What is the best way to keep mice from making a home in the Vette?
I live in the North and get a lot of snow and cold. The car is in a garage the is shared with the wife's car. We are in and out alot. What can be put under the car and in the interior?
Thanks

 

Some say to use strategically placed moth *****. But then you have to deal with that stink.

I'm also in the north with snow requiring hibernation. I use a four post lift...

 

I've heard that taking some Irish Spring soap and shaving some onto the tires, tailpipes, and other strategic places will keep the critters out.

 

Heres my answer. They work cheap but require periodic attention.

She even helps port FAST 90 Intake Manifolds!!



BC

 

Use bounce sheets,I placed them all around under my hood and never had an issue with mice.

 

See where it's supposed to say Irish Spring but doesn't? It's because some little mouse chewed all over the top of this bar of soap while it was sitting in the holder at our basement sink. My theory is they use it to hide the smell of their nest/den or whatever you call a mouse's house. I think this is true because we once found a mouse nest in a shed that they had used charcaol peices to line all the way around their nest. Seems like they had some mixed into the nest too, but that's been a while. Only reason I could figure was they did it to cover up the smell so that cats and snakes couldn't find them. Here's the pic...


My favorite mouse trap is called "Mice Cube", check out ebay. I catch'em humanely, but it's the end of the line for'em!

Moth ***** works for my Uncle's grain trucks, but yeah, they smell.

 

One place they get in is under the hood at the driver's wiper shaft and into the plenum. They then proceed down to the AC fan and make a nest.
While they're under the hood they snack on all the wiring insulation. They carried dog food into my AC Fan. They ate the insulation off the left driver's side head light wiring and it shorted out and burned a 8" spot on the hood sound proofing. They ate the #8 fuel injector lead almost in two. The insurance company wrote me a check for $1800+,

It's best to stop them before they get close to your car. They'll chew their way through most anything but steel. I have 4 cats in the house and 3 or 4 living at the barn. If you feed them, they don't hunt for food but do kill for the fun of it if it's not too much work and only if they're bored. Cat's don't give a **** about anything, if you got shrunk to the size of a mouse, your pet cat would eat you but your dog would still love you.

I keep the car in my shop but may not drive the car for several months. I stopped keeping a cover on my Corvette and leave the hood open with Havoc poison bags laying around the engine compartment. I put the dog's food into a tall bucket and stored the bag of dog food, I haven't seen any mouse evidence in a year,,,,,yet.

Mice work fast. Years ago, they chewed up a roll of toilet paper and filled up a small drawer in my vanity in 24 hours or so, I flew for Pan Am and might have been on a 4 or 5 day trip but when I opened the drawer it almost exploded with small bits of TP. The cartoon of the mouse house hole in the wall, an upside down U. got one in the pantry. Cranked up a stand by tank vacuum and it was full of dog food. They love fiber glass insulation, especially in a water heater. The Cats don't care. I walked into the Den one night and 4 cats were sitting in a 3 foot circle with a mouse sitting in the middle. The cats ran off and Mr. Mouse escaped.

Keep them away from your car. Poison, traps or a lift, all three would almost be a safe bet.

 

That is what I do. On top of the intake, in the footwells and the back. Never had a problem.

 

I put Bounce sheets all over the engine bay, all over the interior, and, interior rear under the glass, in the dash ventilation louvers and in each exhaust tailpipe. I also use glue traps by each wheel. I've never had a rodent problem ever since I've owned my 2000, which is since new, and has been stored in storage garages and my own garage.
Ed

 

Had a problem with winter time mice until I plugged in two electronic mouse deterents and havent had a problem since.

 

Tried Bounce but they shredded it and made a nest. I now put the car in a Carbag and use a couple of traps in the bag (just in case) and traps all the way around the car. I found the smaller mice won't set off a snap trap so I use the little box ones with a one way door.

 

keep your garage well trapped and baited

 

there are inexpensive traps that sre reuseable once the trap is sprung. A small amount of peanut butter is a great lure.
merry xmas

 

This is my first winter in this house, and I have an unfinished detached garage that I am storing my Vette and '37 Ford in. I went around the garage perimeter and spread mouse/rat poison. I then took a box of moth *****, and a bunch of cheap panty hose and made little bundles I put all over the place. Inside the cars I put plates of Irish Spring shavings. My garage smells funny, but I have had no signs of mice. I am going to finish the garage in the spring and seal everything up, but this is the best I could come up with for now.

 

I was given some "Fresh Cab" by a friend with a farm. This stuff is put in combines and other farm machinery to keep the rodents out. It is a little bag with some kind of pine extract in it that really drives the mice away. Smells like pine....

You can buy it at the John Deere store.

 

We tried the moth ***** in bags and the moth ***** evaporate pretty quickly Went to take the bags out one day and there wasn't anything in them.

The rat /mouse poison needs to stay dry (at least all the stuff that I used did. If it gets wet, it wont work.

I had the best luck with just small spring traps baited with peanut butter. That way, you can see how many your fighting and they don't die in your car.

 

Research HANTAVIRUS if you find rodent droppings...

 

Good advice. A few years ago, I studied up on this topic a little bit. I used to have a soft spot for cute little mice until I read up on the hazards associated with their droppings.

Since then, I always keep a good supply of rat/mouse poison all over the garage, under work benches and shelving units. I kinda feel bad about poisoning the little critters, but I'd feel a lot worse with Hantavirus, or if a mouse ruined my Vette .......


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Yup - under the hood, try fresh Bounce fabric softener sheets and set traps baited with peanut butter, but don't use poisons or their bodies will rot where you can't find them.

 

Getting new tires put on the 03 tomorrow so decided to start up the vette after being in the garage hibernating for almost 3 months now.

Removed the car cover and found that mice had chewed a hole in the passenger side mirror pocket. grrrrrr... Apparently, they used it to access the inside of the pocket to sleep and keep warm in.

Popped the hood and found the harbor freight battery tender light was off... DOA. Subsequently, the battery was also very DOA. *sigh*

Also found signs that mice had been snacking on sunflower seeds (from the bird seed kept in the garage) on top of the manifold... right next to the little foil pan of IRISH SPRING soap shavings. So much for IRISH SPRING warding off mice. At least they now the mice that "manly scent a woman loves".

Broke out the jump start pack... charge was low and it doesn't have the oomph to roll the engine over. double *sigh*

Put the battery charger on to charge the battery. I'm not holding my breath here, and put the jump start pack on the charger.

It's not looking promising to get the car to the dealer in the morning right now.