Mice
brokenarrow
Join Date: Jan 2004 Posts: 1288 Wisconsin |
2005-01-20 104580
Anyone ever have trouble with mice getting up under the hood and in the engine area over winter and building a nest? Buddy lost a snowmobile to that, he did not check to clean out the crap in the air intake, was wondering if this is a problem with tractors too?
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oneace
Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 1490 south central pa Pics |
2005-01-21 104583
Yes every year. ....
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BillMullens
Join Date: Jun 2000 Posts: 649 Central West Virginia Pics |
2005-01-21 104589
Mothballs worked for me (as a mice repellant). Your results may vary.
Bill ....
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lbrown59
Join Date: Posts: 1 |
2005-01-21 104596
Yep and you can include cars trucks boats campers and everything else. ....
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AV8R
Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 882 North Central Wisconsin Pics |
2005-01-21 104605
Before I built my extra garage the mice built a nest in the AC on my Dodge pickup. This caused the AC evaporator to become mouse chewing material (*cry*). What an awful job to fix!
Put mothballs in an old sock or similar fabric bag (the odor is what you want) and tie a colored string or ribbon to hang out of the hood or to the steering wheel so you don't forget to remove before operation. ....
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bobkro32
Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 38 Mill Spring, North Carolina |
2005-01-21 104613
The problem is not confined to mice.
Squirrels found a lawn tractor that I had covered with a tarp and parked for the season. They built a nest in it (complete with a bird carcass when I discoverd it), and got so hungry they knawed through several wires of the ignition wiring harness. Major pain to fix.
Have not tried mothballs yet; we'll see. I just love them little critters.
b ....
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Iowafun
Join Date: Jul 2004 Posts: 955 Central Iowa Pics |
2005-01-21 104618
Had a mouse nest in the clutch cover of my Polaris ATV. I didn't know it until I fired it up and the material blew out the vent.
They'll get into everything. ....
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NHDaveD
Join Date: Dec 2003 Posts: 71 New Hampshire Pics |
2005-01-21 104619
Yes I've had that problem. Unfortunately I don't use the tractor as much as I'd like in the winter - YET. That's due to the fact that right now I don't have a good place to park it for winter use. In the other 3 seasons I park it in the garage and keep my truck in the driveway.
This leads me to the fact that in the winter it is mostly parked behind the house under a tarp. I had a mouse nest under the hood this past spring. The little devil chewed the wires on the headlight harness. There was evidence that it happened before. The guy I bought the tractor from had put some tape on the wires. I didn't notice it when I bought it. Anyway, I had to replace the harness.
You might try the mothball route. It might work. I used to use them all the time in my campers until one spring when I opened up my large tent trailer and found major canvas damage. I also found mouse droppings within a few inches of 3 mothballs. Maybe the cold temps keeps the odor down? ....
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steve4300
Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 71 NH |
2005-01-21 104659
found like 5 nest in the snowmobile clubs tucker, when we moved that out next they moved into my tractor. The funny thing is one of those little rascals thought the best place to hide was under a tire, no he is in the big cheese heaven. Has anyone tried one of those electronic devices that is suppose to chase them away [ no not my daughters stereo ] ....
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brokenarrow
Join Date: Jan 2004 Posts: 1288 Wisconsin |
2005-01-22 104724
Well it may be politically incorrect but I favor good ole poison. After all these posts though I fear I did not lay enough out for the whole winter. Last year My garage was totally mouse free. In the spring I figured I would have tons of mouse crap in it. My garage is in the middle of nowhere in the woods. I found about 4 dead mice and I figure many more were dead out side. I suppose that after so long during the winter months the mice only travel so far. If the poison kept killing the onse comming in sooner or later the mice will all be gone till spring. That is just a guess.
Here is the actual question. When spring comes and I go to start up the tractor is there a routine or a check list that should be performed to look for mice nest material or damage? Where would they likely get into that you may have to disasemble something to find the nest?
Maybe I am making too much of this? Last year seeing my buddy fry his sled even after he supposedly was to look for the same problem that he had the year before. He saw no sign but did not pull the air cleaner, big mistake!
Thanks ....
