Mouse sheltering in place(air filter)

So I was changing my air filter and I found a mouse was seltering in place in my truck.
The nest was right against the air filter.
I took the air cleaner hose/ tube off and put a screen on it.

 

You need to remove the wiper arms and plastic cowl and do the same thing to the HVAC intake

 

It may just be a close up, but that top screen looks big enough for a mouse to get through. If your thumb can go through the hole, a mouse probably can too.

I keep a bunch of mouse poison blocks in my garage. Haven't had a problem yet.

An alternate deterrent is burn the truck down to deny the mouse his shelter, but I recommend against doing that.

 

Will do when i get a chance
Thanks guys!

 

In addition to the HVAC intake screen...which is 1/4" galvanized and held down with stainless steel hardware...I also spray this on my wire harnesses from the top and bottom at each oil change.

 

Rodents massacred my buddies '16 4Runner. Over $3500 worth of damage to the engine compartment wire harnesses.

4 weeks of getting the runaround from State Farm, who eventually agree to cover it minus his deductible and then another 2 weeks at the dealer having much of it gutted for new harnesses.

No thank you. I've been doing preventive rodent maintenance on all 3 of our vehicles ever since

 

I have heard of rodent damage to vehicles but have never seen or thought of a good way to avoid it. I will be doing this as soon as possible. Makes a ton of sense.

 

Thanks for all the suggestions
Definitely gonna be on rodent patrol now
The screen I used was laying around my garage
Getting stuff is a pain in the a$$ with all this social distancing

 

I get the Tomcat repellent at Lowes

 

Was there an actual live mouse, or just evidence of one having been there?

 

Just the nest
No live mouse
I changed my air filter last fall so who knows how long that was there

 

1/4" galvanized screen comes in rolls. Won't rust, easy to bend and mold into shape and is too small for mice to pass through.

 

My uncle bought a 1976 Datsun 260Z in the summer of 2010 if I remember correctly; The car had been sitting since the early 1990s...

I forget how my uncle got the car home, but since it had been sitting so long it obviously wasn't able to be driven; I am not entirely sure how he got it home, but he knows a guy with a towing company...

Anyway, he got the old Z home and found a live cat in it! This was not a feral cat, either; It was a stray, but it was friendly! He was going to keep the cat, but my aunt ended up being allergic, so they gave the cat (appropriately named "Z") to a friend with no cat allergies.

 

I guess the cat would keep the mice out!

 

I found a small bee's nest in my fuel filler door once maybe 9 or 10 years ago...

I had just stopped to get gas, and I opened the door, and jumped back when this bee flew out of the nest; It was March if I remember correctly, and it had been unseasonably warm the last couple of days. However, it was now quite chilly, with temps in the 40s (possibly 30s); No sooner had the bee flown out of the nest then the temperature shock killed it almost instantly, and it dropped like a stone and blew away!

 

And also, I've found leaves and other elements of nature in my cabin air filter, but thankfully never any animals (alive or dead).

 

Mice, like all rodents, have to constantly gnaw to keep their front incisors from over growing. Where ever they set up shop...it's a guarantee they gnawing. They prefer medium density material....not to hard, not too soft....i.e...rubber and plastic.

 

My uncle reported no mice in the car! Also, when my uncle fired up the engine for the first time after changing the fluids, the car not only ran great, but the A/C was still blowing cold on what he believed was the original charge of R-12!

 

It was practicing social distancing