Keeping Mice out of an Truck Engine

[chelvis]

Hey Everyone,
I am going nuts dealing with deer mice in my truck. Two weeks back my 2000 Nissan Frontier started up and started to rattle and rumble like something terrible. I turned it off and started it up again and it still was bad, so I took it into the shop, I just did not have time to deal with it and I have a second car. We a week and a half later of replace wires and new parts and $2000 I got my truck back. The problem was that deer mice had been making nest and chewing on wires and what ever else they wanted. I thought great, it must be because I let it set for a few days without being ran.

I read up online and put some moth balls throughout the engine as well as putting some rat block (please don't tell me how its bad for the environment, I know trust me, I need my truck to work so its got to be done).

Well today I turn on the defroster (first time in a month or so) and the dash starts to rattle and rumble as well. I turn it off and start the fan slowly and listen, sounded like the blower fan was acting up. I take the dash apart and sure enough the dang fan is full of nuts!

Now I don't know if the nuts were in there before the repairs and my moth ball and bait attempts. I just need some input on keeping mice out of my truck! I cannot park it inside (no garage), peppermint didn't work, a light left on in the engine compartment did nothing.

 

[bfb345]

No offense you can choose what car you want and all but your first problem is its a Nissan now on to the actual help just start putting traps out the rats are atracted to the warm of your engine so put out a little card board box or some sort of hide for them and use a heat pad or light and that will atract them use poison in the hide and try parking your car in a different spot or find where they are getting in and block it also i would try using the flower trap follow their tracks and find their real nest and do something to get rid of them there poison smoke bomb fire crakers stuff like that

 

[bfb345]

and where they chew cover it in the hottest hot sauce you can find and put it on the cords and all around they will hate it

 

[Dubya]

Mothballs do nothing. I do not like poison because other animals eat the poisoned mice and get sick or die. Like the OP said, make a warm spot and put traps there. Use regular mouse traps. I bait with peanut butter and bacon because, like Elvis, the can't resist it. A cat in the garage wouldn't hurt either.

 

[chelvis]

I don't have a garage and an outdoor cat would be mt lion or coyote food. I did traps for months and they are still getting in. No electric out where the truck is so can't make a warm area. Flour will blow away to easily.

Don't knock Nissan, it has been a great truck and honestly don't know of a better small truck (don't say ford there is a reason people say Found On Road Dead).

I have tried to block off the intake area with heavy gauged wired but the pulled it off, I might have to have it welded on.

I hate to use poison but honestly it might be all I can do at this point.

 

[bfb345]

yeah yeah its just foreign cars in general lol im a dodge type of guy but any ways try the hot sauce they will hate that make sure it is really really hot sauce to the point were it will burn there little mouths

 

[chelvis]

We used hot sauce at work to try and keep them out of the office, didn't seem to work there. Will give it a shot but deer mice are not your normal house mouse or woodrat they seem to like odd things.

 

[bfb345]

hmmm odd you could try a bucket of sugar water make sure there is a way in although once they fall in no way out

 

[Dubya]

The bucket thing works, but I would bait the bucket with Frumunda cheese myself. make sure the bucket or barrel is too deep for them to jump out and you will have free tegu food.

 

[chelvis]

With the bucket the key is to have six inches of water at the bottom. Makes it harder to jump and then they drown. It does really work. If I didn't live in a hunta virus zone I would use them as tegu food. Here hoping hot sauce works.

 

[bfb345]

yeah i never feel comfortable with feeding wild stuff you never really know

 

[Dubya]

Now I feel nervous about giving Gwangi wild caught stuff. Too many pesticides. But he is moving to an outdoor enclosure . Mice will get in at some point.

 

[bfb345]

yeah lol it just worries me though although i would be more worried about birds dubya

 

[chelvis]

The hunta is more for my safety, don't think that can be given to reptiles. There are some parisites that could be in wild caught food, but I do give the tegus some wild turkey when I hit them.

 

[bfb345]

yeah i was thinking of giving him some venison this year or if i get a turkey at my grandpas he has a herd of 20 to 30 huge toms that go around every year

 

[laurarfl]

I feel for you, Chelvis. I have rats in my garage and in my attic. We found one nest recently and destroyed it.

 

[chelvis]

#?*!*#!#&@*&#&^*&@#

I am done this this guys! Went out this morning and the little *beeps* chewed through more wiring.

I slathered all the wires in ghost pepper hot sauce (had some on hand from a practical joke over April fools day. They ate at the starter wires right at the connection point, not somewhere I want to put hot sauce.

I got it all connected to get to work but that is it! I am hitting the hardware store, pickup up some giant destroyers and setting those off under the care. I will deal with replacing all the air filters afterwards, seems less of a hassle then dealing with repairs each morning! Then I am using rat bait, sorry I love the ecosystem, heck I work in wildlife conservation but I can't do my job without my truck.

For those not familiar with giant destroyers they are a poison gas bomb that is used for gophers, plan is to roll up and the windows tape them from the inside and the outside, tape up the doors, remove all the filters and cover the truck with a tarp, the light about 5 of the suckers and roll them under the truck. My only worry is if these will hurt the engine... grrr.

 

[Dubya]

They will not hurt the engine as long as the car is turned off. Cars are immune to poison gas.

 

[bfb345]

yeah you should be good worried for who you pranked with that hot sauce lol

 

[Roadkill]

I don't know about mice, but in the interior of British Columbia, porcupines are often considered a similar problem when you leave your vehicle unattended for extended periods of time (hiking and such are very popular, people will leave their vehicles for a week or so). Many recommend wrapping the base of your vehicle with chicken wire while you're away. This won't work with mice, but you might try hardware cloth with more closely spaced wire.