Mouse in vehicle

[ThosL]

I apparently have a mouse that has been in my Subaru, not sure if it is still active in there.  Advice?  I have tried mouse traps without catching anything.  It gnawed away on the foam driver's side seat, a 4X6 inch section of the seat.  Where would these buggers hide?

[TKFlight]

Possibly in the dash? Mice can hide just about anywhere don't rule anything out. Have you driven it recently?

[1 Lucky Texan]

peanuts/peanut butter is about the best attractant. better than cheese.

 

I've read they like to set-up shop in the a/c-heating ductwork.

 

once you confirm they are out (sounds like there is some nesting somewhere - maybe outside the vehicle) you could get some snake sheds (someone who keeps a snake, or a pet store or the local zoo) and or some "clumps" from a cat box under the car - re-fresh occasionally - may help keep them out.

[1 Lucky Texan]

Possibly in the dash? Mice can hide just about anywhere don't rule anything out. Have you driven it recently?

 

yep, my co-worker raises snakes and has raised his own mice and rats. He says mice can get their entire bodies thru a hole a little more than 1/4" in dia!

[spazomatic]

Id set up several traps ASAP. The old style Victor spring traps. superglue a reeses peanut butter chip onto the trigger, instead of smearing on peanut butter. works like a charm. And if its a chipmunk, use a rat trap...theyre too tough to get caught by a moustrap.

Peppermint oil supposedly will drive them off too

[Rooster2]

peanuts/peanut butter is about the best attractant. better than cheese.

 

I've read they like to set-up shop in the a/c-heating ductwork.

 

once you confirm they are out (sounds like there is some nesting somewhere - maybe outside the vehicle) you could get some snake sheds (someone who keeps a snake, or a pet store or the local zoo) and or some "clumps" from a cat box under the car - re-fresh occasionally - may help keep them out.

+1 on using peanut butter as bait on a mouse trap. I have never found anything better. My guess is the seat is gnawed away with the foam and seat cover material missing. If so,  that material is being used by mice to build a nest inside your car.  I say MICE, because mice don't live alone. There are always 2 or more around somewhere. Set multiple traps, bet you catch more than one mouse.

[xdeadeye1]

Lock the cat in the car.

[mikaleda]

 

Lock the cat in the car.

That would be worse than having the mouse in the car.

[hogweed]

Tomcat makes a kit that has a couple glue traps and a 'live' catch mechanism. in that package is this green bait gel that is 50x better than anything i've ever seen. the mice in my shop gnawed the top off the bottle to get at it when i accidentally left it out (closed).....it seems it is like crack to them!

 

http://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2660318

 

throw that in the center of the glue trap and he'll be stuck there in the morning.

Edited November 18, 2014 by hogweed

[idosubaru]

peanut butter yes. 

 

the only drawback is they can lick it off and not trigger the trap and lick it off the center of glue traps without touching the glue.  if that happens, set the glue traps high or in a way they can't sit horizontally next to it and lean over without stepping on it, if it's up high they'll have to crawl up on it.  i just did this last week actually.  they were cleaning off the center of the glue trap so i put it up on a rock - got him the next day.

 

or maybe even getting rat traps would work - the center being too far away for them to lick?

 

they can also access the car remotely - are there places close to where you're parking that have mice?  they can get into the habit of accessing the car for food (if you eat in it or have kids that drop food/crumbs everwhere) or for nesting material.

 

if you're parking close to a barn, porch, nearly anywhere that affords mice a place to reside....set traps there as well.

maybe even try parking elsewhere to disrupt their habit of accessing the vehicle.

[idosubaru]

nice feedback on that gel!  i'll look into that!

[Ibreakstuff]

You could do the old suicide trick, pump the exhaust gas into the garage for a few hours. Try not to kill yourself in the process.

Nothing survives the summer in my storage unit.. mice, spiders, and moths all succumb to the heat. I prefer to have a car survive the summer in the box before working on them lol.

[1 Lucky Texan]

You could do the old suicide trick, pump the exhaust gas into the garage for a few hours. Try not to kill yourself in the process.

 

Nothing survives the summer in my storage unit.. mice, spiders, and moths all succumb to the heat. I prefer to have a car survive the summer in the box before working on them lol.

 

lol! running the lawnmower would take half the time even though it's a much smaller engine - no emissions controls!