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lucerne
Join Date: Sep 2003 Posts: 192 Lucerne Maine Pics |
2005-01-22 104727
I hate mice, snakes, bears, 50 cyotes no problem, mice no way. I had a nest on the engine of my duelly, don't know when they found the time to build it or if they rode up there when I used the truck. Found one in my barbecue grill, I turned it on and a mouse ran out like a rocket, stopped about 10 feet away and looked at me like I was crazy. So I didn't use the grill again untill a friend of mine came by with his dog. The dog loves to catch mice. So Matt got the dog over by the grill, he had his head resting on the shelf under the grill, Matt opened the grill, took out the grates and tryed to catch the mouse with his hands while I stood my distance, the mouse ran deeper down in the grill, jumped out the drip tray hole in the bottom, jumped out of the drip tray right into the dogs open mouth to hide. Wasn't the dog surprised and pleased. ....
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Iowafun
Join Date: Jul 2004 Posts: 955 Central Iowa Pics |
2005-01-24 104816
Brokenarrow, I would open major panels and the air filter and check for mice evidence in spring. View it as part of spring maintenance. If it's a serious cover that wouldn't normally be opened or if a mouse nest won't cause harm, I wouldn't bother. But do a hood opening, air cleaner check and go from there.
I should probably open up the wife's old '85 olds that has been sitting in my shop for 2.5 years. The truck is probably filled with mice.
I did use poison out in my shop. I put it in spots where the dogs couldn't get to it.
....
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brokenarrow
Join Date: Jan 2004 Posts: 1288 Wisconsin |
2005-01-27 105093
Iowafun
Good advice and I will take it. Sometimes it takes a very hard slap to to see the forrest trhu the tree's. I have to do a fluid change along with all the filters anyway.
Might as well make it a yearly thing till I move there. Hopefully it will only be this year and I move the hell out of hell!
Yep thats good advice something I should of thought of right off the bat!
Thanks
Tom ....
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Iowafun
Join Date: Jul 2004 Posts: 955 Central Iowa Pics |
2005-01-28 105132
sometimes we all just need a gentle bump to straighten us out. I know I do now and then. Just ask my wife, she'll heartily agree ;) ....
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brokenarrow
Join Date: Jan 2004 Posts: 1288 Wisconsin |
2005-02-07 105626
I just wired a few more outlest and ran a new dedicated line out to the garage to service the table saw and a few other short term use items. Although I have never had a mouse in my home I live in all the time, I do have a woods behind me and a field one house over. My dads house next to has mice problems and he was right next to the field.
Point I am getting at is I crawled all thru the rafters of the garage and moved just about evrything that was around the edges of the walls. NO mice dung! This amazes me. How can the house on either side of me have problems and mine does not. (I am not bragging dont get me wrong) What I do think is that mice have a very small travel corridor after the snow fly's. (No real facts just what I think). Around my house I am talking about, I poison heavy in the fall and thru the winter outside my garage as well as in the garage. Just your typical mouse/rat poison that comes in a bucket and is in pellet form. whether this has anything to do with no mice I could not tell you. But for sure they do eat it. Just checked the bags/bait stations in the garage. They have not been touched since Nov. From Sept. 1 till Nov.1 I had to refill the bait stations I made about twice. I know the tree rats in my neighborhood are flourishing so I know they can not and are not eating the poison. (besides they have so much garbage in the cans to eat, I have one that I swear is 5-6 pounds the kids named him. he is a regular feasting in my garbage and I can walk up to him and talk to him) Back on track! When I get a chance to get back up north to my garage and house up there I will check the poison in that garage. This is thie first winter I have had the garage that I have monitered the poison (in and out) If that garage is void of many mice and there is poison still left then I will have to say that the poison right before winter does the job! I will report back in a month or so. (right now its irking me I cant run up there but it is 312 miles one way and I can't justify going up just to go like in years gone by) Believe it or not, this talk about mice has got me waiting with anticipation to check! LOL
(I better get back to work soon or take anouther job! If this is what is exciting me now a day you know I am getting bored) Contract talks just resumed and they are actually speaking to one anouther now! There is a news black out on this but we were told they are taking a 5 day break to regroup (both sides) Sounds like this may be a good thing but who knows? ....
