Darn Mice Can Be Expensive

[harringtondav]

Summer '21 I noticed an unusual rumble from the truck's blower motor when I turned the A/C to max. Not normal, but I was too busy to see the dealer's shop. Warranty good for another year.
Mid summer this year the MIL lamp went on. Code was a generic EVAP issue. So I took it to the dealer expecting a warranty repair.
Nope. A mouse had chewed its way through the cabin filter and made a nest in the blower housing. Apparently the mouse or shrapnel had damaged a wiring harness causing the fault. Fan was knocked out of balance. New fan assembly. Total $720+, including two hrs labor @ $174/hr.
If I'd seen this coming I would have made the blower repair myself, and maybe noticed the wire damage. ...I bought the Ford seven year ESP warranty. It doesn't cover vermin either.

 

[flashback]

They sharpen their teeth on anything and I've had an occasion of a fuel tank on a string trimmer that was nawed thru. And then attack the wiring to the fuel injection on my boys car..

Micky mouse is not my friend anymore!

 

[airshot]

I hear ya...my son left his old car sit beside our garage while off to school for 6 months. Thought I woukd get it running just before his return. Opened the hood and all the spark wires were eaten from distributor to spark plug boot !!!!

 

[Scott Danforth]

They are attracted to wire insulation because some of the chemicals are tasty to mice.

Other than feed for snakes/owls/etc. Mice could go

 

[dingbat]

Learned along ago that mice shy away from things out in the open.

Have not had any issues since I started leaving the seats up and hoods up on the tractors.

Have 3 large metal storage cabinets that I store large power tools and supplies. Turned into a mouse condo in the winter. No issues since I started leaving it open in the winter

 

[roscoe]

They sharpen their teeth on anything

You shouldn't talk that way about the FORD dealer.

 

[TPSK]

A ceramic toilet broke, while waiting for a new toilet from another city, a hole was opened. In autumn, a river rat "Muskrat" came to the boat through a hole in the water. She gnaws everything - couldn't catch 10 days. I fished for a very long time. Thought to close the hole. I caught it when I jumped back into the hole, put a jar there - it couldn't gnaw through.

https://www.yapfiles.ru/show/1592327/9a58e161316570ff4fe452e300679050.mp4.html

 

[harringtondav]

I've never had a problem with mice in my boats in winter layover. I started by laying trays of mothballs, now dryer sheets. I don't know if these did any good, but once I figure where to place dryer sheets in the Ranger, I'll do it.
Thinking back I saw this coming. I keep my tools in the truck, including a heavy canvas bag for my large wrenches. I made the mistake of leavig a spare bag of dog food in there too. I noticed the bag was chewed open along with some chewing on the canvas bag. So this is on me. ...I invited them in. I thought the folding metal box cover was tight. Not tight enough.

 

[alldodge]

Have a bucket trap in the barn and caught a few. Been putting PB in the center and as they walk out the roller turns and they fall in.

Now the sort of funny part.

Found the PB gone on all they way around and no mouse. Put more on it and next day all gone and no mouse. Set trail cam up and found the little bastard would get the PB off top, walk off, rotate the bar from the side and go back for more

So I put some red grease on both ends and found it the next day. Also noticed it wasn't moving to well and not breathing much. I'm guessing it ate some of the grease and that killed it, so red grease as bate maybe?

 

[dingbat]

I've never had a problem with mice in my boats in winter layover. I started by laying trays of mothballs, now dryer sheets. I don't know if these did any good, but once I figure where to place dryer sheets in the Ranger, I'll do it.

Stored the boat under a tarp for years w/o any issues. Starting keeping the boat in the pole barn when we moved.

First winter they ate the PVC jacket off the gps antenna cable. Next year I put dryer sheets in the electronics box. They made a nest from the dryer sheets and ate the serial interface cable. WTF?

The top of the gunnel is 5’ off the ground. Unless a decedent of Edmund Hillary, how the heck are they climbing 36” of vertical waxed fiberglass to get in?

Removed the gunnel strap during winter storage and voilà.

 

[crazy charlie]

and my wife asks me why I put mouse traps everywhere in the fall thru winter, inside and outside.Charlie

 

[airshot]

Some of that " mouse" food can be quite expensive !!

 

[dwco5051]

Wait until you have a four and a half foot black snake come down through an overhead heater duct and brush against your ear while you are moving in a skidsteer. The good side of it was I am not one who has a snake phobia plus the mice were gone. This Winter no snake but when I turned my heater on for the first time the thumping was a mouse in the heater fan wheel playing hamster.

 

[airshot]

Had some mice in our barn where my grandson stored his duck feed. Upon first notice, we bought steel garbage cans with lids for the duck food the placed " TomCat mouse baits around the barn. Within a couple weeks, the TomCat was pretty well chewed up and rhe mice dissapeared. That was two years back, we still keep a couple mouse baits in the corners just in case but has been quite some time since we have saw any sign of them. I found the TomCat was cheaper than my ignition wires, in my toys.

 

[Grub54891]

We used to put out poison at the cabin for the winter, In spring there was mose droppings all over the place, and nests in unbelievable places. One year Me and the wife decided to not put the poison out. Spring time came around and absolutely no sign of mice. Havent put out anything since and it's always perfect. Give them something to eat and they will show up!

 

[dolluper]

Yes mice are great boy
They like to eat your coil wires off right at the epoxy and for dessert they eat your rubber fuel lines
Found a nest in the storage garage after trapping 5 l taught l won. Nope saw more so l started up the snowblower with the choke on blowing clouds and three ran out. So for a week l did that ...They moved..Now for the squirrels in the attic . Might have to borrow the neighbours cat.

 

[Grub54891]

Had a wasp nest in the shed at the cabin. No access as it's got a plywood celing. I drilled a hole just below the soffit and stuck the insect fogger in there and let it run till smoke was coming out the soffits. Did that twice. Havent had any bugs for years!

 

[garbageguy]

Last year seemed to be a heavy mouse-year in the SW Adirondacks. Sure was funny (to me) when a friend of the Admiral's saw one on a sticky trap that we were gonna give-up on - well, that one worked

 

[harringtondav]

We used to put out poison at the cabin for the winter, In spring there was mose droppings all over the place, and nests in unbelievable places. One year Me and the wife decided to not put the poison out. Spring time came around and absolutely no sign of mice. Havent put out anything since and it's always perfect. Give them something to eat and they will show up!

Mouse poison also poisons dogs. My river neighbor puts out Bobcat in his garage and basement. The first time my dog Zeke got into it the Vet's puke med turned up clean. The second time neighbor Jerry and I force fed Zeke some hydrogen peroxide. Green chunks came up.
I told Jerry it's on me to watch Zeke. Jerry's dog could care less about the stuff.

 

[harringtondav]

Had a wasp nest in the shed at the cabin. No access as it's got a plywood celing. I drilled a hole just below the soffit and stuck the insect fogger in there and let it run till smoke was coming out the soffits. Did that twice. Havent had any bugs for years!

Mud wasp nest are everywhere at our main place and river house, mostly under the eaves and in the gutters. Bees and wasps don't bother me much. Ignore them, and they'll ignore you. (Yellow jacket's...not so much). But wife, daughter and other females freak out.
So when I'm called into action I use one of those amazing long range wasp sprays. Sure kill. If I'm feeling a bit ornery I'll make a gasoline rag torch and wave it under the nest. Wasps drop like rain. ...stomping them dead satisfies the ornery.