Rodent proofing

Yes. And peppermint too. I use the toes of old panty hose (wife's not mine) and stuff cotton balls, hang in a couple spots underhood, and put a couple drops of peppermint oil in them every couple of weeks. Seems to work for squirrels too.

OP, here is a setup you kind of refer to, but thought you might enjoy seeing for leaves/debris as well as critters.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/rust-varmit-and-ac-clogging-prevention-project.557970/

 

Yeah waste your time with peppermint oil, I soaked cotton balls with it and they just used them to make a nest!

 

Another thing that does work is oatmeal dry mixed with coco powder and plaster Paris dry . With a bowl of water next to it. Mice eat oats and coco plaster mix drink the water and die. Water kicks off the plaster pairs powder. The die about 5 feet from the bowl.

 

Old school wooden traps and cats, also trying light therapy: a coupla of cheap HF led worklites shining into the hood. The scented remedies are unproven...for me anyway

 

I always thought bounce sheets helped too but they did nothing from deterring them from getting into where l had my car cover stored.

 

Yeah, i’m guessing it’s the smell they don’t like. I’ve never seen any sign of them eating the stuff though. I jam the dryer sheets in and around wiring and then loosely wrap packets of 3 or 4 moth balls in tin foil and place them under the hood, trunk, etc.
I’ve seen signs of rodents (on previous vehicles) chewing on gas and brake flex lines so I spray Fluid Film all over those and it seems to work as well.
I store store stuff outside and in van bodies over the winter and it’s always worked for me anyway. I just have to remember to replace the stuff every fall.

 

Just had my knock sensor chewed through, I'd like to put a trap under the hood, how do you secure it? Or do you just remove it before you drive, etc?

 

Trouble using peppermint oil with cotton ball, you need to reapply it every couple weeks or what you say will happen. I tried dryer sheets like everyone recommends. The mice here chewed them up and lined their nest with them. Once mice get into your toys its very hard to get rid of them.

 

I had this problem two months ago with a car I store under a cover next to my house which I drive infrequently. I also started seeing evidence of rodents under the hood of my work truck which I drive daily. In my case I hired a pest control service. $40 a month for three bait traps which they maintain. I’ve had no problems since ai hired them.

In the past I used Dryer Sheets and Moth Balls with mixed results.

 

I had them chew thru dryer sheets also and they chewed up a bar of Irish Spring soap too! Last year I bought peppermint repellant packets and they worked great.

 

https://youtu.be/nsoVcrFyrF8

 

I have a garage cat that was born on my patio years ago and hung around. She comes and goes as she wants, but sleeps in the garage every night. Even had a specail door made for her when I had a screen door put on my garage. Cat is mean as a mother fucker. I'm the only person that she'll let pet her.

 

My cat killed one in front of the garage door the other night.

 

Im a dog person and hate cats around our neighborhood. Finding cat poop in the garden is worse. Want to know what's worse? Getting a knock sensor wire chewed through. Ever since then, I've been nice to the cats.

 

Yeah I remove it before driving. Luckily I’ve never forgotten about it being under the hood. This isn’t a daily driver so it isn’t a hassle to remove it. Neighbor just found one under the hood of his Cadillac CTS-v and luckily he found it before it caused any damage.

 

Worst place for mice was when I would camp in the Bridger & Caribou NF in WY and ID.

Little fuggers were everywhere. Food was kept in sealed storage. Once you turned off the lights and settled in your sleeping bag the fun began. Rustling sounds everywhere around the tent in the nearby dry meadow. We would place a trap in each corner of the front of the tent where the little fuggers would enter. After the lantern was turned off it would take about 20min and each trap would snap with a resounding satisfaction. That seemed to keep them out the rest of the night. One friend said he woke up to a mouse running across his face! Another camp had a pellet gun and they were slaughtering them by spotlighting them. Good times, lols.

 

We use to have several feral cats here my wife use to feed. There wasn't a single mouse, snake, chipmunk rabbit or frog to be seen. Problem were the next door neighbors, namely the bird lady. She got fed up and eventually call a pest exterminator that trapped all of them. Now we got a boom of mice and chipmunks back. Btw, your cat could be an exact twin for the one we had.