preparing for winter - setting mouse traps

[RichC]

It always amazes me how mice climb up tyres/ wheels /suspension etc and manage to find themselves homes in the most inaccesible ( but cosy ) places .
The one area 'finished' in my restoration was the boot . all decked out with fresh new underlay and carpet from Susan Miller just recently. All that was lying in the boot was the A4 sheet plan for the underlay which came from Susan and when i opened the boot yesterday half of it was missing !.
Taking up the floor carpet and a boot floorboard revealed a freshly made mouse nest . You can see where the other half of the underlay schematic diagram went ....
Fortunately , the bit of carpet with the nibble marks is on the inner wing well under the floor board so won't show .
The nest is in the bin, together with another i found in the pile of discarded underlay from the rebuild .
Needless to say mousetraps have been set & I'm about to go and check them out .

[Chancer]

I had put full broadsheet newspapers in the footwells to soak up water ingress, mouthfull by little mouthfull they all made their way into the boot!

I saw the mouse one day, he ran around panicking and then before my eyes squeezed himself through the smallest imaginable gap beside the upper shock absorber mounting.

[richardcox_lotus]

These kind of mousetraps are very effective....

[elanfan1]

Might be worth trying one of those Sonic repeller thingies. Basically like an alarm going off 24/7 for them but you can't hear it.

[Elanconvert]

and for heaven's sake don't make the mistake that I did........leaving a packet of M&M's behind the seat.....

fred

[RichC]

three traps set . just the one( v fat ) mouse caught last night . chocolate flavoured lure works v well .
caught dozens last year... once the mice were gone caught a few common shrews on the traps .
No shortage of natural predators ..there are cats and owls and birds of prey about .....
its in a meadow purposely managed for bees untouched by pesticides or weedkiller so it 'goes with the territory'

[john.p.clegg]

Chocolate chip cookies...caught loads with them...

John

[Elan45]

I also put old style moth balls in all my cars stored for winter. A few in the footwells, a few in the boot and a couple behind the seats. There is that naptha smell in the spring, but very seldom any mouse damage. My garage is detached and my little furry mouse hunters come into the house at night, else they become the hunted.

I put the unused balls still in the box into a ZipLoc bag and they keep nicely for next year's use.

[prezoom]

A few weeks ago I was going to join Holywood3645 for a Cars & Coffee jaunt. Up before dawn and down to the garage to fire up the Elan. It starts easily from cold, even when left sitting for a while, thank you little fuel priming pump. Started the engine and immediately scanned the gauges, only to find NO OIL pressure! Switched off in a state of shock and the mind started racing as to what may be the cause. It had good pressure when I last shut it off............. faulty gauge, stuck pressure relief valve, the oil pickup in the sump came adrift????? Waited a bit and tried it again, with the same result, followed by an immediate shut off. Well, that ended the jaunt.

Other things got in the way, so it was a couple of weeks before I raised the courage to dig into the problem. Of course the oil level had been checked right after the incident, and found to be up to the full mark. Having another oil pressure gauge, I decided to start there. Disconnected the line at the gauge and moved to the engine compartment to pull the line back through the firewall. With significantly more light, I saw the shimmer of oil on the footwell, along with some small little black things. Mouse poop? No, the bits had sharp edges, so they were not extruded. Turns out they were the result of mouse activity, only they came from the rubber grommet where the speedometer cable, water temp bourdon tube and the oil pressure line pass through the firewall. During the nibbling episode, the nylon oil pressure line was involved, thus causing the no oil pressure reading. Hope the taste of oil gave the little ba**erd a case of stomach churning. Although, finding it Tango Uniform, with XX's in its eyes would have been more pleasurable.

A new oil line was installed along with a new grommet, and all was well. I have kept the chewed grommet as a reminder of what can be expected. Also kept a portion of the damaged oil line. I found that it sticks nicely in the pressure valve of a can of brake cleaner, which allows for pointing the cleaner into nooks and crannies, where there is no room for the can and its short supplied wand.

Mouse traps and bait are good along with dryer sheets as a deterrent, but a mobile fur covered stealth terminator may be in the cards. Sadly, the last one became either a Bobcat or Coyote appetizer. Or possibly, one of the local Owls. A neighbors small dog was last seen, firmly secured in an Owls talons, disappearing over the horizon.

[RichC]

presume Tango Uniform is code for T*ts Up......
last thing you want is to breed a population of mice with a liking for motor oil

[nigelrbfurness]

We have a lot of trouble with mice, particularly damaging the upholstery of our buses. The cars they seem to leave alone, perhaps because we use them a lot. However since we started putting poison out for them the incursions have dramatically reduced. Mousetraps seemed fairly ineffective, though using a raisin seems to make the best bait.

They will get in the smallest gaps. Any kind of paper of plastic bags - especially supermarket bags - are favourites for making nests from. We keep all our rags in a locked and sealed cupboard otherwise they become mouse toilets. Falling into buckets and dying and thus creating a smelly mess is another of their favourite pastimes!

Another big problem we have is spiders - the bigger bastards can inflict a nasty bite if you aren't looking. Any suggestions for keeping them away?

[Elanconvert]

well we have a few mice around including field, wood etc. also voles and shrews........even had a vole living in the house for a while - tame!.......so my children would not allow the execution of any small furry animals ......solution - careful management of food and storage, humane traps and relocation......

fred

[Bud English]

......solution - careful management of food and storage, humane traps and relocation......

fred

...but it costs a lot to relocate, especially moving the garage and multiple projects mid completion.

[prezoom]

RichC I was just trying to keep this a family friendly site. Our female participation is woefully underrepresented with our one female poster no longer participating.

Should have added that once fixed, an early weekday morning 100 mile blast through our local mountains brought life back to my aging body.

[Certified Lotus]

I use an ultrasonic rodent deterrent device. My garage is 1000 sq feet and I have one of these on the floor in a corner facing the doors. It stays plugged in all year long and has been operating for many years. Not one single mouse in my garage. No dropings, no nests, no evidence of a single little furry creature. And I live across the street from a farm.

I also have the ones that plug into the wall outlet in other parts of the house. These don't work as well as the floor mounted version. I still set traps to make sure I get any that are deaf.

If you have dogs or cats you really can't use these, it's painful for them.