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Random Orbital Bob
Established Member
Bizarre, I've not heard that happening before and I live in a rural area and also have cars on the drive constantly. Ironically my garage is full of the little blighters. I use the bog standard Tom n Jerry style spring traps baited with peanut butter. They would work fine for you. I would place one each night before retiring just tucked in by the tyres because they like cover when they feed. What you should find is the peanut butter will be considerably more attractive than some smelly old hose and they'll go for the traps first. If peanut butter doesn't work try fruit n nut chocolate, they love that too and also I've had great success with good old fashioned cheddar pushed home on to the baiting pin. Not pretty when you come to empty them but you're clearly infested so you need to take decisive action.
Mark A
Established Member
Get a cat
No skills
Established Member
I read in autocar (or maybe auto express ??) that there are some plastics being used in cars that are based on vegetable oils and are quite attractive/edible for rodents.
I love most wildlife aswell Brian, besides rats and mice and other vermin. Personally I put mouse traps down and save yourself from more costly repair bills 
sounds harsh but they've got plenty of other stuff they could entertain themselves with besides your motor !
Coley
Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk
sounds harsh but they've got plenty of other stuff they could entertain themselves with besides your motor !Coley
Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk
blackrodd
Established Member
Here's a u tube vid on the subject of mice in yer motor, This Bloke uses mothballs whole and watered down mothballs,
Which is in keeping with you're capture and release preference.
Regards Rodders
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7h6MHjepmA
Which is in keeping with you're capture and release preference.
Regards Rodders
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7h6MHjepmA
paulm
IG paulm_outdoors
We've had similar problems in the past, even found eaten hazelnut shells from a nearby hedgerow on top of the wife's car's engine block where they must have been enjoying the warmth of the engine as well as chewing the insulation !
Some minor issues on the jeep also, parked elsewhere on the drive.
Didn't find a solution, but didn't seem to become a major problem thankfully.
Cheers, Paul
Some minor issues on the jeep also, parked elsewhere on the drive.
Didn't find a solution, but didn't seem to become a major problem thankfully.
Cheers, Paul
Random Orbital Bob
Established Member
Claymore":sobcwu8f said:
I know just how you feel with respect to nature. I also hate taking such drastic action against the little tykes. But allow me to convey my salutary lesson that led me to my attitude today.
In 1990 we bought out first house with a garden, a 16th century cottage. It had half an acre of land and a double length garage. fabulous old building which was close to condemnable. Was my first major house renovation project. One Sunday morning lie in we heard little noises above the bedroom ceiling and suspected a rodent. Few weeks later I found tell tale droppings in the kitchen. Few weeks after that I just happened to have emptied one of those steep sided plastic Addis kitchen style bins which was in my workshop. It had no bin bag in and was next to my bench. I went in to do something and heard a scratching sound, hey presto, a house mouse has fallen from my workbench into the bin and couldn't climb out with the steep slick sides. A real cutie I thought. So me and the Missus coo'd over it and generally went all gooey at the lovely little mousey wousey! I took it a mile or so in the car and let it go on the assumption if you let it go close by it'll just come back.
Next week, there is increasing evidence of rodent activity so this time I deliberately leave that bin near my workbench and next morning....3 mice have fallen into it!!
Off I go on the merry go round of dropping them far from home.
It then dawned on me the following morning as we heard, yet again the patter of tiny feet in the loft above our bedroom ceiling, these weren't a few cute individuals with red spotted handkerchief, this was a veritable army of vermin. I checked my fishing tackle round about that time as the glorious 16th was approaching.....cork handles eaten, rod bags eaten, reel cases eaten, tackle bag full of holes. A good £300 in damages.
I bought my first Tom n Jerry type trap and I kid you not what happened next. I baited it with cheese (didn't know about peanut butter then) and placed it near my workbench in the garage. By the time I had walked from the garage into the kitchen I heard it spring!! Went back...one dead mouse! Went back to the hardware store and bought 9 more and set them all.
In the morning all 10 traps were full....whats more the bait had gone, which meant that surviving members of what was now clearly a veritable army were eating the cheese from the corpses of their fallen brethren!!
I continued to set the traps and we had all 10 full every night for the first 3 days. It then started to be 5 in a night, 4, 3. In the end we caught 70 mice before the traps would remain empty for days on end, underlining the population was decimated.
We left it a couple of years and then it started all over again. I read up about mice and remembered experiments my sister did in mouse breeding for a school project...they breed fast and have a lot of babies. So the population can re-explode dam fast. They have no scruples whatsoever about taking the er....Cornish route to family love!! So brothers and sisters soon become Mums n Dads....just like Truro
So now I understand with mice that's it about little and often. Keep the traps baited at all times and the population will never get going and you'll save yourself a lot of money. Ignore them by thinking they're dealt with and in no time it'll be like the Pied Piper!
In your case its just outside not in the garage or loft. But do place the traps behind the wheels or they wont take the bait.
Good luck.
RogerS
Established Member
Claymore":378smzkg said:
Interesting you mention humane traps as in my experience they are anything but. Never caught one and found it alive. Instead it clearly had a very distressed end trying to find a way out. Much prefer a quick kill in a trap.
Maltesers are another favourite of the little devils.
We had a 1/4" or thereabouts hole beside the sink waste pipe in our last house, and the beggars got in that way. We caught 18 in standard traps, and our old blind tomcat accounted for three more before I found the hole by the sink.