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jwngej
Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 53 Wisconsin Pics |
2005-02-11 105958
I bought 2 of the $20 sonic mouse repellers from Home Depot last year and they did absolutely nothing but make me $40 poorer..Mouse traps, finely tuned, work best for me. I also had a beautiful 85 Red GT Mustang convertable in our garage that the mice crawled up into the heater. I had mothballs, poor little moths, all over the garage when that happened, cost me $400 to get the dealer to clean up that mess. It smelled like vinegar for the first few rides that spring.. I got a cat, She now is the mouse crossing guard, was gonna give her to my Chow Chow for a pet. Wifie said no, geeze, sometimes a man just can't win...JohnJ ....
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brokenarrow
Join Date: Jan 2004 Posts: 1288 Wisconsin |
2005-02-11 105966
LOL They have not got any better in the last 19 years??? I bought some of them for my house trailer on the land 18 yrs ago. They used the things for dancing I think caues they definatley were not bothered by the sound back then either> ....
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hardwood
Join Date: Dec 2002 Posts: 3583 iowa |
2005-02-12 105981
Broken; we used to put mothballs in tractor and combine cabs over winter, but I guess they aren't too healthy for people so I quit doing that. Deere has a scent pouch that comes in a box of six that you change every month or so. They really don't have an offensive odor and do seem to keep the rodents out. Just a thought. Frank. ....
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DRankin
Join Date: Jan 2000 Posts: 5116 Northern Nevada Pics |
2005-02-12 105982
I don't think those sonic things work on mice either, but they do work on bats and moths if used in small enclosed areas. ....
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brokenarrow
Join Date: Jan 2004 Posts: 1288 Wisconsin |
2005-02-17 106318
Thanks on the info guys. ....
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77simplicity
Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 15 northwest |
2006-01-21 123212
Mice in a 1974 corvette stingray convertable sucks. That happend to me before stupid things. I had to take the dash board appart to get their nest out now he whole inside of the car smells like mouse crap. I put some smellys in there and cracked the window a hair for a few days didnt help. But there isnt much you can do except for put out moth balls mouse traps and maybe get a mouser cat. ....
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DRankin
Join Date: Jan 2000 Posts: 5116 Northern Nevada Pics |
2006-01-23 123335
Two of the four licensed vehicles on the property have been put out of action by mice this winter.
My Tundra had to go to the dealer to remove a nest from the heater fan housing and our friends truck had a windshield washer/wiper failure a couple days ago. The critters ate/severed the wiring to the wiper motor and chewed through the windshield washer hose.
I am going to experiment with various chemicals to see if there is something I can spray on the interior of the engine compartment that tastes so bad that they won't chew or loiter.
Anyone tried pepper spray? Any other ideas?
....
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kwschumm
Join Date: Feb 2003 Posts: 5764 NW Oregon Pics |
2006-01-23 123336
Do those ultrasonic repellers work at all? I'm wondering if one could be rigged to run off battery under the hood. If they could repel up to 4-5 feet it might work. ....
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DRankin
Join Date: Jan 2000 Posts: 5116 Northern Nevada Pics |
2006-01-23 123339
The only things I have seen them work well on are bats.
Bouncing the signal around all those metal surfaces in an engine compartment might enhance the viability. However, I have never seen a 12 volt model. ....
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Mice
brokenarrow
Join Date: Jan 2004 Posts: 1288 Wisconsin |
2006-03-27 126742
My local mice familys lost a few relaives this year. They ate three bags of poison from under the vans hood (the one that sits all winter) Hopefully they found it tasty and not just a nest liner! ....
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brokenarrow
Join Date: Jan 2004 Posts: 1288 Wisconsin |
2006-03-27 126748
Almost forgot, I read my post from a year ago about mice in the garage upnorth, Last winter I had zero problems and zero dead mice after the winter in the garage. Infact after the initial fall run on poison I had no poison ate again all winter. Same holds true this winter. I have so much poison laid out in that garage I think the floors may shrivel up from toxicity! I noticed a few of the chunks were ate the first month (December) Since then I have noticed absolutely no more poison ate or missing (maybe a few pellets of poison are gone but nothing noticable. Just got back from the place and I see no sign of mice (living or dead).
