Mouse in vehicle issues

[Pete S]

We live in the country. Our garage is very nice but it appears that my wife's
'05 car has better accomidations.

I had mouse issues a while ago (years) under the hood. A bit of boot nibbling, and then some turds, but thought that went away.

Her car began to STINK inside and we really think it's a mouse! We use rodent poison extensively in the garage.

Looking for the dead little bastard this evening, I found nothing but turds and one nest. It has chewed on several areas of the body insulation.

We really don't eat in the car, and it's rather clean.

What can we do to help prevent this from occuring again!?!?!?

HELP PLEASE!

Note the smell is NOT coming from the heat/A/C system.

Thanks!

[Ausable]

Hey Pete - Don't know if this will help. But - Our Ford minivan has a compartment air filter in the air duct work at the firewall on the front passenger side and the little buggers like to store seeds and nest in there and chew on the filter from time to time. So we always have to check and clean this out - never had one die in there yet - but - if one did it would sure foul the air.... Mike

[Bucket Head]

Seriously, get a cat. Do you have a cat? Is the garage attached to the house or is'nt it? You can put poison and traps out until the cows come home. The cat is one thing the mice DO NOT want to interact with.

True story. My sisters boyfriend showed up one day livid. He says "my truck stinks like a dead mouse and I can't take it anymore". So we start looking, and sniffing, around the inside. Then he says "it seems like its the strongest when I put the seatbelt on and start the thing". So I go pull out the belt and it stinks! Yeah, you guessed it. One got into the area where the belt rolls up and died there. I took forever to get the thing apart and get the carcass. Hard to beleive that little thing stunk like that!

The answer? They now let their cat out into the garage to roam around a little bit every couple of days or so. No more mice in the garage or in the cars. It works. Give it a try. Putting poison out only kills the ones that are there now. Then their friends and relatives move in, you buy more poison, and the cycle repeats itself. Cats are not always the greatest pets, but they are good for some things.

Steve

[chadsoare]

I dont know what model of vehicle you have, but I have worked as an automotive tech for over 20 yrs. I see in your post that you say the smell is not coming from the heating and ac system. All of the mice issues that I have seen come into the shop is that they build a house withing the heater/ac plenum assembly. This houses the heater core, the ac evaporator, and the blower motor. It seems that they enter this from the fresh air intake which is on the passenger side under the windshield wiper linkage area. Just as a previous post stated that the mice chew through filters and other light material to build homes in dark warm areas to give birth to offspring. To diagnose, I would remove the blower motor and inspect the inside of the heater/ac plumbing. Blower motor noise is a good indicator that mice are present.

[Haynes Forest Products]

The problem is you don't eat in your car. With a 6 and 10 year olds Mice have been leaving notes as to what they want for lunch the next day. If they find enough food under the seats they will stop eating the car.

[TapME]

get one of those high frequency noise things and put it in the garage. They work better than poison but not as good as maine coon cats. Them big cats kill every thing in sight up to ground hoggs, I'm still amazed at seeing a ground hogg in the mouth of mine last year, it was as big as he was.

[steve J]

I had issue of mice getting in ATV battery compartment area and chewing the wires and shorting out the ignition. My son in-law suggested I put one of the sheets that you use in the dryer when drying clothes in the compartment as mice will not go near it . It ended my mouse issue on ATV. I know those are not practicle for for everything but were possible they do work.

[maplecrest]

mice hate moth balls. had a new gmc 2500 and mice found it as home in my driveway. quess they liked to ride around. got rid of nest and put a mesh bag of moth balls under hood no more mice

[red maples]

yeah moth balls work good. for some reason they always build a nest in the air cleaner of my wife's old car and you didn't really notice a difference untiil the engine light would come on then I would have to take it apart and sure enough there it was. Some one said take a small onion bag or cheese cloth and put some moth balls in it never had a problem again. Amonia works too. but is messy and dryer sheets work too. mice are mostly blind and need to smell to find their way around so if they can't smell they can't get around and they leave.

[C.Wilcox]

You should just get your wife a new car.... :evil:

[Paddymountain]

Hey, TapMe where's the school for maine coon cats? Our big boy lacks motivation!

[petersp22]

When I was about 19 or so I had a mouse die in my backseat. I called my sister for advice and she said to get activated charcoal from the drug store. So off I went to the drugstore. The most beautiful pharmacist in the world offered her assistance to me and I said "I need activated charcoal. Really bad." Imagine my embarrassment when she handed me activated charcoal tablets which, according to the label, are intended to make farts smell sweet.

They worked.

[KenWP]

yeah moth balls work good. for some reason they always build a nest in the air cleaner of my wife's old car and you didn't really notice a difference untiil the engine light would come on then I would have to take it apart and sure enough there it was. Some one said take a small onion bag or cheese cloth and put some moth balls in it never had a problem again. Amonia works too. but is messy and dryer sheets work too. mice are mostly blind and need to smell to find their way around so if they can't smell they can't get around and they leave.

I had a Datsun Sentra and some dumb bunny told me to fill it with moth balls as the mice took it over. They used to gather them up and make nest with them. My wife was driving down the highway one day and one ran up her pant leg. I guess it was a rodeo as the little dog was running all over the car chasing the mouse as she was trying to drive. never heard the last of that one.
Could not open the back window of my full size Blazer one day.The mice had it full of seeds and dog food. Had to have been a 100 pounds in there. They constantly built a nest under the air filter on the battleship.It caught fire once before I found out I had to check everytime I drove it.
We did find that new spray paint would stop them a bit. They used to get in the heater fan and it sounded like a kids bike with a playing card clothspinned on the wheel. I was a expert at removing the fan on cars and trucks. They only seemd to bother Datsuns and chevs never had a mouse in a Ford yet.

[red maples]

You should just get your wife a new car.... :evil:

she got a new car about a month ago.