Mice/rodents

[tbwinner]

I got a stubborn mouse or two. Thankfully in my garage only though it is attached to the house so I want to get rid of before further problems.

Last year when car was in for service, the cabin air filter compartment was full of dog food and rodent droppings. Cleaned it out and set a rodent deterrent spray. We now keep the dog food in an airtight sealed box.

Getting cold again and noticed activity and back in the car again. Set various traps and glue boards throughout garage. Baited with peanut butter. The MFer is getting the bait off without triggering the traps. It's mind boggling. Got a live trap box and electric shock box too. Nothing. Leaving car outside for now too.

What else can I do? I've been avoiding poison because I don't want it coming into the house somehow and dying. But maybe that's what it'll take?

[Jeff P]

You don't want poison.

I'm assuming you have a dog because you mentioned dog food.

The last thing you want is your dog somehow chomping down on a poisoned rodent.

A guy in my neighborhood who lives a few blocks away hired an exterminator for a gopher problem back in September.

He later mentioned he found some dead blackbirds in his yard.

A day or two after that I was doing an early morning run past his house. He lives uphill from me. I do that route once a week because of the slight elevation change.

I stopped in my tracks after spotting a dead hawk on the edge of his lawn beneath a massive white oak in his front yard next to the sidewalk.

I sent him a text and continued on my run.

Saw him a day or two later and he said the pest control co. had injected strychnine pellets into the ground at various points in his yard.

He told me never again.

Because of the dead birds in his yard.

They don't have a dog. But they have a couple of cats.


-jp
.

[tbwinner]

good point Jeff. I do watch my dogs when I let them out in the yard but don't want to take that risk as they'd be quick to get at a carcass. I imagine they might be coming under the deck and shed area in backyard too.

I will just have to keep trying with traps and different setups. I've scoured the Internet and most of my research shows I'm doing the right thing. I have an electrical conduit from the garage to the house that has a gap I need to fill in with spray foam to avoid any unwanted entrances. Just very frustrating!!

[OntheRail]

Small light mouse I'd guess. Take some chalk line string or some butcher string... wrap/tie it to the trigger then add the peanut butter. In the have a heart trap put the peanut butter on bread and stick it to the roof above the trip plate so it has to stand on it. Either one will have mickey in a day or two.

[davew]

Irish spring bar soap repulses them (to keep out of car).

You probably want to kill them. There are stick 'em pads (Tomcat glue traps is an example) that they walk on and can't get off. Then you pick it up and throw it in garbage.

[MargieRose]

"Glue" anything used to kill an animal is downright brutal. Find another way.

[Inner Dirt]

Get a cat.

[Robert Fischer]

Usually every mouse you see, or know about, there's 3x or 7x or what have you.

When you wake up to a dead mouse in that trap don't throw out the trap.

[jimmyb]

They hate real peppermint oil. It worked for me, put some on cotton balls. Amazon sells a brand called Ola Prima. Just dont buy the stuff sold off a supermarket shelf. Its not the same.

[Dave Schwartz]

Originally Posted by tbwinner

I got a stubborn mouse or two. Thankfully in my garage only though it is attached to the house so I want to get rid of before further problems.

Last year when car was in for service, the cabin air filter compartment was full of dog food and rodent droppings. Cleaned it out and set a rodent deterrent spray. We now keep the dog food in an airtight sealed box.

Getting cold again and noticed activity and back in the car again. Set various traps and glue boards throughout garage. Baited with peanut butter. The MFer is getting the bait off without triggering the traps. It's mind boggling. Got a live trap box and electric shock box too. Nothing. Leaving car outside for now too.

What else can I do? I've been avoiding poison because I don't want it coming into the house somehow and dying. But maybe that's what it'll take?

Get ready for a surprise, but comprehensive car insurance will pay for this! (The car issue itself, that is.)

(Ask me how I know. LOL)
(Except for me it was cat urine back in 1992 in my brand new Dodge Stealth.)

[tbwinner]

Originally Posted by OntheRail

Small light mouse I'd guess. Take some chalk line string or some butcher string... wrap/tie it to the trigger then add the peanut butter. In the have a heart trap put the peanut butter on bread and stick it to the roof above the trip plate so it has to stand on it. Either one will have mickey in a day or two.

Good idea I'll give this a try

Originally Posted by jimmyb

They hate real peppermint oil. It worked for me, put some on cotton balls. Amazon sells a brand called Ola Prima. Just dont buy the stuff sold off a supermarket shelf. Its not the same.

Yes I read about peppermint oil. Ordered some and will give that a try too.

[tbwinner]

Originally Posted by Inner Dirt

Get a cat.

Have an indoor cat but shes useless. Maybe though that's why they're staying out of the house. If nothing else works I would seriously get an outdoor cat to control if this issue is persistent.

[Marshall Bennett]

I had a huge problem years back in my old home. I had a large wood-pile under my back deck for the fireplace. Most of it wasn't used and began rotting. Mice nested and you could see them running in the yard it got so bad. I tried cheap methods, their population only grew. Finally paid an exterminator to tackle them. He laid small poison bricks around and on the pile. Within a week they were gone. Best part is they generally go off and die away from the home. The guy told me if you have a major issue, poison is truly the only solution. Of course if the pile had been a distance from the house I could had simply burned it.
Anyway, good luck!

[xtb]

Originally Posted by Dave Schwartz

Get ready for a surprise, but comprehensive car insurance will pay for this! (The car issue itself, that is.)

(Ask me how I know. LOL)
(Except for me it was cat urine back in 1992 in my brand new Dodge Stealth.)

Same here! In 1991 a cat got in my Cutlass and pissed in it. I tried everything to clean it but eventually had to cut out a portion of the carpeting. The smell was unbearable.

[Dave Schwartz]

Originally Posted by xtb

Same here! In 1991 a cat got in my Cutlass and pissed in it. I tried everything to clean it but eventually had to cut out a portion of the carpeting. The smell was unbearable.

For me, it was one of my cats being chased by a wild manx. She jumped up on the car and let go directly into the defroster vent!

The insurance company paid to have the dealer do everything one step at a time.

After they'd spent $3k+ over the course of almost a year , they said, "We're done."

They literally replaced everything in the ventilation system except the actual air conditioner. Every bet of ducting.

Really couldn't blame them.