Rodent prevention

[Big_Lug]

What have some of ya'll done to keep mice from getting into ya'lls cabs of ya'lls tractors? They ate through the foam insulators and got into my cab. What a smell, mice urine all over the seat and feces. I put steal wool in all the openings where loader lines come into the cab and where the cab meets the chassis but they ate through the foam. I put out poison but this only slows them down a bit and makes a real mess. I'm gonna buy the big peanut butter blocks of poison next.

 

[Oleozz]

Do you like cats?
My wife had mice chew the wires under her car, they can be destructive. I have them in my pole barn where I keep the tractor and have used a lot of poison to try and keep them under control. So far they haven't been in the tractor.

 

[BTDT]

Snakes..(ha, ha, that was for you Eddie).

 

[jbrumberg]

Big_Lug:

I have had extensive damage perpetrated against my old rarely used and modified Honda CRX-Si car toy by mice . I have used mothballs and other concoctions without success. Somebody recommended a spearmint air freshener as a deterrent. It seems to work a little better than mothballs and smells better too. I have not tried the cat/dog deterrent spray you can get from a pet store, but that stuff sure keeps the cat from chewing on those really expensive stereo/audio/video cables (the cat never chews on the cheap cables ). Jay

 

[Oleozz]

Jay's message about moth balls reminded me that I had them in our bass boat last year and they didn't keep the mice out. This year I have Bounce Fabric Softener sheets in the boat and around the tractor, not sure if it's helping or not.

 

[johnk]

The mice are just jumping higher after eating the softners............

 

[Phils]

I was hoping for the "miracle fix" in this thread. Just yesterday I AGAIN pulled the cabin air filter out of our Toyota to remove the nest and excrement and seeds. A few months ago I had my Chev PU towed to a shop when it died leaving the house: mouse had chewed through the fuel pump relay wire.

Engine compartments seem to be the favored living quarters. A couple of weeks ago I started leaving the hoods open every night. So far, no evidence of mice in the pickup. Hoping they'll leave the car alone too, but it's too early to tell yet.... yesterday's nest I know has been there for awhile. I set a rat trap on the engine last night but had no success.

I long ago blocked off the air cleaner intake to both vehicles with the big course screen (plumbers cloth?). Prior to doing that I'd find the air boxes half full of acorns.

I'd prefer to not introduce poison into the food chain around our house.

Phil

 

[czechsonofagun]

We had some mice and rats and a there was a cat on the land when we moved in. But the cat was the terror of the neighbourhod - mostly birds - and mice were living happily ever after.

I did some trapping, but it changed with our dogs, all day long digging for mice and rats - have not seen a mouse here in a long time. Cats are good, but dogs go in the ground to get to rodents and unless they are under the floor, they destroy the population. And I set a trap every so often just to check.

 

[dmccarty]

Search TBN for the traps made from five gallon buckets, dowls, and windshield washing fluid. Or the really sick but good, large plastic candy cane.

I have not tried this yet but people are reporting good success. They thread(s) have popped up over the last few months.

Later,
Dan

 

[Captinjack]

Nobody takes my method seriously, but it does work 100% and doesn't involve killing the little buggers. Not that I have anything against killing them. It's just impossible to kill them all and they are prolific breeders.

I grow Habenero hot peppers and after drying, I put them in a blender and make dust out of them. Make sure you use rubber gloves, a dust mask and make darn sure you wash your hands BEFORE going to the bathroom or rubbing your eyes.

Put the dust into a pepper shaker or whatever and dust the area that you don't want them into. Dust around the periphery of the room if a house. Dust the exhaust or air cleaner intake. I have the most problem with my riding mowers and I dust the fan and the engine as they like to build nests in there over the winter.

Rodents are actually clean animals and after they lick their paws once.......it's I'm outta here and as long as that stuff is around, I'm not coming back!

I've even disolved some in hot water and sprayed it on stuff with the same result. Even keeps the critters from chewing anything. One taste is all it takes.

 

[kossetx]

Not many people ever respond to this advice but it works for me. Buy some stick rat bait with the hole all the way through the center. There are several makers but I like the green stuff. It's a little waxier/tougher.

Put a wire through the bait and wire that to some hoses or wires in various places around your vehicles. The mice are hungry and this is food in a dry area. They eat the food and leave the wires alone. They also croak. I also wire some to an old food serving tray in my garage. They can't steal and hide the bait as they are prone to do and it makes clean-up easy when they pee and poop everywhere. Hope it helps! MP

 

[Mike120]

I've got a half a dozen cats (all fixed) that live at my barn and hay shed. Mice don't last long and they even catch moles out in the fields. I'm accused of being pretty stingy with the cat food, but that seems to give them an added incentive to forage for their dinner.....all of them are fat and healthy.

 

[marks]

I'll place moth balls in a sock, and place it in the engine compartment and so forth. The balls need to be replenished every so often.