What do you do for mice problems.

[Canuckvetter]

Originally Posted by custom10nut

I know it sounds crazy (and no I didn’t bump my head), but flakes of Irish Spring soap, in a mesh bag under each side of the seat, and even one in the glovebox. The rodents hate the smell, and as a bonus, so do the insects.
I put the soap at the corners of my small Cabin, and no longer have and issue with the critters.
Another bonus is they double as an air freshener

I hate the smell of Irish Spring soap lol.

['68OrangeSunshine]

Packrats are a big problem here in Tucson. I hear they are not a problem in Phoenix, as it just gets too hot for them there.
I live near the National Forest boundary. They are a big problem, they eat electrical lines. Asian carmakers thought they were saving the planet by making soy-based wiring insulation -- that just became tasty stuff for packrats. It got so bad that Honda sells "Rodent Tape" which is just like a $3 roll of 3M electrical tape, only theirs is green and has a mousie emoji and a big X printed every few inches, is laced with capsicum and costs $45 a short roll.
Problem is the Southwest packrats would just taste it and say. ,, Muy sabrosa, las linas electricos con suave sabor...''
I've tried the Irish Spring soap. They ate it. I tried the green cube poison. You can't get it anymore around here because Owls and Coyotes would eat the wobbly packrats, and get dosed themselves, and the environmentalists killed it in town. My packrats would take it, cut it down into smaller cubes and sell those to mice in school yards.
I found this Greenpeace earth friendly sachet of herbs that were supposed to repel packrats. Smelled like patchouli -- that scent the bald kids in yellow PJs selling flowers at the airports used to wear. My packrats ate it.
Best thing is to leave your hood up. That way the packrats are not safe from cats or coyotes.
They like to make a nest and line it with cactus buds and point the spines outward to discourage predators. I have to wear gloves when cleaning the engine.
I tried a Hav-A-Hart trap. But I have no heart for vermin, they will just circle around and come back to your tasty wiring harness. I sink the whole trap in a trash can full of water and Mickey drowns in 2 minutes. Flush the carcass into the trash, and reset and rebait. I cannot keep up with the exploding population, but it makes me feel better, thinning out the vermin herd.

[special-K]

Originally Posted by saxart

One word.... "Garage"

Might work all summer long, but over winter when you aren't looking at your truck so often, mice come inside and have their way. Mice get into people's cabinets in their kitchens. It doesn't take but a fractions of an inch hole for them to get through and houses are full of them.

I have never seen a baited trap not catch a mouse lickity split, when put where you know they go. I use peanut butter. That even gets the expert cheese snatch and runners. I figured the OP was looking for a mouse deterrent. Something to do that you don't have to maintain/check regularly. Not sure what's effective there. But set a trap and keep checking. If they are going where that trap is there will be a dead mouse. I use poison pellets in outbuildings. Gotta keep filling it. Get the small pellets, unless you are worried about rats. Mice take and store that stuff, but they also are eating it. So keep it up until the pellets stop being taken. I leave it out after that and keep checking, though, because a new family is always looking for your paradise.

[briank]

My wifes Honda pilot was a recent victim of mice....ate some of the wiring harness to the purge valve which set off all sorts of warning lights. Had to splice a repair as opposed to the $1800 cost to replace the harnes and traded it in. I researched this topic and found something called the Mouseblocker. I haven't bought it but watched a few youtube videos on it and it's mainly for the engine compartment. I ended up buying peppermint oil and cedar oil from walmart and took a cotton ball and wiped wiring down with it then left the cotton ball in an inconspicuous area. I also placed cedar shavings in the garage and a bunch of moth balls ....we'll see if it all works. I did observe that the new Hondas wrapped a lot of their wiring with a tougher plastic like what you can buy at Jc Whitney etc. I also use a cedar pack that you can get at Menards... Supposedly they dont like the smell but to is it's pleasant.

[Coley]

I would look to seriously narrow down the points where they are likely to get in and then work to fully block those entry points.
Again noting that a mouse can get through a hole these size of a dime.
I would guess it would be possibly through the kick panel vents or up along/under the dash somewhere.
Even if you have to remove a heater vent or something along those lines.....it would be worth it.
All vermin are terrible carriers of disease and stuff so you don't want to be around that too much if you can avoid it....plus that smell of mice in a vehicle is a real bummer.
Spend the time and make up some parts to put in there and you will beat this problem...although that won't keep them from enjoying under the hood...but maybe a few mousetraps, etc can help limit that.

Coley

[alsriv2]

In my RV I recently got one critter inside that started eating items I had left on the counter. I bought those sticky pads and placed them around under the cabinets. I checked a few days later and found one of the pads had moved a long way...that darned mouse had got its rear legs caught and it dragged the pad around under the cabinet for a couple of days I guess by the amount of droppings that were on that pad. It somehow got free...and started making messes on the counter...now I am using the old fashioned spring death traps with peanut butter. Hope to catch it soon.

[Canuckvetter]

Originally Posted by special-K

Might work all summer long, but over winter when you aren't looking at your truck so often, mice come inside and have their way. Mice get into people's cabinets in their kitchens. It doesn't take but a fractions of an inch hole for them to get through and houses are full of them.

I have never seen a baited trap not catch a mouse lickity split, when put where you know they go. I use peanut butter. That even gets the expert cheese snatch and runners. I figured the OP was looking for a mouse deterrent. Something to do that you don't have to maintain/check regularly. Not sure what's effective there. But set a trap and keep checking. If they are going where that trap is there will be a dead mouse. I use poison pellets in outbuildings. Gotta keep filling it. Get the small pellets, unless you are worried about rats. Mice take and store that stuff, but they also are eating it. So keep it up until the pellets stop being taken. I leave it out after that and keep checking, though, because a new family is always looking for your paradise.