[Bushwick]

In Highschool, a buddy's brother had a snake that he fed mice to. One night I was in the kitchen and a mouse escaped it's execution chamber and was scurrying across the floor. A 2nd buddy was with me and we caught it, then I decided as a joke it'd be funny to put it in my 1st buddy's dad's car It lived in there for almost 2 weeks before getting detected LMAO

[hogweed]

You could do the old suicide trick, pump the exhaust gas into the garage for a few hours. Try not to kill yourself in the process.

 

Nothing survives the summer in my storage unit.. mice, spiders, and moths all succumb to the heat. I prefer to have a car survive the summer in the box before working on them lol.

i prefer to not have a dead mouse hiding in my defroster vent

[TKFlight]

Peanut butter is good but have had times that the mice have licked it clean like said above. One of my friends had a mouse get out of a box from the local pet store, to feed to his snake, next day he went to go to work it came out of the dash and crawled up his leg. Started shaking his leg when the mouse fell off he stomped on it.

[1 Lucky Texan]

My coworker who raised rodents for snake feeding says mice are MUCH more likely to bite you than rats.

 

You don't really want to mess around with wild rodents. They can carry Hanta Virus and other nasty diseases.

[TKFlight]

My coworker who raised rodents for snake feeding says mice are MUCH more likely to bite you than rats.

 

I believe it, I've seen mice bite snakes right on the nose. Making the snake not want to eat. Hopefully he gets this solved because I would freaked out driving around knowing there's a mouse in the car.

[hogweed]

 

I believe it, I've seen mice bite snakes right on the nose. Making the snake not want to eat. Hopefully he gets this solved because I would freaked out driving around knowing there's a mouse in the car.

my friend had a 13' python and he would knock the mice unconscious before putting them in the cage because they could really hurt the snake if they were alive.

[1 Lucky Texan]

my friend had a 13' python and he would knock the mice unconscious before putting them in the cage because they could really hurt the snake if they were alive.

 

that size snake should be eating rats - maybe rabbits. But yeah, not uncommon to disorient a food animal before offering it.

[TKFlight]

I understand the practice, after the snake was bit on the nose the mouse was knocked unconscious or dead. Very scary when the snake isn't eating they are really finicky when something like that happens.

[ThosL]

You don't want animals to die in cars where you can't find them.  I don't know if it is still in there.  I drive the vehicle every day, and sometimes hear what could be scurrying critters or fluid transfer in/around the engine, etc..  Thanks for the suggestions.  Probably the best idea is mousetraps with PB.  I would get into my car in the morning and see fresh gnaw from the seat foam rubber strewn around.  I probably should replace the driver's seat.  

[spazomatic]

The old style Victor spring traps. superglue a reeses peanut butter chip onto the trigger, instead of smearing on peanut butter.

Im tellin you guys...the technique of gluing a chip on instead of using regular peanut butter works extremely well. One little nibble is all they get. Ive caught 8 mice on the same trap without having to put a new chip on it.

[porcupine73]

I've had great results with those old Victor mouse traps but the ones with the extended yellow triggers. I smear PB on it but then also put one peanut in the shell onto the trigger with a twist tie, they always fall for that. Another one that works amazingly well but its definitely not 'live catch' is the peanut butter in a bucket. I.e. a 2 gallon or 5 gallon bucket with a few inches of water or antifreeze in the bottom. Then you put a piece of wood or something as a ramp. The mice come up the ramp and hop into the bucket to get the peanut butter. A friend caught 20+ in a bucket in a single night in his old farmhouse basement.

 

Supposedly they really hate the smell of fabric sheets for the dryer. I used to get the stinkiest fabric softener sheets I could find (and wow do they make some nasty ones!) and put those all around under the hood for winter.

Edited November 19, 2014 by porcupine73

[turbosubarubrat]

Id set up several traps ASAP. The old style Victor spring traps. superglue a reeses peanut butter chip onto the trigger, instead of smearing on peanut butter. works like a charm. And if its a chipmunk, use a rat trap...theyre too tough to get caught by a moustrap.

Peppermint oil supposedly will drive them off too

I had a mouse trap set and caught a chipmunk instead(landed straight on its head). Which is good since i usually have to get them and squirels with my break barrel pellet gun.