severe infestation of mice in car HELP

[redrider90]

I've always been able to control mice in the car as it only happened occasionally and we usually used our 2 cars regularly. But we are both home a lot and live deep in the woods. The mice have over run my Civic. The other car is in the car port and does OK. I probably caught a 8 of them and then they stopped until a few days ago. Now there is foam all over the floors and turds everywhere. I pulled the cabin air cleaner out and there is foam in there. I guess  I can go back to setting traps again but I wonder if anybody has any ideas. I read where the hate the smell of peppermint and thought I could use peppermint oil and the let it air out during the day.
 I also thought of disconnecting the battery and pouring few quarts of rubbing alcohol in the car and trunk as well as under the hood and let it sit. Maybe that sounds crazy but if this keep up i am going to loose a car.
One other option is to find a parking lot that it will not get towed and let it sit in the sun for a few days: no water and no food and they leave searching.
ANYBODY PLEASE I AM GOING CRAZY.
NO POISONS AS WE HAVE CATS AND A DOG. I have seen a dog bleed out at the Vets office and it is not pretty.

[oldbike54]

 Stop feeding the cats and leave a window down  Seriously Harvey , I agree with the no poison thing . This probably sounds silly , and a quick check to verify wouldn't hurt , but prey critters are very sensitive to the smell of predator poop . Maybe some cat poop left around the perimeter might slow them down . Lion poop works well to ward off almost anything , but we can see the difficulty with that plan . Here Kitty Kitty 

 Dusty

[redrider90]

Stop feeding the cats and leave a window down  Seriously Harvey , I agree with the no poison thing . This probably sounds silly , and a quick check to verify wouldn't hurt , but prey critters are very sensitive to the smell of predator poop . Maybe some cat poop left around the perimeter might slow them down . Lion poop works well to ward off almost anything , but we can see the difficulty with that plan . Here Kitty Kitty 

 Dusty

Dusty,
We have stupid cats who bring through the cat door  live mice  and snakes, small bunnies and squirrels and the often release them. Leaving the windows down only invites possums and raccoons and and skunks.

[Jurgen]

I've always been able to control mice in the car as it only happened occasionally and we usually used our 2 cars regularly. But we are both home a lot and live deep in the woods. The mice have over run my Civic. The other car is in the car port and does OK. I probably caught a 8 of them and then they stopped until a few days ago. Now there is foam all over the floors and turds everywhere. I pulled the cabin air cleaner out and there is foam in there. I guess  I can go back to setting traps again but I wonder if anybody has any ideas. I read where the hate the smell of peppermint and thought I could use peppermint oil and the let it air out during the day.
 I also thought of disconnecting the battery and pouring few quarts of rubbing alcohol in the car and trunk as well as under the hood and let it sit. Maybe that sounds crazy but if this keep up i am going to loose a car.
One other option is to find a parking lot that it will not get towed and let it sit in the sun for a few days: no water and no food and they leave searching.
ANYBODY PLEASE I AM GOING CRAZY.

We have a similar problem in the Santa Fe area.  Neighbor's cars, my old car etc. crammed full of cholla cactus and wires eaten.  The best solution, so far, has been lights under the car.  We use strips of LED lights, to keep the underside brightly lit up.  It has worked, so far.  Use bright LED's they don't use an arm full of power and the rodents don't seem to like the light.   Jurgen
NO POISONS AS WE HAVE CATS AND A DOG. I have seen a dog bleed out at the Vets office and it is not pretty.

[Zoom Zoom]

We always used to hang moth balls in old socks inside the car. Mice don't like the moth ball smell. I never needed to do it for a DD, but when we would put our cars up for the winter we did. Must have worked since I never had holes in the headliner or anything.

John Henry

[mgmark]

Man that can be tough to deal with. Nothing stinks like mice pee. We also live near some woods and last winter when it was colder than normal, we did get mice in the garage. I put out traps and got a couple, and my wife ordered ultrasonic mice repellant devices that plug into a wall outlet. Supposedly they put out a noise frequency that makes mice go nuts and leave. Maybe yes, maybe no but I havent had any more mice since then.
Maybe run one into the car on an extension cord, and keep one plugged into an outside outlet in the carport? They werent much $$. (Guzzi content).
Hope it helps, so far so good for me. I can get the brand name if you want to try them.

Mark

[Guzzistajohn]

I hate meeces to peeces!

[oldbike54]

Dusty,
We have stupid cats who bring through the cat door  live mice  and snakes, small bunnies and squirrels and the often release them. Leaving the windows down only invites possums and raccoons and and skunks.

 Harv , I've never met a cat that was all that smart  In fact , my guess is most mice are capable of outsmarting the average cat , may be why researchers use mice instead of cats in mazes  Still , the cat poop trick might be worth investigating .

 Dusty

[Testarossa]

I've had several murderous cats over the years. I don't know how to sort out the hunter-killers from the Garfields. If you have a hunter-killer, install a cat door. Other critters won't use it as long as you have a dog in the house.

I take it the car in question is parked on dirt?  One summer I made the mistake of putting my Comanche on a dirt tie-down, and mice got into the fuselage insulation. After repairing the damage, I put the plane back onto the concrete apron and the mice never returned.