I don’t put down poison because we have owls and hawks that share our acreage. Old fashion spring trap baited with a green goo from the Home Depot that mice can’t resist. So far 2 mice didn’t know what hit them.

[Zone47]

One thing not to do is put mice poison out because they will eat it and then run as fast as they can up one of your heater ducts and then die. The next time you turn your heater on, it's you that's going to die.

It won't matter, you can tear the whole truck apart and you'll never find the mouse and the stink will remain for a couple of years.

The best thing to do is to get a trap (outside the truck) that way you'll know exactly what is going on with the stupid mouse.

Another way is to do the spinny pop can with peanut butter over a bucket of water. They jump on the can to try and eat the peanut butter, but spin and fall into the drink. Some people think that it's cruel, but a mouse trap is too.

I guess you can catch and train them not to break into your garage. Let us know how that works.

[Roady’s truck]

Oatmeal

[Getter-Done]

Originally Posted by Roady’s truck

Oatmeal

I will add that with my Bait.
Good idea.
Thanks

[68 TT]

I found the worst culprit was leaving the kick panel vents open. I guess they can squeeze in through the openings in the cowl panel and just walk into the interior and heater housing & blower housing. I fixed this by adding heavy-duty snag-proof screen door mesh screwed down to the cab under the cowl panel. This has the added benefit of also keeping the leaves and tree seed pods from getting through the cowl panel and down into the HVAC system. It also works well at keeping the bees / yellow jackets / hornets from building nests under the cowl panel which gives them access to the interior once you are driving and open the fresh air vents. Don't ask me how I know this

Also the spaces down in the back corner of the interior above the cab corners are prime rodent infiltration locations. Seems like there is always just enough of a hole there in every truck I have for them to get in I think they walk across the frame and right in the cab corner holes.

I have started using left over chunks of mineral wool insulation from my shop tucked into the cavities in the corners. It works well as the rodents hate its texture and won't use it for nesting and bugs don't like it either. It has the side benefit of being both fireproof and a great sound barrier as well as a good way to keep stuff from falling into that black hole in the corner too. It is also water proof and is self draining so if it does get wet any water will just run right through and it will dry out so no mold.

[Keith Seymore]

I do everything (...literally):

Sticky traps - check
Snap traps baited with peanut butter - check
Plug in ultra sonic noise maker - check
Irish spring soap - check
Peppermint oil on cotton balls - check
Bounce dryer sheets - check
"Cab fresh" deterent from Tractor Supply store - check
Poison cubes from TSC - check
Basement cat - check
Bucket of antifreeze with spinning pop can, baited with peanut butter - check

I've seen them eat the Irish spring, make a nest with the dryer sheets and poop on the sonic noise thing (probably as a protest)

I've had the best success with the snap traps (placed strategically so they have to get through a small area to get at them, or placed in pairs so that they get hit with one while they are distracted by the other) and the bucket, since it can get multiple victims without resetting.

Ultimately I found this to be the best solution.

[71threequarterton]

Originally Posted by Getter-Done

I am trying this trap now.

Attachment 1824820

I tried that when we had a rodent problem a while back - the only thing that happened is we'd come back outside the next day to find all the peanut butter gone

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by Canuckvetter

I hate the smell of Irish Spring soap lol.

I don't mind the smell, but I sure don't like the taste.

K

['68OrangeSunshine]

The nuns at my school just used rulers.

[67chevemall]

I use bait blocks and a water tray in the attic.
Kills email all
Garage and shed/bbq has a garbage pale with antifreeze and 2 gateraid bottles with ohenry inside and peanut butter outside in the middle.
Gets the rats and mice. Then I dump them all out front of the immagrant slobs house out back.

[Grumpy old man]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZGkYW4b5I0

[GRX]

Best solution I have found is to drive it - often. The 69 long stepper has been my daily for the last four months. No sign of mieces.

All fun and laughs watching a panicked mouse scurry around until it tries to go up your pants leg. Wish there was a video of me stomping like mad at 60-mph.

[richards72chevy]

IMG_20180120_142532.jpg My wife and kids feed him to much.I think a more non social cat are the better hunters

[Ol Blue K20]

Originally Posted by richards72chevy

IMG_20180120_142532.jpg My wife and kids feed him to much.I think a more non social cat are the better hunters

That's a very happy cat....

[saxart]

Originally Posted by 71threequarterton

I tried that when we had a rodent problem a while back - the only thing that happened is we'd come back outside the next day to find all the peanut butter gone

Yes, mice will lick peanut butter off of a trap. I've had good luck taking a small (1/2" X 1/2") square of fabric and rolling it around in the peanut butter and placing that on the trap. The mice will feel the fabric and pull...........SNAP!

[71threequarterton]

Originally Posted by saxart

Yes, mice will lick peanut butter off of a trap. I've had good luck taking a small (1/2" X 1/2") square of fabric and rolling it around in the peanut butter and placing that on the trap. The mice will feel the fabric and pull...........SNAP!

Yep - the traps ended up working - we'd hear "snap!" in the middle of the night - they never came inside the house though, we got 3 cats

[72 tigger]

https://www.neatorama.com/2007/01/30...ack-australia/
Stay on top of them- they can multiply fast

[Levis]

Originally Posted by Getter-Done

I will add that with my Bait.
Good idea.
Thanks

I've tried everything as this article says. All I can say you really should just drive more often, but be careful, it's the engine heat that attracts rodents. As for the garage, I would recommend good ol' spring traps and stickies.

[Getter-Done]

Originally Posted by Levis

I've tried everything as this article says. All I can say you really should just drive more often, but be careful, it's the engine heat that attracts rodents. As for the garage, I would recommend good ol' spring traps and stickies.

Yea those spring traps a good for the Non educated mice.