Preventing critters from nesting

[sandyc]

Just got a new to me B3350 that has to live outside in a lean to. Prior to this tractor I have always left other in my shop where it is a bit warmer. Does anyone have any thoughts about how to keep the little furry critters (mice, chipmunks, squirrels ) from using the tractor as a place to hide their food and or nests. With the DPF I am also thinking the nesting stuff might become tinder for a fire. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[AStanton]

I found that living in the country and storing your equipment, cars, and motorcycles in garages and sheds is a constant battle to keep vermin out. I used dryer sheets and moth balls. The moth balls for me were the worse experience. I had placed them one winter inside a motorcycle to discourage mice and they built a nest right on them. I think cats are a pretty good deterrent. My neighbor had an excellent mouser, named Munchie. I always saw that cat going by with a mouse or chipmunk in its mouth. My main pest control for mice right now are live traps. I place them along walls where mice travel and leave them unbaited. Mice travel by smell--they follow their urine trails. So you never want to use traps where mice could bleed and contaminant the scent. In addition, pets could eat any poison bait you put down. So at the moment, I'm using less than a half dozen of the pictured traps below, placing them in strategic places.

 

[DHD]

I agree with AStanton about the drier sheets.
I place them in and around the engine of my riding mowers,
which are stored in a wooden shed, mice may nest in the shed, but not in the lawn mower.

For my summer time use Tacoma pickup, during winter I store it in a shipping container, for the past 8 years it's been rodent proof.

 

[sandyc]

Thanks....I am going to raid my wife's supply of Bounce sheets and see if that works. If nothing else, it will smell good!

 

[davesl708]

I have a fox den in my backyard. No critters left. Their even good at getting rid of my mole problem. Owls do a good job on the mice as well.

 

[Xfaxman]

We had mice in the Toolcat cab, wife put cinnamon sticks in it, no more mice and it smells good. :thumbsup:

https://www.google.com/search?q=cin...&es_sm=93&ie=UTF-8#q=cinnamon+sticks+for+mice

 

[DHD]

I have a fox den in my backyard. No critters left. Their even good at getting rid of my mole problem. Owls do a good job on the mice as well.

We have fox den fairly close, cause we'll see the 3 or 4 little ones playing in our yard just about every year, they are sure fun to watch.
we've also watched the mama fox hunting for mice and moles too.
We don't raise chickens, but we've had a few piles of white chicken feathers on our lawn over the past couple of years.
I suspect we may not see any foxes in the near future.

 

[Mendonsy]

I have tried the fabric softener sheets and they did work for a while. I have had better luck with mothballs.

 

[sandyc]

Ok, looks like a mixture of mothballs, cinnamon , and dryer sheets. Maybe I'll get one of those electric things..this might turn into a tractor version of caddy shack !

Sent from my iPhone using TractorByNet

 

[AStanton]

Speaking of mice, here's some of the handy work they did to my neighbor's Dodge Ram Pick Up's blower fan. I had to post the second shot at the mention of Caddy Shack.

 

[peterc38]

I'm a Dog person but my wife has always had cats and all of them have been stone cold killers. All of my tractors to date have lived in an unheated metal outbuilding and I have never had a rodent destroy or damage anything yet (knock on wood)

 

[coobie]

Just got a new to me B3350 that has to live outside in a lean to. Prior to this tractor I have always left other in my shop where it is a bit warmer. Does anyone have any thoughts about how to keep the little furry critters (mice, chipmunks, squirrels ) from using the tractor as a place to hide their food and or nests. With the DPF I am also thinking the nesting stuff might become tinder for a fire. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

I have used moth balls and green irish spring soap bars.

 

[ENC]

Cats here. I also use all manner of traps and D-Con in areas the cats can't easily get to. Really I have found that the best thing is to not let your stuff and buildings remain idle. Use or move your equipment often. Around here dirt dobbers cause more trouble than the mice .

 

[varmint]

I have heard mothballs, but I have two cats, and they seem up to the job. I also found that leaving the hood open on my garden tractor worked, after learning that mice love to eat coil wire insulation some years ago.

 

[MHarryE]

Squirrels got to my mini-excavator last year. It was parked outside for 10 days and when I tried to start it, nothing. My wife and I spliced 13 wires in the armrests and fuse block areas. Now the armrests and fuse areas are packed with mothballs. First time out this spring I tried to figure out the strange odor - then I suddenly remembered.

Somebody said Irish Spring bars really work so my nieces put bars all over my dads old house due to his mouse and squirrel problem. When we tore the house down a few years later after dad moved to assisted living we found every one of those bars gad been chewed on. Not just a little - some were more than half gone. Since soap is a strong base, do rodents eat it when they have a stomach acid problem?

 

[check]

They got into my generator, so I used mothballs, and that kept them out.

 

[Tx Jim]

I dab some cotton balls with Peppermint oil and put the balls in cab and under the hood. Older lady that checked me out when I bought the oil asked what I was going to use it for. I told her to ward off mice and she stated yes that would work that she'd been using that method for years.

 

[bellweather]

You can buy fox and coyote urine in liquid or granule form and it is supposed to help control rodents. Amazon sells it as do many other places. My wife uses it in the gardening shed.
I tried those dryer sheets with no success.

 

[Looking4new]

How do you get the foxes and coyotes to pee in the bottle?

 

[Mendonsy]

How do you get the foxes and coyotes to pee in the bottle?

Give them a six pack of cold beer!!