I hate mices

[Firebird1975]

I use Mighty Mint Rodent Vehicle Protection, in addition to vast amounts of clothing dryer sheets and Irish Spring Soap for storing my RV over the winter. I have used this method every winter for almost 10 years, and I've been lucky so far. The Mighty Mint can safely be sprayed directly on all surfaces, including the engine compartment.

 

[karoc]

Years ago I left my house at 4:30am, as driving down road I notice my brake pedal was little sponge. By time I got to freeway I was using emergency brake to stop. Using that brake was pain trying to come to slow stop. Made it to work, took work van to our mechanic. He said look like raccoons chewed on brake lines

 

[niget2002]

I bought one of the electronic mouse deterrents that you mount under the hood. It seems to work well. I haven't seen any more indication of mice under the hood since I installed it. Prior, it had looked like they were pulling the fiber stuff that's around the battery on the truck.

We also have 2 cats that do a great job of removing rodents from the property. Unfortunately, they don't have access inside the shop or garage at night.

I tried the bucket method, but from what I can hear, the rodents are running around the top of the eaves of the shop and not anywhere where I can put a bucket. I'm thinking of trying the electronic zappers that someone else posted a link to in this thread.

We don't have issues with rodents in the chicken area. The chickens dispatch them anytime they see them.

 

[pima67]

For my garage doors I have a 3-layer defense. Solar LED spotlights aimed at each corner of the door which if the bottom seal is ok is the most likely point of entrance. Mice are creatures of the night and start foraging at dark. Glue board at each corner inside. Baited Snap traps behind the boards.

 

[blacksporty]

Its rats for me. I have had a small $50 wire harness replaced on my truck twice, problem is that the intake manifold has to be removed to get to it, so its a $700 job. I extensively wrapped the last one in the Honda rodent tape.

Recently my wife's car, the power steering light came on. Its electronic, so I looked up the possibilities on the net, new steering module and fuse buss bar were the common fixes. I order them and go to do the install and the is a huge rats nest on the skid plate. I didn't see any wires chewed anywhere. I cleaned out the nest, further inspected wires, couldn't find anything.

I removed the battery because the PS module is under it and in the wire harness that connects to the module I se one teeny weeny wire's end poking out. After breaking into the wrap on the harness I finally dig the other end of the wire out. Not much room to work, very tedious, dam rats can fit anywhere. Fixed it, and right now leaving the skid plate off so there isn't a nice nesting area but going to soak it in that deterrent smelly stuff.

At least I got to return the parts I bought to fix it.

 

[angoetti]

bait traps along the baseboards using first bite or just one bite poison, got them all......just do it

 

[Fixr]

I use the B.O.D. method, or BUCKET O' DEATH.

I take a homer bucket, and fill it up with water to about 4 inches from the top. Then sprinkle a cup or two of sunflower seeds on the surface of the water. I'll use a narrow piece of wooden trim board or make some 2" strips of wood on my tablesaw - about 36" long, and lean that up on the side of the bucket. Sometimes I'll run a small screw into one end of the "plank" to keep it on the rim of the bucket. I then place a few seeds at the base of the board and a few along the board up to the top. Theory is that the mouse will run up the board, see the seeds floating atop the water, think its a solid surface, and jump down to get some more. He'll swim around until he drowns.

Its not the most humane way of eradication, but it works very well. I have problems with not only mice, but loads of chipmunks that burrow under my walks and cause them to sink. I'll put out the buckets once or twice a year, and it will kill whole families of these wee buggers. Sometimes I'll check a bucket and it'll have 6-8 chippies and a few mice in there as well. Many times there will be pregnant ones in there too, so I know I'm getting a lot of them.

I usually pluck them out with a pair of tongs, placing into a gallon ziplock baggie, then trash. I pour the scummy water/seed mixture into the compost pile and start over.

I tried a bucket trap once. It got one, and apparently the rest figured it out and just scurried right past it.

 

[Tuhls]

Victor M460 is very effective outdoors…I have several placed around…

 

[Beemer]

We cured that in our garage by simply leaving some lights on 24 hours a day. They are nocturnal and lights are a good deterrent.
Also, never cover your vehicles.
If there are dormant vehicles stored, leave the hood open.
Works for us.

