If we store our cars in a garage for long periods of time there is a good chance mice will invade the garage in colder temps. Mice can eat cloth, plastic and wiring. They can also cause some very bad things such as Haunta virus. I have seen several stored cars and trucks with mice nest in the the heating ducts and fan housing. Imagine the crap coming out of your heater blower the first time you turn it on if mice have nested in it. What are you guys using to protect against mice in your storage garage? I am using mothballs layed around the inside edges of the garage and several mouse traps I change often.
Black pepper works, too. Just remember to vacuum it up before you drive it again! Lots of cats is the green solution.
Used to be a product at the farm stores called "Mouse Out" and have been told it really works. Heard it comes as a spray and granules also, really good idea for storing old cars.
Our new place has some mice, we have 2 cats that will be garage cats, and two cats we just got as house cats. Long 2x4 wood as ramps up to the attic crawlspace, should be money. I hope!
Yes but these are in a locked rental garage. The newer mothballs we buy today are not as toxic. I went on the net and checked on toxicity of mothballs. They are toxic if you eat them or breath them in a bag of small closed area. An area such as a garage would take a long time to affect you such as weeks of living in the garage. I am also conserned about the toxic effects of mothball fumes on metal or paint, anyone know anything about this?
You can probably Google up some good hints. My garage has a tight seal at both doors and all around everything else. Not that they need a lot of space to get in. I have bags of grass seed on the shelves that haven't been touched for a couple of years, so I'm doing something right. I like the tip of using a bar of Irish Spring soap under the seats, or shaving some off on a paper plate and placing it about the car interior, trunk and under the hood. Set out some traps, this is essential to see how much activity you have in the area. This will deffo thin out the herd somewhat. I have those Hav-A-Hart traps which I use in my basement and I bag at least a 1/2 dozen per season. When I catch one, I drop the trap into a plastic container and let it out somewhere on my way to work. I got no problem with the snap and glue traps, which I get hell for using inside the house from the Mrs. For outside use, they're probably the most efficient. Bob
Snap traps are probably a bit better than the ugly glue traps, at least it usually kills 'em instantly, instead of the mice chewing their own legs off to try to escape a glue trap. There's a couple stray cats around my building that take care of the mice. Yep, Brian Setzer shows up and pied-pipers them outta there with his sweet siren-like geetar playin'.
there has been a lot of discussion regarding garage pests. Do a search for mice and you should get a lot of ideas. One thread has a how to on a repeating peanutbutter bucket trap.
I use those plug-in high frequency thingys they sell at Lowes/Menards, etc. I had evidence of mice (shit) in my garage a while back. Picked up 2 "Pest Chasers" and have had zero problems since. Here's a link: http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=238786-1558-M792&lpage=none
My buddy swears by Irish Spring soap cakes that he puts all over the car. It seems to work for him. I just put out some glue traps last night. Decon works but if your garage is anything like mine it will be impossible to find their stinky remains when they die. With a glue trap I know exactly where to look.
Fuck the glue traps! Rodents are a pain in the ass but nothing deserves to struggle till their skin peels off from glue strips.If you use glue traps Mother Nature will pay you a visit and rip off your johnson.At least a spring trap kills quickly most of the time.Cats torture mice but cats have no conscience like us,well like some of us.
When I lived in the boonies nothing worked better than my girlfriend's cat. Luckily where I live now has no mice, because I don't like cats. Didn't like the grilfriend much, either.
I jack up the car, slide a plastic wash tub under each wheel, put a concrete block in each of the tubs under the wheels and lower the car onto the blocks. Then fill the tub with a mixture of water and antifreeze. Only issue is that you have to replenish evaporation, but I find it's only once every two weeks or so. Works for me.
I tried the Irish Spring trick. Made shavings of it and put it in paper cups distributed around the car interior and trunk. Mice ate the soap shavings, shit in the cups. I just put mothballs in the trunk, and throw some under the car. Air it out in the spring, toss any leftover mothballs out, no mice, no problem. Mothballs are toxic, if you were to shut yourself in an enclosed space with a box of them, yes. In a car over the winter you're not in, no.
The soap trick don't work as I had a bar of Irish Spring in my desk drawer,don't ask, right next to the coffee pot and they knawled it to shit. The pesky little fuckers ate the lid off of my coffee stash and I declared WAR. The next morning when I dug the dead sumbitch out of the trap he had coffee stains on his choppers !! >>>>.
They can be worse than that. Don't handle them with bare hands. If you put them in the car clean it very well after you remove them. Just ask HAMBer Irishpol about it... http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=224241 They made him and his wife sick. Very sick...
I have had more damage done to my paint from cats, so I will stick to the traps, deacon, plus the plug-in high frequency thingy’s . Had a cat sneak in and destroy a new neon bar sign in the window. We have or should I say had a lot of strays in my neighborhood. Now how to keep the raccoons out of the garage. Had one sneak in and do major damage to everything but the car.
We used to use a homemade mouse trap we called the repeater. Take a 5 gallon pail and put an axle through it an inch or two from the top. 3/8 threaded ready rod will work fine. Go inside and eat a large can of soup for lunch. Or baked beans - your choice. Only run the can opener over about 1/3 of one end and pry the edge up to get your soup out. Drill axle holes through center of the can end and place it onthe axle. Use some additional nuts to center it in the axle. Paste a couple rows of peanut butter 360 around the can. Add about 6-8 inches of water and antifreeze to the bucket ( you want them to drown, not break their necks.) Built a ramp with a scrap of wood. There you go - the repeater. We used to get 5-10 per month in that thing, no need to reset.
theres a product called mouse out that works great. ive used it 2 years and it seems to work fine. your local john deere dealer has it or can get it, john
I used to put the mothballs in a plastic seal bag and it always worked. That way you do not have to worry about interior, paint, etc. Don't forget the engine compartment.
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