Mice, how to stop them?

Might I suggest a cat?

 

There's an area under the hood on the left, at the base of the window, that you'll need to cover with some 1/4" wire mesh. Remove the cover, vacuum thoroughly, and spray everything with disinfectant first. Having a cat around might not hurt.

 

I had mice get into my house. What a nightmare. Prius (under 5K miles at the time) was in the garage when I detected a "distinct" odor. I was lucky, they just left thier "sign" on my engine block. Vaccumed, then wiped with damp cloth several times, followed by pine-sol.

If you have a garage, make sure it is SEALED, especially the door. This was our primary point of entry, one of the springs was streatched, so it left a 1/2" gap on one side. When sealing the home the 1/4" wire mesh is the tool of choice. They can chew through expanding foam insulation, unless this mesh is embedded in it.

In my (previous) experience cats are over-rated. If you have no pets, start with mechanical "snap" traps. Set them at the walls, and cycle through different baits... penut butter, "slim jim" meat stick things, and cheeze whiz worked for me. The cretans learn fast, so you might need to move traps, and change brands... eventially they avoided the wooden traps, so we moved to the black-plastic "jaws" style traps, and finally to the glue block traps.

Oh, and a MAJOR word to the wise, use bailing wire to secure the trap to something. If one gets trapped, and does not die instantly, they will drag it of to some hidden corner, and there is no way to find it but to follow your nose. (OMG, this is the WORST smell in the world)

Remove all food supplies, and access to water (wipe sinks dry, close toilet bowls, etc).

Good Luck!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Greenkeeper @ Sep 8 2007, 08:08 PM) [snapback]509349[/snapback]</div>

Our cat is quite good at hunting mice, even though she was declawed (by previous owner).

She killed about half a dozen that were living under the shed. We know because she would leave the dead ones as presents on the kitchen floor.

Unfortunately, at one point, it ceased to be a challenge, so she started bringing live mice into the house and letting them go. Apparently it was more fun to hunt them down in the house.

Haven't seen any sign of mice for a couple of years now. Now she just sits around and meows for treats.

 

Small dogs like Jack Russels and Fox Terriers are great mousers. Cats can be a bit "unmotivated" sometimes. They're especially good with rats.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(dogfriend @ Sep 9 2007, 06:53 AM) [snapback]509388[/snapback]</div>

Aah, she's cute.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(DGH @ Sep 8 2007, 09:01 PM) [snapback]509365[/snapback]</div>

Better mileage, yes, but it doesn't have the cargo space of the Prius.
Since I want to be able to haul my lunch, purse, some spare items with me, and, if it's a pleasure trip, I want my Dear Hubby with me, I find that I drive the Prius almost exclusively.

 

So far the car has remained free of them, but I can't say that about
the house. As the weather cools off, they're looking for winter
quarters. So far the fall season score is hobbit: 3, mice: 0, as
heartless as that might sound ... there is NO other path, or else
one becomes overrun with them.
.
_H*

 

I live in a wildreness area and I had a truck that I had to park outside and had a similar problem with mice.

Hard to git rid of them. They also climbed into the carb breather hose.

My solution . Secure a plastic container of some sort(under the hood) with Mice Bait, " Just One Bite" or something similiar available from a Feed Store.

They will eat it, and then go to look for water and die some where else.

Haven't had mice for years............Now it seems to be ants. If you have them.... leave Ant Motels (from WalMart or grocery store) somewhere in the vehicle. No more ants.......

 

Ewwwww. You don't have Hanta Virus in that part of the country do you? I just saw a mouse in my garage this morning, time to get the traps out. Over 16 years the rubber seal at the bottom of my garage door has shrunk, leaving a 3-inch gap the mice can get through. I need to fix that and trap them. I've found disgusting nests before out there, don't want to take a chance with my Prius. Out here you must take extra precautions during cleanup due to Hanta Virus... wear a face mask and spray the area with diluted bleach before sweeping up or cleaning.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(abq sfr @ Sep 10 2007, 12:20 PM) [snapback]510188[/snapback]</div>

Just hope you don't get any pantry moths! I have been trying to get rid of them for over two years. Finally bought the expensive surpression traps that catch both male and femail, and now the population is way down. I still see one about once a week, so maybe one more round of the expensive traps is in order to make sure they don't take hold onece more.

I like the idea of Mouse Bait like say DECON. Then they will go off looking for some water somewhere else. If they do happen to dehydrate on the spot, they don't smell too bad.

 

Just a piece of trivia about DECON - the active chemical is called warfarin and WARF is the Wisconsin Alumni Research Fund. Seems they hold the patent & proceeds are used to fund scientific research at the UW campuses. My husband had "rat-money" grants for a few years (he was a chemist). The same chemical is also used in the blood thinner coumadin, which a lot people take to prevent blood clots following heart attacks or before certain surgeries. Nothing to do with a Prius, just a little trivia.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(DGH @ 2007 09 10 15:48) [snapback]510297[/snapback]</div>

Sorry, Dan. I was sure somebody would have chimed in by now. I'm going by what I remember from a previous thread about this. When you open the hood, there's a panel to your left that should come out with a few screws. Then you can get in that area, clean it up, and cover it with metal mesh. There was a thread with pictures and descriptions - have you tried a search of the site?

 

True cat & mouse story. A gal living by herself got a cat and put it in the basement to solve her "mice overrunning basement" problem. When she opened the outside basement door to put in water, the cat bolted at Mach 3, never to be seen again. While calling for cat, a juvenile owl flew into basement. After about a month, she called over a friend to see what happened to make the basement so quite. Friend found nothing but mice bones and one BIG owl that flew out.

Mouse problem - Get an owl.

 

You don't need to park the car in the garage to get a mouse in the car! Just leaving it overnight outside is enough. Hasn't happened to me, yet, but it has happened to others....they find their way into the glove compartments very quickly...and easily.
I think the only real solution is....keep on driving! :lol:

 

It is certainly worth noting that rodents chewing through wires (as they like to do) can easily cost thousands of dollars to repair.

I have heard that leaving the hood open is also helpful, as it makes a less secure, sheltered space.

Also, swithing the air intake to re-circulate is supposed to close the vent to the outside, I have seen it suggested to do so when parking. (I think it should be part of the shut-down cycle, if any toyota engineers are reading this)

 

Putting mesh over any of the front openings under the outer cowl
doesn't work, because that whole dual-wall area under the edge of
the windshield is open all the way along including down behind the
fender panels. You'd have to mesh the *inner* opening that
actually goes into the a/c, which is much harder to access.
.
_H*