MouseProofing the Prius

I C. Don't have that version over here, so I'm just as ignorant as usual.

 

There is much to blamed on ambiguity. Yes I hoped for a link to a Prius C forum for the OP as I couldn't find one.

 

You mean this one? Toyota Prius c Forums | PriusChat

 

Not if you live in the desert. Never smart to kill animals. Another one will replace it. Hardware cloth is the ticket.

 

Toyota Does not manufacture rodent tape.

 

mice are like mosquitos.

 

Die Fledermaus?

 

Anyone tried those ultrasonic mouse repellers?

 

My cars that sit in storage all the time have moth balls in them. My back garage usually has five cars in it and the 1989 Town Car had Decon mouse poison pellets pm top of the intake manifold this year when I started fixing it up. Now it smell like moth balls. lol

 

Unfortunately you cannot get the old D-Con pellets any more. We have not found an effective substitute.

 

Not personally, but I have read they're a waste of money.

 

I have found an additional ingress point that I did not see in this thread. I have a 2008 Prius and had not run across this thread prior. I also did the mouse proofing in the cowl area but continued to have an issue. I believe I have found the issue. There is a cowl drain chute that goes down the behind the inner fender well cover that is wide open allowing mice to simply run up the shoot into the cowl area. I stuffed the chute with Stainless Steel wool as well as one other large hole and buttoned back up. May have corrosion issues down the road but it beats rodent issues. See attached PDF file for photos. Hope this helps someone else. Only thing not positive on is if there is a drain on the drivers side but there did not appear to be one.

 

First time back in a long while and the mice're still at it..

Having dealt with pest damage and animal exclusion when it comes to homes, the methods I am using or plan to make use of are screening, rustproofing spray, and possibly the tape. But here are all the ones I've read about since first joining Priuschat.

• Screening Cabin Ingress Points
  (great, but only covers each specific ingress points, can't miss any, only excludes access to the cabin area itself, most of engine compartment + mechanicals still exposed)
  1. hatch area (2 vented openings)
  2. engine air intake (intake funnel, cloth vents)
  3. engine compartment, firewall (7 openings)
  4. cabin air intake (unknown # openings, possible diffs between Gen II and Gen III?)
• Odor deterrents
  (only a deterrent, can cover engine bay if applied there, odor can get into cabin)
  1. mothballs (mixed reports of effectiveness, benzene odor of mothballs fades, seems like you need to break the mothball crystals in order to get it to release more odor after a while)
  2. peppermint oil (questionable effectiveness, I've tried these with rodents in homes, never seemed effective, wears off)
  3. Transtar Amber Rustproofing spray (Rude person's cites using this to prevent corrosion in the engine bay and undercarriage areas and speculated the smell+texture may additionally deter rodents as well)
• Ultrasonic deterrents
  (only a deterrent, similar to odors with added disadvantage of needing power source, reports of mixed or limited effectiveness, not only for rodents but pests in general such as in homes)
• Rodent Deterrent Tape/Tubing
  (deters chewing on wiring, this tape has capsaicin, citrus, or similar irritants embedded in it in high enough concentration that they really won't like it (products share theme of warning that contact may irritate skin/eyes), do they have to bite it to learn that it tastes terrible?)

 

Most mice do not have strong brand loyalties, and will be deterred by Honda rodent tape, even in a Toyota.

-Chap

 

12/24/2018 - Follow up. Had another rodent intrusion and found that there is a drain channel located on drivers side inner fenderwell as well that must be plugged.

 

Geez Louise: the Toyota engineers really should look into this!

I guess it's not the sexiest bullet point in a features brochure.

 

Hard for me to gauge how specific these issues are to the Prius vs. any other car. I mean, do other cars all have screened off ingress points (to the cabin, anyway) and the Prius somehow just doesn't? That seems unlikely, but I've not taken apart that many other cars, not in those areas at least to know for certain.

Also, the engine bay will be open to rodents on just about any vehicle. From my research, the part where Toyota's decisions may have played a role is in the soy-based wiring harness wrap. If it has no scent, it may not attract rodents by itself, but rodents may appear first drawn to the heat of a car warming down, and then discover the soy sheathing is to their liking after appearing..

 

I always keep a supply of Decon or some other mouse poison in my garages. It's a good sign when it hasn't been touched.
Last year I tore into my wife's 1989 Town Car and when I remove the upper intake manifold on the engine there were a lot of Decon pellets in that area. I guess they were storing them there for a later meal but I didn't find any damage to the electrical wiring in the car.

 

Well, after almost a year and a half of ownership, my '07 has succumbed to the rodent entry. The car is parked in the same spot as last year, but this winter has brought me this lovely issue to deal with. I have two cats and no mouse last more than a few hours inside my home. The car is a different story. I check the cabin air filter pretty regularly and this is the first time since I've bought this car that I have discovered a large ball of fluffy insulation material on top of the air filter. There was no smell at all, the nest must have been very fresh. I saw no droppings or any other damage at all. Just the ball of fluffy stuff. What is that stuff? If I figure that out I may have the answer as to how exactly the rodents entered the car. In any case I went ahead and screened the openings under the windshield and will screen the openings in the rear of the car, though I think if they came in through the rear opening, they'd be on the "inside" side of the filter, yet the evidence of their activity was strictly limited to the "outside" side of the filter. I have heard about additional entry points on the Prius Gen 2, but have not been able to find the specifics in the sea of information (low signal to noise ratio). If anyone can pint me to said info I would be grateful.

Screening off the openings under the windshield was not very difficult. Windshield wipers and WW motor assembly come out very easily and there is good access. However I am still puzzled by where the fluffy material came from. It does not look like (pink) house insulation, it is not glass fiber, it's very soft and silky. I fear it came from the car itself. I have not seen anyplace in the car with missing insulation, but I am still looking.

Thanks for all the info, it is really great. I have lived in this house for almost 12 years and had not experienced this issue, though I did have some squirled away nuts in the engine intake of my Volvos (but never inside the car).