Mice-Damage During Storage

[larryconnors]

I have several engines that I plan to store in my garage. What is the risk of mouse damage and how do I protect the engines. I heard one horror story about someone who stored an antique car and mice came through the exhaust and an open exhaust valve and nested in a cylinder. The mouse urine eventually caused a seized engine.

[Oldguy48]

I hope this thread gets a lot of suggestions, because I'm dealing with the problem right now. We've not had a problem with any engine damage...yet, but it seems that mice got into my bag of cleaning supplies in the trunk of my P15 during the winter. No real damage, but a mess with chewed up paper towels. Some fold up chairs we use for the car shows had a stash of corn kernels in them that made another mess. A couple of weeks ago, one got into my wife's Toyota, and made another mess. We just found one in the garage last week that somehow got tangled in the grandkids soccer nets, and died. We've caught a couple with spring traps baited with peanut butter, and I just built a electrified bait arrangement in a 5 gallon bucket partially filled with water. No success with that yet, but we'll see. Hopefully, some good suggestions will get posted here. We've declared war on the little buggers. Good luck!

Wayne

[Merle Coggins]

I use bait blocks/poison around my garage. I usually refresh them in the fall/winter when I have my truck parked in there, and mouse activity seems to be higher. I've also heard that stuffing openings with copper wool helps keep them out. For stored engines I'd stuff it in the exhaust, intake, and coolant openings.

 

I once left a bag of sunflower seeds unattended in my garage. I found sunflower seed shells all over in my truck. After cleaning up the truck I found the bag of seeds and dumped it into a 5 gallon pail and sealed the lid. I then threw bait blocks around the outside walls of the garage. I found a few dead mice between then and spring. That spring when I did my spring prep on my motorcycle I ended up shooting sunflower seeds all over the garage when I fired up the engine the first time. It seems they loaded up one exhaust pipe with seeds. The also got up into the trunk and chewed the lining out of one of my favorite pairs of gloves. I now put all gloves and smaller riding gear items into plastic tubs when storing for the winter. Since I've been doing this, and using poison bait blocks, I haven't had a mouse problem in my garage.

 

Merle

[busycoupe]

I used to have a '65 Mustang that I stored in a rented garage for the winter.  The mice got into the air cleaner one year.  Luckily I discovered the nest when I took the air cleaner off to spray some ether into the carb to help wake up the engine after it's winter snooze.

Dave

[_shel_ny]

I used the electrical portion of the kitchen stove to reduce the mouse population.

 

Have tried the dryer sheets in the trunk, and interior. (vehicle stored in cellar) I have not noted any leavings, and the sheets have been undisturbed. I do not know if they helped or not.

 

I did have many mice in the house in the summer/fall. Baited with "tom cat" (like d-con) and traps.

[pflaming]

Sometime back someone was using bars of Dove soap. A cat and an autofeeder and autowaste cleaner should work also. 

 

My son's kids in Maine found a nest of little mice. Their mother took them to the SPVCA. They took the mice but she had to take an animal in return. The next set of mice were quietly put to sleep by my son, method not disclosed. 

Edited May 31, 2013 by pflaming

[52b3b Joe]

Scented dryer sheets will help keep mice out of cars I have heard. I put one under every seat, one in the glove box, a couple in the truck, and two in the engine compartment when its time to put the cars away for the winter. 

[Niel Hoback]

  I noticed that I haven't seen any evidence of mice since I took the police scanner out to the garage. I think the sudden eratic bursts of chatter may be scaring them off.

  I had those plug-in things that make an inaudible-to-humans noise, and that worked for a short time until they got used to them and just ignored them.  Maybe they're just afraid of police!  

[BigDaddyO]

I RTVed wire screen over my enlarged air intake on the motersicle and put a wad of steel wool in all the exhaust pipes.

Cotton balls soaked in pure essential oil of Peppermint placed thru out the car works well and smells nice. You can also mix it with water and spray it on wires to keep critters from chewing them.

Also the crystal Sulfer can be placed in the south side of your garage and it will help keep critters out.

Edited May 31, 2013 by BigDaddyO

[Desotodav]

Looks like Kryptonite... would probably keep Superman away as well !!!

[Don Coatney]

Someone here tried Rosemary in the sack in the back seat and it worked for him. I have not yet tried Rosemary in the sack but I hope to someday.

[frankieflathead]

That was my biggest worry when I put my Dodge away for the winter last fall. Because it has an excellent original interior that smells really good, I didn't want to put any dryer sheets inside the car. I had the car up on jackstands and scattered them liberally all over the garage floor underneath it. I also stuffed some in the engine compartment, inside the coil springs where there might be a route for them to travel and up where the pedals go through the floor into the cabin. I threw a bunch of fresh ones around about every four or five weeks when the smell seemed to be subsiding. I also had six or seven small deli containers with a half dozen mothballs in each strategically placed around, including at the base of each jackstand. Plugged the exhaust, road draft tube and drain holes in the spare tire well with steel wool and left myself a note the I had done so taped to the car cover! LOL! I also had regular cat patrols through the garage. I was greatly relieved this Spring when I discovered that the old bus had escaped with out any damage.

