Meeces to Pieces

[FTM1]

Originally Posted by brich

Was this Client #9 and wonder woman? I thought that happened in a hotel room?

The cost of that event would have been in Wonder Womans price range for 30 mins if we had to pay for it.

[Kellcut]

I've had issues with mice in the trunk also. Little suckers.

We have 3 cats. Over the past 4 days, we've also had 4 dead mice.

Yick.

[OhioJeffro]

Originally Posted by KE5TCG

That's always better than finding half of a mouse, which I see occasionally on the fan belt pulleys. Sad to see those cute little plague carrying vermin meet such an untimely demise. Better than getting eaten alive by a snake though, I guess.

Had a ground hog do this in my wife's old sable. Stayed there for 2+ weeks and the oil change place wouldn't do my wife's oil because the decaying carcus was apparently a little too much for them. Guess who got to pry the thing out of there?

[X-Brawn]

Packrats did damage to TWO of my parents' vehicles. They had made a nest in the F-150 they traded in and tore up some of the under-hood lining. The truck had a tendency to not given driven or moved much. The total damage was around $300 to repair and clean up.

On my "Mom's" Camry they chewed up the wires for the ECU module and the dealership wanted to charge her $1000 for a new harness. She got it done at a different place for a repair at $250.

If you have a vehicle that doesn't get driven much, some critters like to make nests out of them or in them out here. Including the slithering kind that like to crawl into warm places.

[Tcape]

Be VERY careful around those meeces! Everyone who has problems with rodents should be FULLY AWARE of the Hantavirus. It's deadly, and is spread by rodents. You can check it out on the CDC website..... http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/diseases/hanta/hps/ Good for everyone to know.
Tom

[Pug]

Quite a few years ago, I had a mouse problem with my van that would sit unused for days/weeks. The fields and woods in close proximity to the van weren't good enough "digs" for these meeces.
I tried the conventional spring traps, as well as the "sticky" ones, and they were ineffective, messy, and sometimes hard to find after they'd done their job. The little critters would get caught by their leg and drag the trap to their hideout, even when I'd put the trap inside a litter box to try to thwart their efforts.
So I decided to go to "the drawing board" (my collection of "what-nots" in the garage) and design my own, more effective "PC" Mousetrap. The "PC" actually is an abbreviation for "polycarbonate" and not "politically correct", but I guess it could be considered a more humane method of pest control. And no mouse has ever chewed through this stuff!
I used rejected parts that were made at my work, that were destined for the trash, molded from Lexan. The "housing" is clear (end cut-out), and the door and base (a flat cover cut in half) are a "smoked" color.
The door drops down though guides I made using cable-clamps.
A toggle-bolt spring served well as the "arming mechanism/bait holder".
For a "keeper" to keep the spring under tension, I found an old electrical plug and pulled-out one of it's prongs, bent it, and with a small brad, secured it loosely in place next to the toggle-spring.
And a fishing lure steel-leader worked great for the wire I needed to attach to the door-pin.

Here's how it works:
Mouse enters the trap.
Mouse moves cheese/peanut butter attached to the "keeper".
Toggle-spring releases tension, pulling wire attached to pin.
Pin pulls-out of hole drilled into door.
Door drops, and it's trapped like a rat!... errrr... mouse.

It can remain alive in the trap (instead of dieing and stinking-up the vehicle) until retrieved, at which time I can exercise my options for disposal of the critter.

I was going to try to explain it's construction, but figured "a picture is worth a thousand words", so instead, I've included some that I took.

In about an hour, I had a sturdy, reliable, reusable, neat, no-cost solution to my van's rodent problem!

p.s. the ol' addage, "build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door", has yet to materialize.

Necessity was the mouse in detention.

[Pug]

more pics...

[curban0520]

I went to move my propane grill from its location on the driveway next to my truck, to put it in the back yard. I opened it and saw a nest and figured damn birds built another nest, then i noticed two eyes looking at me and it was a field rat probably from the wooded area behind my house. I was showing the neighbor and he pulled off the grate and the rat jumped out, ran right toward the neighbor that jumped back startled and the damn thing then darted straight into my garage, never to be seen again. I put out poison and traps, but I suspect the rat is inside one of the boxes in my garage or it already is back outside. I was pissed though and I am thinking of just tossing the grill out. I have had to take it all apart and pressure wash it because of the birds, and now its full of rat poo, ewww.

[X-Brawn]

Originally Posted by curban0520

I went to move my propane grill from its location on the driveway next to my truck, to put it in the back yard. I opened it and saw a nest and figured damn birds built another nest, then i noticed two eyes looking at me and it was a field rat probably from the wooded area behind my house. I was showing the neighbor and he pulled off the grate and the rat jumped out, ran right toward the neighbor that jumped back startled and the damn thing then darted straight into my garage, never to be seen again. I put out poison and traps, but I suspect the rat is inside one of the boxes in my garage or it already is back outside. I was pissed though and I am thinking of just tossing the grill out. I have had to take it all apart and pressure wash it because of the birds, and now its full of rat poo, ewww.

Nah, that just means you'll have extra "flavor" added when you go to grill your next steak.

[Milkman]

I had the same problem in my trunk. I opened the trunk one day to put groceries in and saw the little fellow staring at me. He made a dash up past the spare tire tray and I couldn't find him. I cleaned a nest out of the trunk and put a live trap in there and caught him that night. The kleenex it used for a nest came from a box in the passenger cabin. The mouse had free range access from front to back through air vents apparently.

The dealer said that a mouse can get in through the fresh air vents for the passenger cabin and then move to the trunk. He suggested I leave the ventilation system on recirculate when parked if I am in a grassy area. I never remember to, but have not had another one since. According to our PCO guy at work a mouse can fit through any hole the size of a pencil.

The live trap was to prevent an injured mouse from dying in the vehicle some where. I am pretty sure it didn't survive my release process