Rodents UNDER MY HOOD!

Just put the trap out of the reach of the dogs. Mice can climb anywhere. Or put the trap under something the dogs can't move.

 

well if the dogs were not in there I would say moth balls in panty hose works very well, but since you have dogs in there also it would be a BAD thing as moth balls work on your respiratory system. so put the dogs outside in a pen and put mothballs in youe wifes panty hose. ( inside the garage)
But dont tell the wife your taking her hose, or you will be the one in the garage

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(priussoris @ May 21 2007, 04:53 PM) [snapback]446965[/snapback]</div>

I'd say that indicates the real power of a Prius. Mice power! If the mechanic looked a little harder, he might have found a circular wheel that the mice run in when we need passing gear! Just a joke! I have a Prius too! And tomorrow I have to go buy tags. ?Probably around $800.00 or so.....

 

I live out in the country, with rabbits, mice, rats, kangaroo rats, owls, hawks, coyotes and bobcats. I think if I put them all under the hood there wouldn't be any problem smile.gif but I had two instances of my Chevy Astro, a Volvo, and a Chevy Cavalier being chewed up (wiring and hoses), before I found a solution. I gotta tell you, I was amazed that a mouse could chew completely through a battery cable! So anyway, after replacing several wiring harnesses, dangling poison bait under the hood, traps, a $40 ultrasonic pest repeller, and cussing, I found a solution.

Park with your hood up. No kidding, it actually works.

I was getting ready to put Irish Spring soap bars under the hood, which I also heard works. I found a huge stick nest in my motorhome engine area, but no wiring damage there, thank heavens. Count on $400 to $1000 when you have a dealer fix mouse damage.

 

If that was my car, I would find some place under the hood to place one or more open containers of DeCon.
When the mice eat it, and apperently, they love the stuff, they will dehydrate so much that they won't smell.

 

Here's a litle bit of blasphemy for you: You could also just not park in the garage... I know, what's the garage for if you're not parking in it.

You could also call an exterminator and see if there's some more permanent way of getting rid of the mice. If they're living in the garage it's because there's safety and a food source nearby, so try to eliminate their access to food. You could also move the dogs out of the garage if they're well-trained enough to stay in the house, and while the dogs are elsewhere poison or trap the mice.

Parking with the hood open does sound like an ingenious solution though, and I'd be curious to know if it works.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(dulcimer @ May 21 2007, 07:26 PM) [snapback]447095[/snapback]</div>

Only at night... that's when the critters are active. My "garage" is a costco 10x20 tent carport. I have dogs too, so I worry about poisons. Good luck!

 

I have had this problem. When I first read about it I asked my dealer to check my cabin air filter. And sure enough - it had been turned into a mouse motel. This has been found 3 times in a year and a half. I read somewhere that putting screen material over the air opening to the cabin air filter helps (but not cures). This is evidently a serious and prevalent enough problem that Toyota ought to address it.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(janets98 @ May 30 2007, 06:23 PM) [snapback]452375[/snapback]</div>

Have you asked the Pied Piper to pay a visit?

 

Ever try stockingfuls of mothballs? I'm wondering if that's an
urban, or rather rural, legend, or if it has any merit as a repellent.
.
The easiest fix for the A/C problem is said to be make sure to leave
the system in "recirculate" when powering down, which leaves a flap
closing off the outside intake. Adding a screen to the right place
would be quite difficult, since the A/C opening is deeply buried in
an inner unibody layer that's all welded together under the edge of
the windshield. Only decent access would be by removing the whole
climate unit and doing it from inside, unless someone knows a *very*
clever shortcut.
.
_H*

 

I had this happen to me a few months ago with the Elantra because we had no space in the garage at the time forcing me to park outside. They did serious damage to the car, rendering it undriveable for awhile. Ate through some transmission related cables and a bunch of other stuff. Seems that the rat had also started to store the poison pellets for winter in the A/C. Turned on the car and pellets spat out of the A/C after being ground up by the fan. Grand total for fixing it all was around $800, at least the towing was free thanks to Hyundai (they really do care about their owners).

So the point of me saying that is do yourself a huge favour and do everything in your power to eliminate your rodent problem now. No matter what kind of complicated solutions (coyote urine, electric traps, pellets, etc.) we came up with it didn't help. If the problem doesn't go away with any of the simple steps then call an exterminator. Good luck

 

Eliminating the rodent problem is impossible. I live on a farm and Phoebe is housed in an open barn. Even though the barn is only used for storing machinery, there are rodents in there that no exterminator could budge.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(janets98 @ May 31 2007, 09:56 PM) [snapback]452995[/snapback]</div>