Here is a FACT! Read this and make up your own mind on how good poison works. (BTW) I use a poison called Tomcat>
I have had a 500 gallon LP tank since 2001 outside the house in the big woods in Northern Wisconsin. The steel cover that gaurds the gauges on top of the tank used to be a favorite place for the mice to make a nest. Every year for 3 years I had a FULL nest in the top of that tank cover. Last winter I placed poison all around the tank and by the end of the winter I had a nest up there but NO mice present EVER. (I think they had time and energy to make the nest and then all the mice ate and died)
THIS YEAR, I had placed a very small container of tomcat poison (a small margerine container "very very small") inside the cover. I just checked the tank this weekend, Absolutely NO mice nest and no mice present.
Just thought I would pass this on to you all. In my neck of the woods I feel that poison is the one hundred percent hottest ticket to controlling the mice in and around the house and garage up north. It costs me about $15 for the large container that lasts all year long. Well worth it I think! ....
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kwschumm
Join Date: Feb 2003 Posts: 5764 NW Oregon Pics |
2006-03-27 126750
I don't know about Tomcat, but many of those poisons kill most anything that eats it. My sister-in-law lost two dogs who ate some D-Con. Are there any rodent poisons that are dog proof? ....
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DRankin
Join Date: Jan 2000 Posts: 5116 Northern Nevada Pics |
2006-03-28 126761
Probably not.
Most of them use a potent anti-coagulant that causes the critter to bleed to death internally.
It then becomes a matter of dosage. If the dog eats enough it will die, and I have never seen a dog leave food behind. ....
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Murf
Join Date: Dec 1999 Posts: 7249 Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada Pics |
2006-03-28 126765
Deputy Dog's little sister 'The life of Rylie' has a passion for mice, he's not so far behind.
So much so that she has learned several new words, if I dare mention the words, barn, shed, hangar or farm, she goes crazy she wants to go hunting so badly.
I took her recently to a friends place, when we went into his hangar the two of them immediately started hunting, he said they were wasting their time, his place was a rodent-free zone. Within minutes they started dropping little furry corpses at our feet. In the span of about 10 minutes they had better than a dozen mice, and one rat.
My friend was pretty impressed, his wife ..... not so much.
Best of luck. ....
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wingwiper
Join Date: Jun 2004 Posts: 676 |
2006-03-28 126774
77
I use to work in the BIG Wharehouse and one way to eliminate your Meese problems is to get a Large shallow pan and fill with Coca-Cola, the sweetness will atract mice by the dozens and they will drink and drink and because they can NOT regurgitate they internally explode and die all around the pan. You must make sure the Coke is as fresh as possible and maybe a quart in the container in late evening will have done tis job by morning.
As far as the smell in the Vett, you could go to a Car dealer and see if they have an Ionizer, it will clean the air and rid the car of smells, if left in over night. We use a commercial grade here and it eliminates Smoke orders, pet orders Urine smells etc.
Good Luck
At our wharehouse, years ago, we killed literally hundreds of rats and mice with Coke. It does work, I know it sounds like a pile of bunk, but really, you can also use Coke to remove Rust from Chrome... Done that too, now just think what it does to your stomach...smile ....
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lbrown59
Join Date: Posts: 1 |
2006-03-28 126779
The best way is to seal up all the places where they can get in. ....
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DenisS
Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 367 NJ |
2006-03-28 126782
wingwiper,
as a pepsi drinker, I think using Coke to explode rodents is just about the only good use for it. ....
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wingwiper
Join Date: Jun 2004 Posts: 676 |
2006-03-28 126787
Horse
You may be right, I wonder if you could sell the idea to Pepsi????????? ....
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DRankin
Join Date: Jan 2000 Posts: 5116 Northern Nevada Pics |
2006-03-28 126790
Yikes!
Nothing would scare me more that the thought of mice running through the airframe and engine compartment on my airplane. ....
