Those % mice
PeterH
Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 9 Dallas Texas |
2003-05-06 54441
I've been meaning to ask this for a while now... I park my 4300 for a week at a time. Its a remote location and the field mice just love to set up house keeping under the hood. Two weeks ago I tore all of the housing around the steering wheel off to make sure I got all of their nest material out and to inspect things. They don't chew on anything... yet. How can I keep them out??
Rat poison didn't work. Traps under the hood don't work. Even putting the cat litter box full of cat by-product didn't work.
But, I may have found a solution to share. While I had the housing around the steering wheel off I sprayed hornet and wasp killer everywhere under the cover. I let it all dry well before putting it all back together and getting back to work.
Last week when I did my preflight check on the tractor I lifted the hood and found three of them nexting right at the front, away from the area I sprayed. So when I put things away for the week, I sprayed again in the front part of the engine compartment hoping to drive them all out. I'll know Saturday if it worked.
Anyone have any other ideas? Think mine will harm my rig? Oh, and chaining the wife's two house cats to the tractor won't work... she'd be using the backhoe to dig my new and permanant home...
Thanks in advance for any comments.
Peter
Dallas, Texas
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Those % mice
DRankin
Join Date: Jan 2000 Posts: 5116 Northern Nevada Pics |
2003-05-06 54443
I have had a similar problem with the cars around here and believe me they don't have to sit for a week to attract squatters, over night will do. They like to take up residence in the air filter housings.
De-Con makes an enclosed unit that truly is a better mouse trap. Get a couple or three of them and bait them with peanut butter. Put some on the ground under the tractor or on top of the front tires and another on top of the engine or battery.
They simply cannot get past the the P/B and the traps can only be entered in one direction. I have never found one of these traps sprung that didn't have a mouse in it.
OK there was on time when all I got was a front leg, but that is ok too and not a bad record if you consider I have trapped several hundred mice. I have been looking for a rodent on crutches ever since.
And that is the point: all you can do is thin them out to the point where the become scarce.
A word of caution, check the traps daily because you will start catching them most every night. I have three traps set in the garage and catch at least one critter each night.
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Those % mice
slowrev
Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 231 Winchester , KY |
2003-05-07 54457
Yes I have mice too, but no nesting problems yet. The neighbors cats are more aggravating. Not nice to fine hairballs and cat vomit on my tractor seat in the shed.
Maybe I will start baiting big traps with mice to catch the cats :)
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Those % mice
DRankin
Join Date: Jan 2000 Posts: 5116 Northern Nevada Pics |
2003-05-07 54460
Peter, I missed the "remote location" phrase first time through.
I wonder if a sock full of moth balls under the hood would deter the little buggers?
A moth without balls cannot procreate. I wonder how they get those tiny little legs apart? ....
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Those % mice
BillMullens
Join Date: Jun 2000 Posts: 649 Central West Virginia Pics |
2003-05-07 54465
I've tried the moth repellant. In this case it wasn't moth balls, it was the same thing in a little unit that looks like an air freshener. The mice didn't nest near places that I had one.
Bill ....
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Those % mice
Peters
Join Date: Feb 2002 Posts: 3034 Northern AL Pics |
2003-05-07 54468
Definately moth balls (paradiclorobenzene) will chase them from enclosed places. I have used it every year to chase the mice out of the cottage. ....
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Those % mice
Chief
Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 4297 Southwest MiddleTennessee Pics |
2003-05-07 54469
I was gonna suggest the moth balls as well. Looks like little gets by you guys. I would add to the moth ball suggestion that the moth balls be placed in a jar or some other container with holes in the top or some other ventilation that allows the fumes to escape. The moth balls do tend to sweat sometimes and the moth ball chemicals in direct contact with the metal of the tractor or sweating through a sock may be corrosive. ....
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Those % mice
Murf
Join Date: Dec 1999 Posts: 7249 Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada Pics |
2003-05-07 54472
Most farm supply places will sell ultra-sonic rodent repellent devices. They are basically a small sound generator which produces sound waves in a frequency range which the little critters find very unpleasant. They generally run on 110v. but use so little power that an inverter with a decent battery would power one for some time without recharging. Besides, they smell better than Mothballs, phew!!
We use similar devices in the hangar and equipment sheds with great success.
Best of luck. ....
