Rats living in my engine...

The insulation wrap on some wiring is soy based, which apparently is like dessert to rodents. I have heard spraying lavender essential oil under the hood and around door jambs helps.
Multiple brands available at target.

 

gamo whisper

 

I fluid film my vehicles.....no rats yet!

 

Barn Cats do an amazing job, one thing is they may leave scratches on any vehicle.

 

That is Sweet

 

Timik and peanut butter.

 

that cat has some great battles scars on the ears. I love to see smart old cats that have dodged the cars and predators and keep killing pests.

 

I vote for a cat as well. Millions of years of evolution into the perfect small animal killing machine.

Only downside is tiny dusty paw prints on your truck lol.

 

Not sure if mentioned, but power wash everything you can. Mice and rats find places based of of the smell of other mice and rats. they pee everywhere they go and that acts like a road sign for everyone else to come that way. If they can smell it in your truck, that’s where they are going to go. Wash the crap out of everything, then when you park put sticky traps around the wheels and try to catch them.
Once you’ve caught them, build a small gallows and hang them for the rest to get the freaking point. Lol
I feel for you. Fought a long battle with them in a house.

 

I found THIS stuff, you can wrap it around wiring and they don't seem to care for the Capsaicin in it--too spicy hot for mice to find pleasant. Added bonus is that you can put a few inches of it in your tacos and refried beans too if you run out of Chilis.

 

throw some antifreeze in it and it wont

 

I suppose it bears mention that pets will drink antifreeze. It's poisonous......well, actually, it's the metabolites of ethylene glycol that are the actual poisons like glycoaldehyde compounds and glycolic acid and that's what kills. Anyway, I'll explain how to treat antifreeze poisoning, but you have......well, let's leave that out. The PSA is that antifreeze (ethylene glycol) is poisonous, and pets will drink it, and it tastes kinda sweetish, and such poisoning is fatal.

Now how about something safe if one really wants to use the waterbucket/rolling log mousetrap 5 gallon bucket device? How about simply putting in a ton of salt? Keep the water volume down to about 2" deep or so, and you won't need as much salt. Sea water will freeze at about 28.4 degrees F or so, and it is ridiculously salty. You may need to "add to effect" depending on the temperature of your garage, and whether or not the stuff is frozen the next morning.

Pets tend to not drink salty water. It tastes icky to them by and large. Of course your dog may lick the peanut butter off the rolling log/soda can.

 

Good post, was going to say something about the danger to pets. Also, watch out for wives putting antifreeze in your food over a long period of time. Especially if you have a big life insurance policy.

 

On a somewhat related topic:

Here in Fort Lauderdale we've had cold weather over the past week, cold by south Florida standards, 39 at night, 52 during the day. We also have a major iguana problem down here. So, add the iguana infestation to the cold weather and a warm engine and you have the makings for one hell of a mess under the hood. On the morning of January the 4th, with the temp at 39 degrees I pushed the start button, the engine roared to life and a second later, I truly thought the engine had just broke loose from its mounts. I killed the engine, popped the hood and found two jumbo sized iguanas chopped to pieces all over my engine and engine compartment. Needless to say, it was a hell of a mess.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/animals/a14769327/florida-cold-iguanas/

 

Iguanas??!! Well, I suppose it could be worse.

https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/1300B/production/_93153877_seal2.jpg

Yeah, I don't know how to make it show up no clicky, but are Manatees attracted to warm engines this time of year?


And is this what happens in the winters in Iowa??

 

just saying an easy solution. id assume the dog if he has one isnt exactly staying in there garage. or just put it off the ground slightly, mice will still find it

 

I think my post was missed

I've been using a mixture of Quaker Oats and Durham's Water Putty (plaster) in a box in my garage. I no longer have a mouse problem –and it was bad. I have never found a dead one. And there's no problem with secondary poisoning (from a cat or dog eating a stricken mouse). Once a month I dump more oats and plaster in the box and stir it with a stick.

The stuff is safe to handle, cheap, and it works.

Why mess with buckets of dead mice or stuff that can kill your pets?

SB

 

Taste like Chicken!

 

This is what we tell all the customers at my work as well !

 

how does it kill mice and not animals?