A wtf moment or two today...Doh!

[bmoparmofo]

So, its the day after the woodward cruise. Time for me to get going on the car again. A friend comes by to start welding the new floor pan in (the trans tunnel is on its way here).All this because at some point in its life a previous owner wanted to make it a 4 speed apparently and just buthchered the poor thing. Before we started, my friend noticed something coming out of the heater box/ passenger defroster hose.Yup, mega mouse nest.I figured it was from all the years stored elsewhere, we cleaned it out and proceeded.http://www.flickr.com/photos/41533811@N04/3828523875/  Then we noticed something, You know those pesky trans bolts that can be so hard to get to? Why not just do this?? http://www.flickr.com/photos/41533811@N04/3828522799/  Doh! I havent figured out what to do to fix that yet. Shaking my head I walk around by the back of my car and something catches my eye http://www.flickr.com/photos/41533811@N04/3829322994/   The little sob.... Need some ideas on what to do to repel them.... Sorry for the photo links, I havent mastered posting them on here. At least the car made some progress though! lol

[BROCK]

I can relate.  I was having trouble with the city.  Seems they didn't like my car parked in my
driveway because I had removed the rear bumper.  So, I moved it to the middle of nowhere. 
A month later, I just had to get it back home.  A squirrel filled the glovebox with acorns. 
They just kept pouring out.  Oh, I moved out of that city & state.

Got a 75 D100 in.  Rat droppings were all over the floor.  Got the front lifted & started to
pull the engine.  When the air compressor kicked back on, I was sitting in the drivers' seat
undoing something.  A big ol tree rat ran from under the seat between my feet & dove by
the steering column onto the ground.  My dog hi fived it in the head as soon as it landed
& carried it off!!!

[mauve66]

new personalized plate for you ........  RATPTRL

[Tilar]

Sorry for the photo links, I havent mastered posting them on here. At least the car made some progress though! lol

Take the space out from between the "[img" and the "]" on each end of the address.

[img ]http://www.flickr.com/photos/41533811@N04/3828523875/[/img ]

[b5blue]

Shop-vac that sucker to hell and set glue traps out, they follow pee trails that they leave everywhere they go so mop with bleach or put bleach in a spray bottle (like old 409) and treat the car and area a few times. Secure any garbage cans and food source they may have and put out De-Con rat poison as there only food available. After 3-4 days put some peanut butter on the glue traps (and any mouse/rat-traps) it draws them like a magnet. Declare war on them! They eat wires, rubber and plastic and crap and piss everywhere!

[Landonsrt]

Just dont let them piss on you since it contains a form of arsenic!

[mopar73]

Driving home from work one day in the grand marquis and I happened to look down at the transmission tunnel and lo and behold a SOB mouse looking back at me   after nearly loosing the soda out of my mouth and crashing into the car next to me, the little wanna be hitchhiker ran under the back seat and out of site until I got back home.  I set out two traps with peanut butter and needless to say no more freeloading mouse the next morning

[b5blue]

I can't stand the little bastards! Years ago there was one in a house we we leasing who was "peanut butter proof" He just never took the bait. I waited up one night with a Crossman BB gun......and sniped his ass with a head shot! The 360 back-flip was magnificent! Death to mouse's!

[bmoparmofo]

I'm not sure what the little s.o.b is doing for food out in the garage.I'll have to try the 409, hopefully it doent screw up the por 15 on the trunk floor.Maybe I'll empty out the garage and dump some bleach around in there.I dont have any holes in the garage but I know it doesnt take much for them to get in.I wonder how many are out there. Unlikely its just one I'm thinking...

[dstryr]

I use the sticky traps which can be found at just about any hardware store and lay them inside a cheap tin foil baking pan that you can get from just about any  grocery store.  Less that $8 for a few traps and pans.  I put the trap in the pan so the little sob's don't pee all over the carpet while they're struggling to get free.  Never fails to catch 'em.

I had a mouse run around the front of the car too, before I started using the traps each winter.  Gives me the creeps hoping he doesn't run up my pant leg while I'm driving.   There'd be a wreck for sure.

[Ghoste]

I'm not sure where you live but if you are near an apple orchard talk to one of the growers about rodent kill chemicals.  I grew up on an apple farm but can't for the life of me remember the name of the stuff.  I do know the little buggers only got a few feet away from the bait before falling over dead.

[Tilar]

Man I'd sure like to know what that stuff is called.

My barn has been taken over with mice this year. They have tunnels going through the hay mow and are chewing up my floors in the grainery.  I bought a case of rat and mouse poison a month ago and I'm down to the last bucket. I've thought about putting out dishes of antifreeze to see if that might help.