 

I have been told by a veterinarian that a mouse can squeeze through an opening only 1/4 inch high. They can do an incredible amount of damage, not just by gnawing on stuff, but by peeing all over the place. A friend who works in the service department of a local Toyota dealership told me this horror story about a Prius that they got into the shop. It seems that Toyota uses a soy based material for a lot of the insulation on wiring in these cars. A customer who owned one was out of the country for an extended period of time, and took no precautions when she parked her car in the garage. The soy insulation was just too tempting for the little varmints, so they moved in and told a bunch of their closest friends about it. They set up house keeping in the headliner of the car and spent the winter eating the wiring, pissing all over the headliner and making more mice. Not only was the car rendered undriveable by the damage to the electrics, but when the weather finally warmed up it stunk to high heaven! So not only did they have to do extensive electrical work on the car, but they had to replace to whole headliner!

Edited June 1, 2013 by frankieflathead

[38plymouth]

Please don't trust dryer sheets, its an old wives tale. I tried them once in a camper and used a whole box of them. In the spring all the sheets were missing and I found them in a drawer and in a furnace duct. The mice collected them and made nests out of them.

[Oldguy48]

We even strategically placed small containers of cotton balls soaked with peppermint oil, and a bar of "Irish Spring" soap in the car, and the critters still visited my P15. I'm considering getting a hungry cat !!! I did get some satisfaction however, when I dispatched one outside the garage with a shovel handle. He never had a chance. Ha Ha

Wayne

[pflaming]

" . . . pure essential oil of Peppermint placed thru out the car works well and smells nice. You can also mix it with water and spray it on wires to keep critters from chewing them." That this and the drier wipes worked for some and not for others may be the result of climate. They may dry out in some areas but not in others. Sprayed on the wires would be a welcome idea for week long hikers's parked cars. The mountain mice, marmots,  like plastic and anti-freeze. A hungry stray cat, a sand box,a 90 day supply of food and water looks like a winner. 

[Don Coatney]

Frankie, your vet told you correctly. Having worked most of my life in the food industry I have learned that mice can flatten themselves out and squeeze through a crack the size of a pencil. Ther movement pattern once they hit either the outside or inside of a wall is to follow the wall. So always place the bait, traps, etc. directly against the wall.

 

Visit to my step son story.

 

This past week I made a critical mistake of booking an off brand Motel room on line at one of the advertised cheap (think Star Trek here) hotel booking agents. Got what I thought was a great price and the linked, on line Motel pictures looked too good to be true. Well they were too good to be true. We arrived in the middle of a rain downpour. Checked in and went to our room.

 

My 5 year grandaughter from my other step son calls any Hotel/Motel  a Hoe-N-Tell and (my wife and I laugh and take that as a Whore-&-Tell) but in this case she was right.

 

We unloaded in the rainstorm and were unpacking soaking wet. I suddenly heard my wife screaming. She observed a mouse run across the wall behind the bed. Before I could react she saw another do the same thing. Then she looked at the floor near the foot of the bed and saw a toad hopping across the floor. No fun at all. I called the manager and told him exactly what he could do with his zoo and we left. Went back to my sons and spent the night there.

[DCurrent]

Steel wool placed in an active mouse hole does indeed detour the mouse from entering again into that hole.

[BigDaddyO]

I also serve a very well stocked buffet of 'critter killer' similar to DeCon in several strategic locations, just to be on the safe side.

I will say that since I put the sulfer in the garage I haven't had to replenish the bait nearly as much as before.

Edited June 1, 2013 by BigDaddyO

[Scruffy49]

Osage oranges under or in the vehicle works sometimes, and other times the mice eat them. I was having a bad infestation with the 69 D100 until I rolled it away from the horse paddock. Seems a snake has taken up residence under it now, no more mice. The 49 has an open floor currently, but with no upholstery and no fresh wiring, I'm not overly concerned with it. Other than the mahogany wasps and baby copperhead that have taken up residence...

[RobertKB]

People claim it is an old wives' tale, but I use original Irish Spring soap in all my vehicles and have never had a mouse problem. I also put it in my old motorhome, which is parked in the country over the winter, and never had a problem. Works for me.

 

Mouse traps in the garage have caught a few that stray in there.

[JerseyHarold]

I've been reading this thread and, until this afternoon, didin't have anything to add.  That all changed a few hours ago.  We pushed my '52 Cambridge out of our back garage to get it started, and there was a lump of  mouse nest hanging right in the center of the headlining.  When I pulled it off, there was a nicely chewed hole in the cloth under it.  The car has been in this garage for 15 years with no issues like this.  Looks like I have to take some action here.

Edited June 2, 2013 by JerseyHarold