Link: Ultra Soinic Repeller
 
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Those % mice
marklugo
Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 281 Tifton, GA Pics |
2003-05-08 54502
Well, if you tried the litter box thing, why didn't you try the cat? When I first moved where I live now, I could catch 3-4 mice a night in traps. They would eat into anything they could find, through floors, walls etc. And this place was new. Finally got tired of waking up to a loud SNAP everytime I settled down and getting up to get rid of a rodent and resetting the trap. I found an ad in the local penny pincher for free kittens. Went and got 2 of them. I told my wife these things were going to be yard cats. ( they had come from a wild lot of cats that had taken over a trailer park.) Got their rabies shot and turned them loose after about 3 months. No more cat food to buy. If fresh food was scarce, the cat(s) can live of the dogs food. No more rats. Of course finding their entrails scattered across the yard occasionally is disgusting but not nearly as upsetting as have a wiring harness eaten through. Also a good outdoor Jack Russell terrier trained might help as well if you absolutely don't like cats. ....
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Those % mice
slowrev
Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 231 Winchester , KY |
2003-05-08 54512
Mark, It works with some cats. However I have aggrivation from both cats and mice in my outbuildings. Some of them do not make good mousers.
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Those % mice
DRankin
Join Date: Jan 2000 Posts: 5116 Northern Nevada Pics |
2003-05-08 54523
I knew of a man who got a pair of purebred Irish Setters. The breeder warned him that the dogs very picky would only eat Alpo.
So the guy brought them home and poured out a dish of Purina dog chow. Sure enough, they refused to eat it, but five days later they did.
I guessing a cat that isn't a good mouser isn't hungry enough. ....
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Those % mice
slowrev
Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 231 Winchester , KY |
2003-05-08 54541
Mark H.,
Not sure if the neighbors cats get fed or not, they must have about 20 or so, pretty wild too. I am thinking of playing kitty paintball :)
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Those % mice
DRankin
Join Date: Jan 2000 Posts: 5116 Northern Nevada Pics |
2003-05-08 54546
Sounds like a target rich environment. ....
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Those % mice
Murf
Join Date: Dec 1999 Posts: 7249 Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada Pics |
2003-05-09 54562
I was asking a neighbour how he deals with the mouse problem in his shop, he does small engine repairs as a paid retirement hobby and so the doors are always open and customers generally don't appreciate the 'free mouse with every purchase' idea.
He had a rather novel solution, he had purchased a 'box trap' called a Tin Cat, it is a galvanized tin box about 9" x 12" x 3" tall with a one-way trap door in either end. The trap worked very well apparently and because of size had room for many 'guests' but the never-ending emptying process was a nuisance.
The solution was apparently very simple. First he made a small compartment inside which was accessible only from above, when the lid is open, this where the bait goes this way the mice can smell food, but can't get to it. Next he made a 2" hole in the side with a hole saw, brazed on a section of 2" exhaust pipe and stuck it through a 2" hole he made in the outside wall. Now all he does is put fresh bait in the trap once a week. The mice go in trying to get to the food, but can't, so instead they look for a way out to find other food, they quickly find the open end of the pipe which is the only way out and are soon enjoying his back yard instead of the shop.
Best of luck. ....
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Those % mice
DRankin
Join Date: Jan 2000 Posts: 5116 Northern Nevada Pics |
2003-05-09 54563
I think I would use the same pipe as an exhaust vent for testing engines once a week instead of turning them loose. ....
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Those % mice
slowrev
Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 231 Winchester , KY |
2003-05-09 54573
right Mark, I wonder if he has more than one mouse ? :)
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Those % mice
dcsmith01
Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 25 ohio |
2003-05-10 54602
I won't park my tractor in the shed for this very reason. It stays in the garage. It's a great source of humor to my wife. It would drive me crazy to have mice in or on my tractor. ....
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Those % mice
slowrev
Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 231 Winchester , KY |
2003-05-10 54631
If you didn't keep it so clean they wouldn't bother it. They don't like grease.
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Those % mice
Misenplace
Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 875 Michigan Pics |
2003-05-26 55632
I'd go for the cat and moth ball combo. ....
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Those % mice
beetle
Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 11 Ohio |
2003-06-03 56450
Moth balls work, I have used them for years to keep the little buggers our of tool boxes, tractors, motercycles, etc. ....
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Those % mice
PeterH
Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 9 Dallas Texas |
2003-06-03 56515
Ok, I started this thread so its about time I updated it... I've kept 7 baby food jars of moth balls under the hood of my 4300 for the past month. So far it seems to be working very well. Or it could be the baby rattle snake I found next to the tractor last weekend... but I doubt it. I'm also using mothballs under the hood of my pickup truck that I keep at my place with my tractor. I haven't found anything better than mothballs so far. But I am getting just a bit tired of the old joke about how I got the moth's legs apart... my wife keeps asking... she needs to get out more...
Thanks for the suggestion! :-)
Pete in Dallas ....
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