do not allow access to the thing you want to protect (food, car, etc). I am not sure how much of an option this is for you but if you can, I would get creative on a build out strategy. And, if you can only do a partial build out job close as many openings as possible. And/or building something around your car that limits opportunity.

Assuming you know they are mice and not rats, you can try wind-up traps. These work for mice since mice are curious (rats are not) and they will investigate the trap. You wind-up the mechanism which is activated by the mouse. This 'kicks' the mouse into a section of the trap without an outlet. The mouse will die from lack of food/water. It does need to be emptied or you will be cleaning a decaying mouse mess. No matter it is still messy. It can be reused until the wind-up mechanism wears out.

Eaton has been making them for many years. You should buy enough and place them throughout your property so the mouse finds the trap before finding your car. https://www.amazon.com/Eaton-425-Ga...=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B00DLKKDLW

 

[GrayHare]

For mice the smell of cats produces an evolved fear reaction. If you don't have a house cat, but a friend does, ask for urine samples in the form of kitty litter clumps. Place a clump where you don't want mice. Will need refreshing a couple times per year.