I use the buckets and black oil seed to get the god damn chipmunks. Snap traps in three buildings and under the hoods of the three pickups I use as daily drivers. I hate the little bastards.....Mark
I used to use dcon pellets, until the little fuckers would run by the dog food dish and drop the dcon pellets in the dish in favor for the dog food pellets. I caught that in time thankfully. Now I use the water bucket as many have stated, and I put little dishes of pure anti freeze on the floors of the cars I store for those little guys to get something sweet to drink...
Oh this one is super easy...just retire. You'll be living on a fixed income while everything you buy becomes more expensive. You'll end up in a tract house in the suburbs with a one car garage....and no money for more than one project car. See? Problem solved. You're welcome.
Garaged cars are't even safe! I have a couple of old clothing dressers in my garage I use for small parts, etc. The bottom drawer of one occasionally falls out. It causes it to hang up, and the drawer can't be pulled out. One day I'm fighting to get the drawer out, and it finally pops out; there on the concrete floor is a fairly big rats nest, with six little ones curled up in it. The entire nest and contents got thrown into a street water runoff retention pond next to our property. I have NO idea how many rats I've caught since 1986, but it has to be in the hundreds; I have 2 live traps I use (we have small dogs that I don't want to risk them getting hurt, or poisoned); when I get a rat, it dies immediately due to intra-cranially administered lead pellets. Damn brown (AKA sewer, Norway, hood) rats! We actually have a similar problem with squirrels; when I get one of those in a trap, I take them to a baseball field about 2 miles away surrounded by trees, and free them to their new home. I've tried the roller/bucket trap, drier sheets, and even raising a car off the pavement with the tires removed; they still found a way in. I had a 56 Chevrolet Model 150 Utility Sedan, that had a perfect flannel headliner, until a rat got in, chewed a hole in it, and made a nest. There are a bunch of neighbors cats in our neighborhood; I guess they're not doing their job. The other issue with rats is fleas; they always have a bunch, and I don't want "fleas on my dogs" (Thanks, Jose Felliciano). I hate vermin!!!!! I am Butch/56sedandelivery.
I applaud those who are looking for something other than poison to use to control a rodent problem. Poison should never be used because it can work its way up the food chain harming or killing higher level predators in the process. We had an owl die in my neighborhood. When the toxicology report came back it was found the owl died from rat poison. Apparently it had eaten a rat for its last meal that had already eaten rat poison. I don't like rodents in my cars, or buildings, but I will never use poison to kill them. I'm sure glad you all seem to understand this and are doing the same. Carry on!
^^^^THANK YOU!! I'm a bird nerd over being a hot rodder. I'm very particular about what's put out to 'get' whatever critter.
I too favor discouragement over extermination. The peppermint oil or dryer sheets sound like good solutions. Critters gotta live too - just somewhere else. I've never had a multiple car problem. Lifestyle, budget, and space have never supported more than one hotrod at a time. If I start yearning for something else, I hafta sell the one I have before I can buy the next one, which is always a builder, which means no hotrod driving for a couple of years until it's built. It's one way the Good Lord teaches me patience. But at 72, I'm running out of time to do that many more times.
I will be glad to take care of your vehicle and protect it from the elements in my extra garage in beautiful SE Tennessee. Just make sure it's full of gas and oil when you bring it here and don't forget to leave a key just in case it needs to be exercised. I'll have it washed and the tank refilled before you come back when your weather gets better.
I can't keep the little bastards out of either garage. I have 2 -16' overhead doors and 2- 9' overhead doors. They east through the rubber seal at the bottom of the garage and come right on in. My project for today was to replace the seals and I got two of the four done before I got thirsty. Anyone know of a garage door bottom seal that is mouse proof?
If you put in straight anti freeze about 4 to 5 inches deep the mice will fall in, drown, and they won't even smell if you let them deteriorate for several months. This type of mouse trap really works ! Sent from my iPad using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Dang Rodents!!! Yosemite has a method and its seems remotely similar to Tazzy... scare em away...seriously I'm going to read some of the remedies myself...