Good reviews on fox urine: http://www.amazon.com/Minnesota-Trapline-Products-Red-Urine/dp/B00U0HHYCK/ref=sr_1_sc_23?s=sporting-goods&ie=UTF8&qid=1462211951&sr=1-23-spell&keywords=mouse+repellant

[n3303j]

In the RV campers everyone seems to lay BOUNCE fabric softener sheets all around the place to ward off rodent intrusions.

 I tried Coyote Pee as a repellent for Chipmunks. They would sit right on top of the containers while snacking on seeds. That put them right in the cross hairs of the scope on the air rifle.  That was the end of the Chipmunk infestation.

[John A]

.22 pistol.

[oldbike54]

.22 pistol.

 Uh , the mice are IN the car 

 Dusty

[rodekyll]

Uh , the mice are IN the car 

 Dusty

ok -- 20-ga then.

[Triple Jim]

Uh , the mice are IN the car 

Speed holes!    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whnms4CLJys

[Sasquatch Jim]

  I suppose you could keep a mongoose in the car but then where you live they may be hard to get.
 Here they are all over the pace.  I would start using sticky traps.  You can get them at your hardware.
 Put a string on them to anchor them to something so they don't get dragged under a seat or somewhere you can't see them.  A piece of string taped to the bottom works fine. Dead mice farts really stink but dead mice don't fart for the first day or so.
 I have used a lot of different traps and the sticky traps are the most effective for the price.
 Just throw away the trap with the mouse in it, no need to get your fingers dirty.

[Triple Jim]

  I suppose you could keep a mongoose in the car but then where you live they may be hard to get.

Maybe some Mongeese are friendlier than others, but if you had one like I've seen in person in a car, you sure wouldn't want to get in the car with it!

[oldbike54]

Maybe some Mongeese are friendlier than others, but if you had one like I've seen in person in a car, you sure wouldn't want to get in the car with it!

 Hmm , what about a ferret ?

 Dusty

[Triple Jim]

This is approximately the way the mongoose I experienced looked at me before it lunged.  Luckily there was a glass window between us.

[CalVin2007]

This is approximately the way the mongoose I experienced looked at me before it lunged.  Luckily there was a glass window between us.

   Hey, I know her!

[charlie b]

The light thing is the best idea, and, it seems to work for rats as well as mice.

We have packrats mostly and things like the noise makers don't work.  They hate light and they don't like to be without cover.  Parking on concrete or hard packed dirt with a 5-10ft clear area seems to work also.

The sticky traps work for mice, not so much for the packrats.  I like the poison 'traps'.  They are plastic compartments for the poison and the mouse/rat has to get inside to eat it.

[Penderic]

One sure way....

 Easy, squeezy.

[oldbike54]

One sure way....

 Easy, squeezy.

 He had just read about VW cheating on the emissions test 

 Dusty

[Perazzimx14]

Harv , I've never met a cat that was all that smart  In fact , my guess is most mice are capable of outsmarting the average cat , may be why researchers use mice instead of cats in mazes  Still , the cat poop trick might be worth investigating .

 Dusty

IDK our cat is pretty smart. He gets to lounge about the house all day while the wife and I got to work.

[timonbik]

Bounce sheets DO NOT WORK.  After a period the smell weakens and the mice use them as bedding.  First hand experience.  Rustproofing a car prior to storage helps.  Mice don't like to get their feet oily.  Mothballs are effective but not too pleasant in the cabin.  Excellent for under the hood and in the trunk.. Tetrie and peppermint  oil  are supposed to be effective.  Peppermint oil on cottonballs in a perforated baggie smell much more pleasant in the car cabin then mothballs.
TRAP, TRAP and more TRAP.  Keep them under control.  Never stop trapping, even if you think you have them all, because they will be back!!!!
Good luck,
Tim

[pat80flh]

Pull the wipers and cowl cover, find the fresh air inlet, and somehow rig a screen. Keeps them out of the interior. Mothballs help. I know this doesn't apply to the OP, but remove their food source,get airtight containers for bird food, dog food etc stored in garage. 

[Mike Harper]

Black Snakes AKA Corn Snakes work really well. No Cat poop, No mice, No nosy people

[Triple Jim]

Wait!  We had a corn snake.  They are not black.  Similar disposition though... quite friendly.  And as you said, they will get rid of mice!

[Rich A]

You might try a 'Ratzapper,' it electrocutes 'em. The only drawback is that they're not waterproof. Make that two drawbacks--they're a little expensive, too.

Rich

[atavar]

There was just a video article on cnn about this..
http://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2016/04/30/rat-destroys-car-pkg.wsb/video/playlists/bugs-and-critters/

[fotoguzzi]

In my Dad's pole barn is a bucket with a few inches of water.. the bait (peanut butter) is on a spool that's on a rod.. they walk out on the rod but when they step on the spool it's like a log roller, they all end up in the drink.. some weekends when I go there I have to fish out a half dozen drowned mice. I should make a video..

make a walkway up to the edge of the bucket and they find the bait lickety split.