[b5blue]

Here is the ratio 1=12 X time left unchecked they can reproduce, snakes are your best friends, they follow the scent trails (pee) and eat the babies. My uncle was killing the snakes because they creep out my aunt till I let him know they were better than rats and mice! Look around outside, they can squish through any hole the size of their little skull. If you have little kids make sure they know to stay away from baits and traps! Pull your heater box out completely with all vent tubes and so on and check the vent areas of the car also, their poop can have a virus in it that can stay dormant for years and activate if the dust gets in your respiratory system!  another good trick is to put a 5 gallon bucket out with 3-4 inches of water in the bottom. A little dab of peanut butter wiped on the inside and they will get in there and can't jump out as the water hampers their launch and wet they can grab well. The little bastards probably came with the car!     

[Ghoste]

Man I'd sure like to know what that stuff is called.

I'll ask my father the next time I see him and find out if he remembers.  He likely will but it's been nearly ten years since he got out of the apple business so it wouldn't surprise me if the stuff is no longer legal.  Vegetable and fruit chemicals seem to pass off the market quickly. they find a lot of disfavor with the hippie crowd (and others).  And while I'm not trying to advocate spraying the heck out of our food with chemicals, I will say that it's sad that buyers don't want spray on their apples but they refuse to purchase them if they aren't perfectly red and free from scab.
I do recall the mouse bait looked like kernels of corn and smelled like any other pesticide.

[Cole317]

I'm callin PETA
A while back me & my grandpa were in his H2 and after we parked we opened the hood (we were aware of rats inside) and there was one all scruffed up and looking right at us like    holy crap that was a hell of a ride!! rats got that hummer so bad he had to sell it.  all the rats were already dead in my charger though

[b5blue]

Rats ate the wire harness in my Bro's STS Caddy and it cost $$$$$! (RAT DAMAGE not covered by anyone's warranty)

[RECHRGD]

I hate the little bastards!!!!!  I had all kinds of problems with them until I got a few cats to start hanging around the place.  They got into my new Ram Cummins right after I bought it and also the wife's new Subaru.  We did a remodel/addition last year and when opening up the wall that separated the garage from the house, we found a discusting amount of nesting materials inside of the wall.  They also had been eating away at the insulation on the wiring.  In a couple of places the romex was eaten down to bare copper!!  We're lucky the house didn't burn due to those little vermin bastards.  The combination of cats and those plug in sonic devices in the garage and shop seem to have taken care of the problem.  Kill them!  Kill them all!!!!!!!      Bob

[Ghoste]

What is it about insulation that makes them love eating the stuff so much?

[b5blue]

There was a plague of them in Australia and they said they ate through 3 inches of concrete to get inside a grain silo! Insulation is just dessert for them! 

[71ChallengeHer]

I got rat poison at Tractor Supply. It kinda looks like green blocks. No more mice in the garage. It works great.

[bmoparmofo]

I'm going to have to do something......I think I should now remove the heater box and redo it. I think I remember a link to a thread of what it involves, can find it though. I was looking forward to the floor being replaced because of Johnny wanna be a 4 speed, and getting my new carpet and interior in. I need to check and clean the heater box now...

[bull]

I know how you feel. A bunch of mice got into my garage last winter and found a good place to store my dog's food.

[oldcarnut]

I got rat poison at Tractor Supply. It kinda looks like green blocks. No more mice in the garage. It works great.

I use that too under the house and outside.  Made by Tomcat and avail. at most hardware stores and waterproof.  Bad thing now is I currently have a stinkin dead one somewhere in the garage and can't find where the smell is coming from   They ate the insulation and glue from the wires on my dishwasher but the worst thing was when they destroyed all the handmade Christmas decorations and keepsakes the kids made when they were little.

[bmoparmofo]

Anybody got the link to the heater box restore thread on here? I cant seem to find it.

[oldcarnut]

Here's 2.   I started out the day pulling the dash gauge assy. out to check wiring condition and then remembered all the smoky looking stuff that came out the heater box vents when I first got it and cranked up warm (more mice stuff or heater core?) and ended up with the box out too to redo.  Are these them?
http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,13150.0.html
http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,52748.0.html

[chargergirl]

Every now and again we battle the rats that try to move in. Can't have them chewing on the race car. One ate all the store bought poison like it was candy. Still kickin'! It was awful and we set out little trays of antifreeze where none of the dogs or cats in the area could get to them...worked. I have had rats chew my Jag engine and man it was horrifying! Garage kept and driven every day and they would get up in the engine at night. Nasty little critters and if you smell a gas leak type smell that means a rat is in your area. That's the pee line they lay down. The scent is like gas bottle scent to let you know your getting low on propane, not like the gas in the vehicle.