For garage door seals go to the local fire dept and ask for some old hose. I cut it to length and used 10/32 nuts and bolts to secure it . Will be using the bucket for squirrels and chip monks.
Antifreeze works on mice but a bucket of antifreeze is a death warrant for you dog if you have dogs that come out in the shop or area where the bucket is. I lost one of my dogs to a SOB that left a pan of antifreeze out so my dogs could get to it. I wouldn't want anyone or their dog to go though that.
Good tip. You know how a pound of coffee is now 12.38765 ozs? Well garage door seals are about 2 feet shorter than they used to be. $&@ckers.
My 16.5' garage rollup seal is 15.5' now, from shrinkage. Hope that doesn't happen to ALL the 'tubing' around here...
got the rat with an massive rat trap. He lived under the hood of the 64 bel air wagon Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Peppermint and spearmint oil...works like a charm..I read that the varmints think its a predator..used it in my apt in New York....
Hm. And that marvelous mysterious oil has wintergreen oil. Maybe that helps keep the little bastards away.
Hey JB, Rats!!! Holy smokes ! Droppings are a sure sign of an invasion. There are ways to prevent the culprits from doing this. Cold weather makes these little creatures come inside of our houses and garages. There is no way to keep them out. Unless you live in a castle surrounded by a moat they will get to everyone, eventually. Even then, there are ways to get past the moat. Hot rod garages? A sure sign of sitting for long hours and being covered allows warmth for all kinds of activities. Prevention is the only answer and everyone has their successful methods. Country living has its own kind of problems, city dwellers and those in between have ways to deal with those little guys. Traps only work when they come into your garage from their hiding spots in the attic, walls, or wherever. The traps are instant but messy. Plus, you have to see the bulging eyes as you dispose of them in a sealed zip lock bag. Everyone’s own experiences will give you the choices for success. We do not have any mice or rats in 20 years of our current living quarters. In our old house for the previous 23 years, I ran around with a zillion traps, pellets and sprays to try and prevent the inevitable invasion. Our back yard was a giant hill slope far away from neighbors. I had located so many "openings" that it was impossible to close them all up with some kind of sealer. (thumb size holes can be used to get inside…) This led to the modern invention of ultrasonic noises as repellents. People have different stories of the effectiveness of these traps…so location, amount of devices, and yes, if you still get some activity, traps also help. So, I tried those electronic ultrasonic devices in our current home. They are pretty inexpensive, you don't have to see the mice or rats, and they work. Just to be sure, I purchased several different ones from other manufacturers. They have different wireless/ultrasonic sounds, so most bases are covered. (they are garage dog, mascot safe) They are all over, the garage, garage attic, house attic, and places we do not use on a daily basis. Locations are all indoors as they are plugged into electrical outlets. Jnaki It is not a bragging situation, but those critters were driving us cuckoo until the usage of these ultrasonic devices. I had extra electrical plug outlets installed in the house attic, garage attic for effectiveness and being close to the unseen housing areas. My neighbor has/had mice problems, but his garage is mouse heaven. (Tons of places inside to hide and make a nice nest, including covered cars, etc.) He uses traps to some success, but complains of hearing them running around in the ceiling of his house. We have none. He does not like ultrasonic anything. “With the reasoning of being bad for….etc.” My wife is happy and…our neighbor? To each his own...
That at and mouse remind me of coyote and roadrunner, very cool, wonder if the mouse made it. If he did bet he says "pass on the cheese" next time!!
Bought one of these ulrrasonic dinguses for $10 online, haven't tried it yet, friend says they work. Every winter I get a nest on my intake manifold between the carb and distributor, luckily they have left the wiring and interior alone. Anyone had any luck with one?
I use those for mice at my cabin but they don't work on rats, at least the ones around here. I tried making the same thing out of a 50 gallon drum bottom but that didn't work either.
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