I have been storing my fair weather cars and motorcycle in a portable garage as I am building a new permanent one. And as the weather has gotten colder (Maine - it tends to be a bit nippy here in the winter), the mice have decided that my shelter is also suitable for them. A favorite dinner location for them is the on the intake manifold where they leave droppings and chewed up acorns. That is barely tolerable but the final straw was their recently building a cozy nest in one of my exhaust tail pipes. A drive last weekend (which I try to do throughout the winter weather permitting) resulted in a smokey trail and the smell of roasting leaves as I motored down the road. Rapid acceleration from a stop sign finally expelled the darn thing!
I'm now concerned that they will decide to start chewing on my canvas top or new interior. They've already chewed holes through the cover I keep on my other car.
What home or commercial remedies do people have? I drive one of the cars throughout the winter so I don't want to try to seal all openings (which we all know is probably futile). Pulling caps from the exhaust and intake openings would be a pain in the butt. And having a large area to cover within my portable garage, is there a way to discourage the little buggers from the entire area? For those who prefer the "natural" approach: No, I won't leave my cats outdoors, and I would prefer to keep the local predators (foxes) out of the garage! I'm interested in hearing all other ideas.
Thanks,
Tony
out in the semi-rural woods of Maine
They don't like moth balls.
Ron
Unfortunately, neither do I.
When I got my X back from the interior shop, I had a nice surprise waiting for me. I was getting something out of the trunk and a nice fat mouse jumped up at me. Now, I am not really afraid of mice but this little guy startled me to say the least. He scrambled down one of the open frame rails and I never saw him again that night (maybe I scared him as well). I set out some traps with peanut butter and finally caught the little bugger. I later found his deserted nest in the front trunk area. I kinda felt sorry for the little guy, oh well.
I am doing some chassis repair on my Land Rover, installing a new rear cross member and getting rid of rust. When I cut off the old cross member I found this...
http://bikesnrovers.gunsandrovers.yuku.com/fs/view/fid/105164 link to image since I can't get Chrome to work...
The rear wire harness is s'pose to run through the frame and out of a hole in the top of the rail. When I ran the new harness I was never able to get it pass through all the way, now I know why.
Because we have two very curious dogs I won't use poison, but I have had pretty good success with the electric deterrents... the ones that you plug and the sound drives the critters away.
You may want to take a look at our Winter Storage article: http://classicmotorsports.net/articles/long-winters-nap/
Personally, I'm a fan of mothballs. Bugs and rodents hate 'em, and they're cheap. Not good if you're sensitive to the smell or have pets around, though.
I have been using "anti-static" dryer sheets with good success...laying a few sheets strategically in the car seems to keep the mice away. Mouse traps placed around the garage would also help...
I had a similar problem and I bought several of those plug in ultrasonic repellants. This seems to have worked so far. Funny thing: I have a family of skinks or salamanders (black with thin yellow stripes and a couple have bright blue tails) that live around the Garage Majal and the repellants don't seem to have affected them.
I have an ultrasonic type as well in my garage and have yet to see a mouse since using it.
By the by, Mickey Mouse was 80 this year.
Cheers
Ron
So I guess those ultrasonic gizmos work after all.
geoffl
New Reader
11/25/08 8:33 p.m.
Bounce dryer sheets and a few bars of Irish Spring soap put in trunk and car works great
Brett:
There was a radio station in Northern Canada that used to transmit the frequency so folks could sit outside during bug season with a portable radio tuned in.
Ron
