Could be boatie: mouse deterrence

[JumbleDuck]

My Citroën DS is being eaten by mice. They seem to have a particular taste for rubber petrol hoses (which I have replace with SS braided) but I am afraid they may start on the electrics. French wiring is dodgy enough to start with, 43 year old French wiring is worse and mouse-eaten 43 year old French wiring is a ticking bomb.

I'm sure this must affect people with boats ashore ... what do you do to keep the little swines away? I have poison down, which they seem to ignore, and there is no mains supply for ultrasonic repellants.

 

[Tranona]

I will lend you my cat. He will line the culprits up outside the back door, probably still just alive but missing bits. He responds well to praise for his efforts. Has a sideline in rats as well.

 

[Daydream believer]

Skip the Citreon & buy a car
Failing that change the burger wrappers in the footwells (even mice cannot stomach Mc Donalds). Fluff up the dice hanging on the rear view mirror, oil the nodding dog on the rear shelf.
A builders hard hat on the rear shelf is handy if you are suffering from road rage.
No self respecting mouse would want to be seen dead on such a vehicle.:encouragement:

 

[duncan99210]

Common or garden mouse traps baited with peanut butter. Never fails. Got a rat on board once, discovered by the Admiral at 0800, dead rat disposed of overboard (with no ceremony) by 0930. Failing that, borrow Tranona's moggie.

 

[solent clown]

if they are chewing it it it because they use it for nesting, not food. Check nearby, in nooks and crannies in the engine bay and close for a nest. It is unlikely to be more than 6ft away. As for keeping them out, there are a million things to try. They seem to hate the smell of burning/smoked areas.

 

[philld]

You might want to check out this chap on youtube, he has lots of ways to inhume the local rodent population.

 

[Hydrozoan]

... They seem to hate the smell of burning/smoked areas.

Reassuring to know that they'll probably depart having nibbled through the hose and set the petrol alight by nibbling through the electrical insulation.

 

[VicS]

Ive not had any mice on my boat since Ive had this little fella

 

[Marine Reflections]

Get a small cardboard box, put some bedding inside, some food and a little wheel.

Problem solved.

 

[JumbleDuck]

I will lend you my cat. He will line the culprits up outside the back door, probably still just alive but missing bits. He responds well to praise for his efforts. Has a sideline in rats as well.

I used to have a cat who was a whizz with mice, though her habit of decorating the kitchen with live mice trailing a few inches of intestine behind them was ... disconcerting. Alas she found a passing car less easily dispatched. Later this year I hope the DS will take up residence in a place where feline deterrence is possible, but for now that's not an option.

A couple of years ago one of the wee sods ate a substantial proportion of the height control knob, which being RHD is almost unobtainable. Luckily Nemesis caught up quickly. I don't know what Citroën made the knobs of, but the dead mouse was lying right beside it.

 

[JumbleDuck]

Get a small cardboard box, put some bedding inside, some food and a little wheel.

Problem solved.

There is no way I'd fit in a small cardboard box, though I grant you that the wheel might help me lose some weight.

 

[reginaldon]

Common or garden mouse traps baited with peanut butter. Never fails. Got a rat on board once, discovered by the Admiral at 0800, dead rat disposed of overboard (with no ceremony) by 0930. Failing that, borrow Tranona's moggie.

Sounds like my late loved one, when she once caught sight of a mouse, one saw the bloodlust in her eyes its minutes were numbered.

 

[Mataji]

Old fashioned mothballs are supposed to deter mice. I got some on eBay and the mice seem to have disappeared from my garage (although I can’t be sure next doors cat didn’t have something to do with it).

 

[prv]

I'm sure this must affect people with boats ashore ... what do you do to keep the little swines away?

I reckon mice must find it a lot easier to climb up into the underneath of a car than somehow scale the smooth, high, overhanging hull of a boat. I've not found any mice on board either of our boats when stored ashore.

When my parents left their house unoccupied for three years to work abroad, I did find evidence of mice when I visited to keep an eye on it. Traditional spring traps baited with chocolate spread solved the problem.

Pete

 

[Dan Tribe]

On a previous car a mouse started eating and making a nest in the engine bay sound deadening felt. I left some cloth soaked in Dettol thinking the smell would deter him. Sort of worked.
On the current car a mouse has started eating the battery terminals. How long does lead poisoning take?

 

[JumbleDuck]

Old fashioned mothballs are supposed to deter mice. I got some on eBay and the mice seem to have disappeared from my garage (although I can’t be sure next doors cat didn’t have something to do with it).

Excellent. I shall try mothballs.

When my parents left their house unoccupied for three years to work abroad, I did find evidence of mice when I visited to keep an eye on it. Traditional spring traps baited with chocolate spread solved the problem.

The local mice learned to laugh at traditional, "Little Nipper" style traps but we got some in red and white plastic which are viciously effective. I'm trying to avoid that as a solution for the car's laid-up time because it would mean daily visits to remove the corpses. I'd much rather deter the things if possible, but if necessary then death it is.

On a previous car a mouse started eating and making a nest in the engine bay sound deadening felt. I left some cloth soaked in Dettol thinking the smell would deter him. Sort of worked.

I'll get some Dettol too.

On the current car a mouse has started eating the battery terminals. How long does lead poisoning take?

About two months, though after a month the mouse will become a Brexit supporter.

One of my guests ate part of the coil - distributor HT lead, which is a pain in the next to replace because no modern cars use them. I assumed that my local factors would have them, but they dropped all HT leads five years ago. eBay offers only extra long ones. I shall have to buy the cable and end fittings and do it myself.

 

[KellysEye]

Mouse traps with peanut butter they love it, I trapped 10 that were eating cooking apples in storage in the shed.

 

[dom]

I’ve heard the merest scent of a mountain haggis offers 100% protection.

 

[JumbleDuck]

I’ve heard the merest scent of a mountain haggis offers 100% protection.

I'd have to go a long way to find one - we only have the Upland Haggis round here, and their smell, though distinctive, is noticeably less pungent.

 

[Spirit (of Glenans)]

Relatively more boaty: A few years ago, in the now-defunct Glenans base in Baltimore, for the first work weekend of the season, the industrial-size oven in the kitchen was being used for the first time since the winter lay-up. As the preparation of lunch progressed a strong,pungent, burnt meat smell pervaded the whole area. It then became clear why there had been a scattering of crumbled insulation material underneath - a family of mice had made a home between the inner and outer walls of the oven!