A few years ago, I went to get my ’13 Corvette out of storage from a good friend’s machine shop. I looked forward to uncovering it, seeing it again, driving it.
But as I removed the car cover, I saw mouse trails and mouse droppings on the paint finish. Aiyeee!! I’d never had troubles storing there before! There were droppings on the supercharger cover and the tray at the base of the windshield. I checked the wiring as I could. It looked intact as best as I could see – mice chew on modern wiring like it’s a spaghetti dinner. Did you know that thanks to Greenies, wiring insulation has been soy-based for years? Before that plastic insulation was blended with the most bitter flavoring known to man – to discourage rodent damage.
Fortunately, the car started and drove fine, with no malfunctions, smoke, or fire. And thankfully, there were no signs of mice inside the car.
So, what can you do about mice?
I’ve had trouble with mice in the attic of my previous home. I lived on a wooded lot and it seemed they always found away into the attic. I caulked and sealed as I could, but they say it only takes a hole the size of a pencil for a small mouse to get inside. And I think they’ll do anything to get inside and out of the long, cold, cold northern Il winters. I was told mice hate steel wool, that it cuts their feet. But I’ve seen mouse tunnels through steel wool and stainless steel wool, much like they tunnel through fiberglass insulation. It doesn’t take much ‘food’ to sustain mice and they excrete many, many times each and every day. And they multiply.
Mouse traps with peanut butter bait work pretty effectively, but it’s a lot of work to set traps and retrieve the carcasses before they get to stinking.
I bought an electronic mouse-stopper-noise maker, but I don’t think it did a damn thing to discourage mice.
What works the best are the green poison bait blocks. In the attic, I could just toss them about since my cat or dog can’t get up there. But in a garage, use the bait station enclosures to protect children and pets. Place the bait stations under the car and along edges of the storage space. Eliminate as much clutter around your car as possible. Mice love to hide in clutter. Leave the hood open. Leave a light on. Mice love to live hidden in the dark. Monitor the bait. If you have mice (and most of us do) they will eat some of the bait and die. Then hopefully you will see the bait left alone – but renew it once in a while with fresh bait, when it’s fresh, it sells like candy, thus luring the mice.
It’s said that the poisoned mice leave the building in search of water and then die outside. I’ve seen some evidence of this. However, this does not make my wife happy – there is a risk a predator bird will eat the poisoned mouse and become poisoned. In the case of scavenger buzzards, I think we have a lot of them to spare. Just my opinion.
I tried Cab-Saver. Not sure if it works, but it didn’t hurt, though it’s hard on the new-car-smell, but then mice are way worse.
Cats? Some people really like them. My son tried them for the mice in his steel outbuilding and rats in his hen house. The cats get some, but not all, and cats do their own ‘damage’ when they walk all over everything. And the cats have a way of getting you to love them. Then they’re hard to get rid of!
Mice like dark places, so keep the lights on and the hood open. A car cover keeps dust off, but mice love it in the dark and warm under the cover!
If you can’t eliminate all the mice in your storage space, you might tape off the air cleaner inlet (I‘ve seen mice chew through an air cleaner and build a nest in carburetor throats – the vehicle started, but ran rich and very weak), also close off exhaust outlets and fresh air inlets at the cowl.
Rats are far worse. They can chew clean through a thick wiring harness. And they are smart. Kill off a few of their buddies and they quickly learn what got them, and avoid same. So you need persistence and a bag of tricks to deal with them. Rat traps, poisons, powered-up 240 volt electric cords, baited tip ramps into a tall bucket of water, Exhaust or CO₂ pumped into underground tunnels, even Bill Murray and plastic explosive. Just kidding.
Larger pests like raccoons have to be kept out with a tight, secure building.
Get professionals to help if you need to — the cost will be easily outweighed by the damage pests can and will cause.