[bmoparmofo]

Thats them, thanks for the links!

[mopar73]

The other day I was looking in some boxes in my garage for some parts and I stumbled on the box that had my seatbelts in and lo and behold the little SOB ate up both rear belts and one front belt   There is no poisen that can make them suffer enough!!!

[charger490]

i use bounce fabric softner in the trunk and under the seats and in the engine compartment. i change the sheets every month and i have no mice in my cars

[Martian R/T]

We have a huge problem in Arizona with pack rats they love to chew up wiring harness, they really like O2 sensor wires and injector wiring, the little SOB'S make a mess in vehicles, and the warranty will not cover it for sure, I see lots of cars in the shop at the dealership that I work at, we had one come in with a huge nest on the top on the Engine, they cleaned it all out and fixed the wiring that was chewed, and parked it for the customer to pick up, well it set for 3 or 4 days and when the customer came to pick it up it wouldn't start, so they opened the hood and the nest was rebuilt and it had chewed up the same wires that had just been fixed, they even get in the new vehicles parked in the back lot, and chew up everything, a sure fire way to keep them away is to take cheese cloth and make a bag and fill it with moth balls and hang a couple around the car, under the hood in a couple of places and it will keep them away, I guess they don't like the smell of that either.

[bmoparmofo]

Thanks for the tip, I'll get some tomorrow and try it. I was in the garage today and walked by the car and heard that little suckers feet running down the trunk floor.

[chargergirl]

I know they hate mothballs. Didn't realize they didn't like dryer sheets so we'll have to try that. We use non scented to get love bugs off the cars here in FL. They have nasty acid type stuff in their heads and eat the paint if you don't get them off.

[b5blue]

Whats the last thing to go through a lovebugs mind as they hit your car........there butt.

[4cruzin]

Nice picture Bo . . . hope you get it figured out and rid yourself of that problem. 

[chargergirl]

Nice picture Bo . . . hope you get it figured out and rid yourself of that problem. 

SMART MOUSE...stand in the lens so he won't hit me, shoot me. b5blue...

[b5blue]

Chargergirl you read my mind....lets see 3 pumps on the Crossman Air Rifle.....couldn't risk it...shop-vac that's it! FOOMP-PLOP! GOT HIM!

[bmoparmofo]

Thats funny, I actually thought about both of those solutions. I even shook the car but the little bugger wasnt moving....lol

[chargergirl]

Thats funny, I actually thought about both of those solutions. I even shook the car but the little bugger wasnt moving....lol

The "boys" pulled a Mopar out of the muck...bad muck...popped the deck lid and found a mouse nest. Figured he hauled with all the commotion. They get back to the shop, out pops a glazed, dazed, and amazed mouse. Sees the open car hauler and runs straight for it. Our friend, big guy, is trying to discourage this tiny creature, and succeeds. It's hysterical when a guys who's almost 7 foot tall is "dancing" around to make the tiny mouse not jumped in the trailer. The mouse still lives in the that car...it's a parts car.

Chargergirl you read my mind....lets see 3 pumps on the Crossman Air Rifle.....couldn't risk it...shop-vac that's it! FOOMP-PLOP! GOT HIM!

YES! OH MAN THANKS FOR THE LAUGH! Brilliant!

[b5blue]

Well with all this talk of rodents if figured I'd better set up my "flap-trap"(rectangular cage with flaps on the end) out by the Charger and sure enough after catching the same stupid squirrel two times and letting him go, (I guess he's got a "thing" for peanut butter) I switched to a new bait, cut up some peach and banana (not much) put a little sugar on it and let it age/funk up for a day or two in a jar (kinda stinky) wow 4 hours later I got one!

[The70RT]

I have had some varmints in my shed but not in either garage. The problem is I have (as of today HAD) a cat and the bitch was jumping on my cars and scratching the paint jumping from car to car. Every time the door opened she would run in and sometimes was locked in all night when we didn't see her. I finally had enough when the cat started pissing on my car cover on the Charger I'm the back garage. I would be in there and she would sneak in and hide. Then later on or next day she would run out when I opened it back up. I gave her away to a friend today. A couple days ago she came home with a small rat.......I hope it was from somewhere else.  Any way I hope I made the right choice. I would be killing the cat if it messed up the Charger when it gets done.