Mice in my car

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(gavilan @ May 17 2007, 08:02 PM) [snapback]444638[/snapback]</div>

Forgive me Jill.....I have to say this. GET A CAT!

 

I'd try buying some mousetraps?

Or clean your garage and park it inside.

 

Have you ever wondered at the number of cat avatars here on PriusChat?

Mice can get through incredibly small openings. Your Prius is a nice warm, dry, safe place to raise a family... The only way to keep mice out of your car is to keep them out of the car's environment--through cats, traps, or bait.

If you search here you'll find tales of mice causing thousands of dollars of repair bills when they chewed into wiring harnesses. Also consider the spread of hanta virus. Got Mice? Seal Up! Trap Up! Clean Up! Prevent diseases and destruction from rodents.

 

<div align="left">http://www.ratzapper.com/

Or maybe one of the repeating mousetraps. I'm not sure how well those work but if you have a lot of mice, it might be nice to catch more than one at a time.</div>

 

:lol: :lol: Mice think Prii are delicious!!! :lol: :lol:

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(gavilan @ May 18 2007, 12:02 AM) [snapback]444638[/snapback]</div>

Unfortunately this is a problem with any car, especially if parked outside. If you park in a garage, control is probably a bit easier since you can use multiple traps, eliminate food (if any pet food or birdseed in the garage) and get some level of control over the problem. If you park outside, about the best you can do is put traps in the car and perhaps move where you park.

A friend at work who lives in a semi-rural area has had them in his Ford turck and had $2000 damage to a wiring harness in a Hyundai. That cost he had to eat as warranties don't cover rodent damage. So far he has not had any trouble with his 1.5 year old Prius.

My lady friend's father is in a retirement community near where I work. His Honda Accord had been parked in various places near the building and driven once or twice a week. When he gave up the car a couple of months ago (he is over 90), Barb & I went over to pick it up and get it ready to give to her sister. I found that mice had gotten just about everywhere. They were under the hood, in the air cleaner, under the hood sound absorbing liner, in the spare tire well in the trunk, and had invaded the air conditioning ducts with enough nuts and seeds that you couldn't turn on the fan (it was jammed). Luckly we found no wiring damage.

I know of several other people with the problem - all park their cars outside and have no choice. Most have moved where they park after cleaning up the mess and that seemed to "solve" their problem, especially the fortunate ones who were able to start parking in a garage.

- Tom

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(derk @ May 18 2007, 06:20 AM) [snapback]444649[/snapback]</div>

Well... if you leave a cat in the car for longer time then smell will be even worse :lol:

- Piotr

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(gavilan @ May 18 2007, 12:02 AM) [snapback]444638[/snapback]</div>

I heard there are very few mice in Japan. A coincidence?

 

Had a sort of similar problem with squirrels and my 97 Dodge Grand Caravan. They were not living in the cabin area but ate through the same wiring harness in my engine compartment twice; my wife's 2000 Honda Accord parked directly behind my van (both outside in our driveway) remained untouched. Obviously these squirrels preferred American insulation

The mechanic had no explanation or advice except to park in a different area (no overnight parking on this street during half the year). A neighbor suggested putting Bounce dryer sheets tucked into the engine compartments (obviously not near the fan or belts). Sounded ludicrous, but hey, I already had them in the laundry room, Snopes.com had nothing debunking this urban legend, so why not try it?

Never had to replace another $250 harness again. Was it the dryer sheet, or did my insulation-loving squirrel move on to higher-end harnesses, fail the Geico initiation test, change it's eating habits, etc.? I'll never know, but it might be worth a try.

P.S., I'm also in Real Estate and I imagine you won't get much return business if you don't get this resolved. Good luck!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(bulek @ May 18 2007, 06:56 AM) [snapback]444751[/snapback]</div>

To get dead mice and avoid that cat-litter box smell...

get a SNAKE!

 

Rumor is that mothballs would have a similar repellent effect, but
I have no idea if it's true or not.
.
Leaving the climate system on "recirculate" at power-down moves the
flap to seal up the big intake opening under the windshield, which
may help keep them out of the a/c ducting. But you have to remember
to set it that way fairly often, since it defaults to back open in
most cases.
.
_H*

 

This thread might give me nightmares. I had enough problems getting rid of the mice in our attic, I can't imagine having them live in my car. And having a mouse fall out from under the dash, whether dead or alive, sounds like the perfect recipe for disaster. I wish you luck. Sorry I don't have any good advice to give.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Bob64 @ May 17 2007, 09:48 PM) [snapback]444654[/snapback]</div>

Clean your garage? That's blasphemy.

Actually, the first time I "really" cleaned out my garage was just before I bought the Prius. Of course, buying the Prius is why I cleaned out the garage. I hadn't parked a car in it for over 10 years.

Dave M.

 

I have never heard of this problem. I park outside and have never had mice.

Now I have something else to worry about.

 

OMG, I can't believe SOMEONE ELSE has just had this problem. This happened to me just over a week ago. My BF went out to my car (which at the time was in front of the garage) to get something late at night. When he opened the door, he saw something scamper across the upholstry of the passenger seat. He thought it was a tarantula at first, but on further inspection at the crack of dawn we discovered a couple of mouse droppings on the passenger floor.

Needless to say, I didn't drive that thing for a week waiting on the mousie to get caught in 1 of the 4 traps we put inside my poor Prius. After a week with no catch (and no driving my Prius), I'm pretty sure it's gone (well, I much rather think of it gone instead of the alternative). Anyways...no smell, so I'm fairly confident we scared it back from where it came.

We're neat-nicks, so this really grossed us out!!

 

When I took my prius in for its 15,000 mile maintenance, I was told that they detected rodent activity under the hood. Mechanic suggested getting a cat. I park my Pri in the gargage, where our two dogs spend the night. I am certain that a cat would not be a welcome roommate. I'm just wondering if there's anything I could do to keep the mice out from under the hood!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(gavilan @ May 17 2007, 11:02 PM) [snapback]444638[/snapback]</div>

I have had several Toyotas, and no mice! Sorry, that line made me laugh! Where in the world did you hear that this is a problem with Toyotas?

Mice will go in search of food, so make sure there is no food for them to search for. Take a look at the area near where the car parks. Perhaps there are signs of a rodent problem (again, they will be looking for food.) Consider hiring an exterminator. Perhaps they are going to the Prius to keep warm.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(bulek @ May 18 2007, 07:56 AM) [snapback]444751[/snapback]</div>

That's when you get a dog
I can rent my black lab!

Seriously, my knee jerk reaction would be "move" ! ! !
Why? Because you can't kill all the mice in the neighborhood, and your mice problem will only be as solved as well as your neighbor's clenliness / willing to deal with it. Like roaches, mice migrate to where ever they have to go. It aint your poor Prius' fault.

 

Fumigating the area regularly could help. Do your neighbors have the same issue?