Some time ago I wrote about mice crawling around under my car cover and on my Corvette while stored in a previously untroubled tool and die machine shop in northern IL, where I used to live. From that and other experience, I thought I knew how to control mice and keep them from cars.
Well, I’ve had a comeuppance.
Since I moved here in 2023, I’ve rented a heated and cooled storage unit on Rt 46, east of town. The first couple of years, I had no sign of mice in the unit. Just in case, I always kept bait traps in the unit and the site management kept the outdoor bait stations refreshed.
Then the facility was bought by Extra Space Storage (of Utah!), and not long after, there were ‘signs’ of mice. So I placed sticky traps in the unit and started catching mice. I reported the problem and was told ‘corporate’ had a contract for pest management. I told them they should fire their pest management service because they weren’t doing their job. At all. Fell on deaf ears. But what the hell should I expect for over $300/month rent!
The mouse catching continued, and accelerated! I left some ‘trophies’ at the door of the on-site management office. Not sure of cause and effect, but they moved the onsite office offsite — to Edinburg. So I made more phone complaints. I could tell the outdoor bait stations hadn’t been touched since the ownership transfer. So I started filling them with bait/poison myself. And I left some more ‘trophies’ in the automated little lobby at the entrance.
I caught more mice. I added more sticky traps, so many, they were like floor tiles. I added lots more “Fresh Cab” repellent on the car, in the car, in the engine compartment where I started seeing droppings. I added moth balls next to the Fresh Cab pouches. Installed one bait block in each of the four exhaust outlets. I added a second kind of mouse poison. I left little trays of sweet, toxic antifreeze in case they got thirsty. I tried metal reusable traps. I added a motion detector lamp (only $5 at Dollar Tree! With a remote control even! – better living through Cambodian slave labor, I guess). I still caught as many as five mice on a weekly visit. From Feb 19 – March 24, I caught 22 mice.
Even though I left the hood open, there were droppings in the engine compartment. I had left white towels on the seats and in the rear compartment so I could quickly check for any droppings in the interior. Fortunately, there were none.
I did find one Extra Space employee who gave a shit (ha-ha) and he confirmed they were getting complaints and were setting up a bait room to try to attract the mice and poison them. He gave me an e-mail address and I sent him pictures of my ugly sticky trap trophies.
I started warning other customers at the storage site. One sad, sorry-looking guy said he knew all about it, had lost clothes and important papers to mice. Like me, he had complained to mostly do-nothing employees. His unit, btw, was densely, completely packed with ‘stuff’ — it was more than a mouse house, condominium or castle, it was and is, a major mouse-city.
So, the mice won, and I lost. In spite of hundreds of dollars spent on bait, Fresh Cab, mothballs, and sticky tiles, I couldn’t control those damn mice. I had to get my car out of there. Over a few weeks, I reorganized my already full home garage to fit one more car.
Back to the storage unit, I spent part of an hour collecting sticky-tiles from all around my car. Checked what wiring I could see – including the harness going to the computer behind the RF fender. Checked the air intake, the filter looked intact. The cabin filter looked clean and intact, too. I reinstalled the battery. The door opened OK, the lights came on OK. No smoke, no smell. Pressed the ‘green halo’— it cranked, it started! Idled properly. No ‘check engine’ light. Got home without incident.
Hope there are no stowaways in the frame or elsewhere underneath that rode home to infest my garage!!
Can anyone in the club suggest vermin-free, climate-controlled, secure storage for my Corvette? Please!?
