Damn Mice!

OldBlue61 · July 18, 2017

Like others had mentioned before, I had a visitor. My truck sat in the pole barn for a week, unused while we were on vacation. I did an oil change / service last night, and found this. 30 seconds with my Shop Vac, and all evidence of the critter were gone, but damn, I'm glad it didn't chew up any wiring.

Guess I better look into some preventive measures! What have you guys done?

Sierra706 · July 18, 2017

Go green. Get a cat for the barn

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It's Tim · July 18, 2017

The rodents are there because that area is attractive to them. Clean it up and eliminate their food source, they'll leave soon enough.

txab · July 18, 2017

Get a cat

Silverado Steve · July 18, 2017

Place dryer sheets in the engine bay.

Sierra706 · July 18, 2017

Place dryer sheets in the engine bay.

Those make for a great nest

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diyer2 · July 18, 2017

I have 2 rural homes. One is our main residence as of late and the other we have had for almost 20 years. Raised on a dairy farm. You have to control the population of the mice somehow IMO. Get a cat or set traps using peanut butter as bait. Please don't use poison, wild life can find the dead ones and eat them getting poisoned.

A neighbor used poison and couldn't understand the smell in his house, well the poisoned mice died in the walls.

Keagan · July 18, 2017

I have the same problem, but it's due to the empty overgrown lots or drains around us. However my 4 dogs kills everything that moves in the yard. Including birds doing low fly by.

Rat55Chevy · July 18, 2017

Dryer sheets have served me well. When I store my car a put some in the exhaust pipes, interior and in the engine compartment.

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Krusty · July 18, 2017

Like others had mentioned before, I had a visitor. My truck sat in the pole barn for a week, unused while we were on vacation. I did an oil change / service last night, and found this. 30 seconds with my Shop Vac, and all evidence of the critter were gone, but damn, I'm glad it didn't chew up any wiring.

Guess I better look into some preventive measures! What have you guys done?

They won't nest in a lighted area - next time put a drop light under the hood - LED drop light even better.

The little buggers chewed the insulation off the firewall on my 2007 Duramax and left nests like that - impossible to get in and replace.

Got a true barn find back in 1985 and the car hardly had any seat cushions left - filled a whole 55 gallon garbage can with mice nests. 1958 Ford retractable hardtop was the find...........

seamus2154 · July 18, 2017

I have 2 rural homes. One is our main residence as of late and the other we have had for almost 20 years. Raised on a dairy farm. You have to control the population of the mice somehow IMO. Get a cat or set traps using peanut butter as bait. Please don't use poison, wild life can find the dead ones and eat them getting poisoned.

A neighbor used poison and couldn't understand the smell in his house, well the poisoned mice died in the walls.

This is so true and great advice. I have learned the same over the years. I use industrial glue traps bought at commercial cleaning supplies stores. They are 4 times the size and twice as sticky. Peanut butter is the best bait. I check them everyday as I don't want them suffering there and then I drowned them in a 5 gallon bucket of water.

They can do incredible damage. My buddy just bought a new Porsche 911 and has been working a lot, not using it. You can't imagine the bill he got from them eating into a couple of harnesses. We live in a city in Florida heat so you dont need to be rural to have this problem.

tootall87 · July 18, 2017

Build a barn owl nesting box and place it on your property if you live within their territory.

https://www.barnowlbox.com/how-to-build-or-buy-a-barn-owl-nest-box/

OldBlue61 · July 18, 2017

I used to use moth balls in my 2 car garage at the old house and never had a problem, but this pole barn is 30' x 60', making it a little tougher to manage it because of the size. A cat wouldn't work right now, because of the dogs (though I do plan on getting a barn cat before too long). I like the owl idea and the light as well. Not sure if there are owls any in my area or not - that is something worth looking into. Thanks guys.