Mmmm, I have great memories from some rodents about a year ago. I was with my Father in Colorado and we were off roading for a weekend of rock hunting (Minerals) and we left our car parked (At the time a brand new Jeep Grand Cherokee). We came back after a few hours to get something from the car and we see a marmot crawl from under the car. We didn't think anything of it at the time and we get done with the weekend and everything is fine. After getting on the Highway for the long drive home (In which I was driving with my Permit) back to Texas. I was cruising along and all the electronics in the car just stopped working. All of my gauges and the LCD screen. The car was running fine but all the electronics stopped. I pull over and we call to my Mom back in Texas (We're about 600 miles away) and we tell her that we need to find a dealer but we didn't find any close. I turned the car back on and I had no gauges or anything for the next 600 miles. Very scary incident. We get home and go to the local dealer and the mechanic turns and looks at me an goes "What the heck did you do to this!?!" I replied, "Nothing sir, we have been in the mountains of Colorado" then I get this handful of wires that had chew marks all over it. "I think that's your problem!" All of the wiring in the car was ruined and had to pay an extreme price to redo it all. Now my Dad's car is the "Marmot Mobile". I was told to put a bag of the moth balls in the bottom skid plate of it to keep these "Rodents" out and I have not had any issues (*Knocks on wood*) Just thought I would share my experience with a "Rodent"

 

:angry: When we moved from Connecticut to Florida in 2000 I had to give up my "third" vehicle, a classic, in excellent condition, 1985 Olds. Wagon (simply beautiful cond. in and out) and give it to my Brother in Connecticut. Even though he covered it (car cover) he has NO garage and it had to be kept OUTSIDE. He started it about twice a week, maybe more, and was "saving" it for about a year until his Son was of driving age. This was to be his (my nephew's) vehicle. One day it wouldn't start so they popped the hood...... dozens of MICE everywhere, scurrying for cover....... they invaded places you wouldn't believe possible, but worse of all they ATE WIRING !! Yep, chewed harnesses, what a mess. When he also looked at the interior they pulled apart stuffing from under the seats and carpets, etc. This 15 year old "classic" was a total loss as it would have taken quite a bit of money (and time) to fix all the interior as well as re-wiring, etc. He ended up selling it "as-is" as a parts car............. what a dam shame............ brought tears to MY eyes as well as his............

This was sort of Deja-Vu that I also had at MY house (in Connecticut) just about 5 years before that with another "classic"...... a 1978 Ford Country Squire Station Wagon, again a "third" vehicle that HAD to be parked outside as our two car garage had the 1990 and '95 Accord EX Coupes in it. This '78 station wagon (all 6,000+ pounds of it) was my "Winter vehicle" as well as doubling as a sort of pick-up/utility vehicle for wood, sheetrock (could fit entire 4' x 8' sheets, flat, with tail gate closed). One day my Wife and I get in it and start it up....... we "see" baby (pink, furless) MICE running across the area outside the windshield where the air intake is, coming out from under the hood...... sure enough, I popped the hood and I see big clumps of the hood "insulation/liner" ripped apart (big 6" holes & voids) and upon further inspection I found TWO nests.... one down near the heater core box near the inner fender well and the other was INSIDE THE AIR CLEANER !! They stored sunflower seeds (from neighbor's bird feeder) and also covered with feces (yuck!!). They didn't get into the carb, but stayed outside the filter element !! It was a mess. Naturally Wife "freaked out" (eeeeeeeeeeeeeekkkkkkkkkkk !!!!!!!!!!!!!) and ran back into house. I took a garden hose and attempted to "blast away" the critters, spent a couple of hours getting all the "crap" out, etc. So now we try once again to go out in this vehicle, Wife is really paranoid now, but I convinced her they are all gone...... we drive about 10 miles to our destination and then guess what......... one "baby" comes from somewhere (?? under seat ??) and runs across her feet......... on man, thank God we were PARKED !! Yep, she freaked out (again)............. we drove back home (with her sitting "up ON the seat, ON HER LEGS") and that was the very last time SHE EVER rode in the '78 Ford wagon. Needless to say, I started parking it closer to house (next to garage) and never again a mouse problem for the next year or two I kept it before I sold it and bought the '85 Olds. wagon (mentioned above)

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(hobbit @ May 30 2007, 09:34 PM) [snapback]452463[/snapback]</div>

I had a similar experience with mice in the cabin air filter. The dealers advice was to close the Recirc as well. What I ran into at that point was that when powered down, my '05 flap defaults to open. We are looking at adding to screen the opening...

 

so... DH has seen mice in a couple prius, as well as other cars. it happens to all cars, not just toyotas.

he will say... be glad they're still alive. they sometimes get through the cabin filter, and end up in the blower. guess what happens when you turn on the blower...

he has seen them chew through hybrid cables, through fuel injector wires, etc. there are too many openings for them to get in, it's at the very least impractical if not impossible to seal up every hole the size a mouse could enter. just make the environment unpleasant for them. don't store food, etc near the car. try the hood up thing. something to remove the allure for nest making and food storage.

 

You could get a hunting dog. The more dogs the merrier, I say!

Between my two weimeraners, and my Mom's giant weimie who comes over to play, mice would never even make it into my garage alive! They were born to hunt down vermin. Mine even caught and killed a mole last week. Alot harder to do than killing mice.

If you don't want another dog, then you definitely need to either bring the dogs and the food inside or park the car in the driveway, and far away from the food.

I also feed my dogs inside in the morning and at night in the kitchen, and keep their food in a huge airtight storage container in the garage. You might try that...