 

[Torque&Recoil]

My neighbor had a $7000 insurance claim when the rats chewed up the wiring on his couple year old Prius parked out in his driveway. They left his early 70’s Cutlass alone.

Modern wiring uses vegetable oils to be "green". Like peanut oil, which attracts mice. Sorry, to any greenies out there, but that's the pathetic fact. Modern wire insulation attracts rodents. Why do I say this? Because my car was attacked 3x and my wife's car 4x and I got GD tired of fixing chewed wiring. Now, the instant we get home, cars go into the garage, door down, Walk The Plank traps in the garage. Visitors take their own chances parking in the driveway.

 

[Tuhls]

I'm a huge fan of these... initial investment ***** (get rechargeable AAs and a charger too) but smokes those little wire-eating pricks quite nicely.. biggest problem in summer is the ants eat the peanut butter I put in it so now each gets an ant bite next to it.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B099X9F9CD?tag=atomicindus08-20

I apply peanut butter using a syringe (approx 1” diameter x 4” long available from McMaster-Carr), that way I can replenish easily with a few PB dots at the entrances of my Victor M460. Late last summer I began shaking a ring of carbaryl dust around the trap (maybe six inches out from the trap) to combat the ants, I will know for sure this year if that is effective (I didn’t get much time to test it)

 

[Wallyman]

I’ve avoided the bucket trap because I’m not around to monitor it and I figured it would stink by the time I cleaned it, but I got a tip to add oil (maybe vegetable?) to contain the smell. I haven’t actually tried this but it seems plausible

If you aren't around to monitor, then you aren't around to smell it either. I've used the BOD for chippies also, gives a certain twisted sense of accomplishment to see 6-7 floaters. Do I feel bad? A little, but there are acres of forest 200' away and if they can't figure that out, well, they aren't the smart ones and natural selection gets 'em. Never had mice or voles in the BOD, tho.. only a red squirrel once. Small critters seem to require zap-traps here at least.

I need to come up with an efficient mole-eradication method, our yard has become overrun in the last year and the dogs are making it worse trying to find them.

 

[bkdc]

One tip for the bucket trap. Fill the bottom with undiluted automotive coolant instead of water. Avoid the ready-to-use prediluted coolant. It acts like an embalming solution and avoids the stench if you forget to check your trap for a week in the hot summer. After 4 or 5 months, the pink coolant does look a little turbid from all the rodent droppings that do collect from the dying pests.

Unfortunately you have to throw them out instead of throwing the coolant-embalmed dead carcasses to nature.

 

[andyvh1959]

My house was built in 73, trilevel cedar over brick. Over the years those furry little bastards found ways in even though I've plugged many a gap with Great Stuff. Last year, sitting in the living room (where the walls have a woven textured wall cover) I suddenly see a little furball climbing slowly up the wall. Wife freaks! I grab an old towel and managed to grab it and promptly introduce it to the big green garbage bin out back. Also been struggling with woodpeckers on the cedar siding for years. Finally last year I contracted a local pest control company to spray around my house, and up on the siding, with products to repel insects and critters.

Fortunatley up here in Wisconsin we don't have to deal with termites, though about this time of year the black ants start to show up. So far this year, no mice, no woodpeckers, no ants. Worth the money so far.

 

[bkdc]

Aah the joys of nature. Field mice, voles in my yard, tree rats, acorn woodpeckers making perfectly circular holes under my roofline to stash away their acorns, rattlesnakes, coyotes, bobcats, and bats have all made their way through my property and continue to do so. I don’t know how I would deal with woodpeckers against siding. I had a company stretch a net 360 degrees around the area under my roof where the woodpeckers were attacking. Thankfully I have stucco siding. The bats have greater protection from the government than a human.

 

[pima67]

When we lived in northern UT, in fall I would run a trap line of mouse snap traps baited with peanut butter around the house. The house had brick veneer and the gap between bricks at the soffit allowed the mice to get in the attic. We could hear them at night moving around. First tried Dcon tossed up there from a hatch in a bedroom closet. Then decided to trap them before they got up there.
Here I protect the garage with a 3-layer defense: Solar led spotlights at each door corner, glue boards inside at each corner and then baited snap traps.