We had a 1/4" or thereabouts hole beside the sink waste pipe in our last house, and the beggars got in that way. We caught 18 in standard traps, and our old blind tomcat accounted for three more before I found the hole by the sink.
Chrispy
Established Member
Not sure about the details but do seem to remember a project our school did for a TV programme, the theory was that some mice wouldn't cross a white line on the ground, I think it needed to be about 2" wide, could you try painting one around your car?
porker
Established Member
I use an electronic trap in my loft. I also have a CCTV camera looking at the trap so I can see if I have one without having to go up there all the time. No mess and the film shows it kills them instantly. I put them on our lawn and the Red Kites get an easy breakfast.
Random Orbital Bob
Established Member
porker":1hasuwkb said:
Brilliant =D>
Now that's what I call combining Tom n Jerry with the digital age
And to top it off, the silver lining to the gruesome start is the (once very rare indeed until the RSPB released them near Stokenchurch) Red Kites get a hunt free meal. Well done that man.mailee
Established Member
We did have a mouse infestation a few years ago in our home, I did cure it by using poison in the end as we used the traps and couldn't keep up with them. I baited mine with chocolate spread they seemed to like that. A work mate of mine didn't like to kill them so used to use the humane traps that just lock them inside. He had some in his garage so set a trap for them and went away for the weekend, when he returned there had been a heavy downpour and his garage had flooded along with the humane mouse trap complete with mouse. :lol:
If you put traps outside place them in a tube ( ceramic drain pipes are good) to prevent birds etc falling foul of them. The same can be used for bait.
I get Wood Mice entering my Shop ( double garage with close fitting metal door) every now and then.
Fitted rubber seals and place timber batons inside but they still get in!
I keep a tray with bait inside all the time to tell if they've penetrated the defences and then the traps come out. A couple of yrs ago without the seals I killed about 30 - last year with them just two.
So far none this year but the weather hasn't got that cold yet,
Thankfully my car which is outside has never been touched by them.
Rod
I get Wood Mice entering my Shop ( double garage with close fitting metal door) every now and then.
Fitted rubber seals and place timber batons inside but they still get in!
I keep a tray with bait inside all the time to tell if they've penetrated the defences and then the traps come out. A couple of yrs ago without the seals I killed about 30 - last year with them just two.
So far none this year but the weather hasn't got that cold yet,
Thankfully my car which is outside has never been touched by them.
Rod
Eric The Viking
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As you can see from my avatar, we have them. That one ran about four feet up a rose bush to hang out by its hind legs to get at a block of bird seed. We were amazed that it worked out the route.
It's said they can get through any crack that's the thickness of a school pencil. Their skulls can distort, my understanding being that the bony plates don't grow together as ours do but are "hinged" by cartilage.
When next door but one had active cats we had no problems, but now, although small birds have reappeared in the garden, I have seen more mice about, and it continues to cause concern.
I use the traditional spring traps discussed. Bait is usually a blob of peanut butter or chocolate spread wrapped in clingfilm, so they have to tug at it (can't remember who taught me that trick). Set traps close to walls, as well as under wheels, furniture, etc., as they prefer to run round the periphery of any open space rather than crossing it.
With the car problem, it might be worth setting traps nearby, round buildings, etc, to see if you can get a clue where they are coming from.
At this time of year they're loking for snug places for nests, as well as food, so I am extra vigilant. Our back door is south facing, and it's tempting to leave it open in the afternoon sun, but they aren't strictly nocturnal, and I have once chased one over the threshold.
The inside back doormat tucks in, right up to the rubber threshold strip under the door, and the edge of the mat has been chewed. The gap above the rubber strip must be tiny, and they forced their way through to get as far as the mat.
It's like foxes: Townies have no idea...
It's said they can get through any crack that's the thickness of a school pencil. Their skulls can distort, my understanding being that the bony plates don't grow together as ours do but are "hinged" by cartilage.
When next door but one had active cats we had no problems, but now, although small birds have reappeared in the garden, I have seen more mice about, and it continues to cause concern.
I use the traditional spring traps discussed. Bait is usually a blob of peanut butter or chocolate spread wrapped in clingfilm, so they have to tug at it (can't remember who taught me that trick). Set traps close to walls, as well as under wheels, furniture, etc., as they prefer to run round the periphery of any open space rather than crossing it.
With the car problem, it might be worth setting traps nearby, round buildings, etc, to see if you can get a clue where they are coming from.
At this time of year they're loking for snug places for nests, as well as food, so I am extra vigilant. Our back door is south facing, and it's tempting to leave it open in the afternoon sun, but they aren't strictly nocturnal, and I have once chased one over the threshold.
The inside back doormat tucks in, right up to the rubber threshold strip under the door, and the edge of the mat has been chewed. The gap above the rubber strip must be tiny, and they forced their way through to get as far as the mat.
It's like foxes: Townies have no idea...
Phil Pascoe
Established Member
My mother went on holiday, so we checked the house every few days. One day a squirrel fell down the chimney, and with all windows being locked, couldn't get out. She collected Doulton, Dresden, Meissen etc. - the squirrel had leapt from shelf to shelf to mantelpiece and back. I've never seen so much smashed china. As a parting gesture it chewed the meeting rails of all the iroko windows.