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Mice
Murf
Join Date: Dec 1999 Posts: 7249 Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada Pics |
2006-03-28 126793
Mark, it's been known to happen, lots.... LOL.
All they know is that they want away from you, when the door opens they run (get vacuumed?) right out.
Luckily the little buggers aren't very good at parachuting. ;->
I wonder how often a hawk circling around sees a mouse fall past and thinks "Cool!!! Fast food delivery!!!"...
ROFLMAO.
Best of luck.
....
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kthompson
Join Date: Oct 2005 Posts: 5275 South Carolina Pics |
2006-03-28 126794
DR,
Yikes!
Nothing would scare me more that the thought of mice running through the airframe and engine compartment on my airplane.
From a passanger's point of view, you may be correct but bet if they ran UP the pilot's pants leg it would prove to be a rough flight. Also smelly!
You know, snakes like and feed on mice. They will follow into their homes.
Years ago, my accountant said a farmer was being auditted and the IRS did not want to allow cat food, said it must be a pet. To which the farmer said disallow the low cost of cat food and you will then have to allow a large cost for contaminated grain. Cat food was allowed. ....
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bmlekki
Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 185 Upstate, NY Pics |
2006-03-28 126800
Murf,
Fast Food - Love it... LOL
Last fall I pull out 2 trays of that tomcat mouse poison in the work shop, and later that week the trays where empty. Good so my mouse population should start to drop...
Next week go out the the tool box on the pickup and look inside. There is a pile of seed and green poison 6 inches deep and the 3 feet wide, with mice beding in the corner. SO I took the 22 with the sand shot and blasted 12 of the bugers in the box. so that helped alittle...
I'm thinking to dissove the poison into jello so they have to eat it as they move it rather then store it away. Hmm something to market? ....
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rwalter
Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 3 Wamego KS |
2006-03-29 126826
According to several university tests I have read, the sonic repellants are pathetic, on anything, and reflect my personal results. The poisons work, but then, if you have a garage full of stuff like I do, summer comes, and smell will knock you out, but you can't find the little corpses anywhere, cause they go into nooks and crannies to crawl up and die. Sort of a revenge of the meese, and boy, do they stink. I have found that the plastic traps work pretty good (better mouse trap, not victor), and will even catch the voles, occasionally, but the best, bar none, is the adhesive trays with a little grain in the middle. Might want to put that somewhere the cat and dog can't get to, though, the ex wifes poodle got into one of them, and you talk about an unhappy mutt, by the time we got that all scrubbed off him, he gave me the evil eye for months. I suggest you secure both the plastic trays, and the mouse traps, though. Mice get caught, but not dead yet, and crawl away with them somewhere where you will find them, years later as little tiny skeletons, but which will explain why you couldn't stand to be in your garage or building till it dried up a year ago, summer, or two. Place either one along walls, behind things, etc. as that is where they tend to run, close to cover, and along baseboards. I've tried it all, in my old steel building, and the glue trays are king, bar none. They'll also catch about a million roaches, crickets, spiders, etc. I've caught multiple mice and voles, with the same trap, for the larger styles. Good hunting, and just throw the things away, don't take pity and step on them to put them out of their misery, as that stuff is the devil to get off your boot, hammer, whatever, too..... ....
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KosseTX
Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 15 texas |
2006-03-29 126846
Guys, Here's what I do to make the poison dog proof. I built little shelves to screw to the studs in the garage and in the pump house, both high enough to keep the dogs away. I also build little wood boxes to screw to the pilings under the house. To these, I screw one of the poison stick baits. The stick baits have a hole through the center of them, and will fasten down well with a 4" sheetrock screw. It keeps the mice from taking the bait, gives them a little rest to feel comfortable with, keeps the bait out of the reach of the dogs and best of all, kills the little rats. You have to unscrew the box under the house to put the stick bait in it because I screw it about an inch from the studs, but it keeps the dogs out of the poison. You can also slide those stick baits onto wires to protect them. Mice eat it instead of the wires. Can you tell I've put a little thought into killing mice?
I really wish I didn't have to do this to them, but they will pee and crap everywhere, and that I can't take. I was redoing the insulation under the house and bumped into 2 copperheads. They help too. ....
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