Help deterring and preventing mice in car

I've had no luck with those mild remedies. They may deter mice for a few hours or a day.
I prefer the good poison that may leave a smelly carcass, but I prefer that over a live one.

 

Mice and rats can chew though 1" siding and enter. The rubber seals in a car are child's play for them. You have to get rid of the mice.

Use green mouse blocks scattered around the property. They will last a long time and work.

If you have a garage, clean it out enough to use it all the time. Install a garage door opener. Scatter the green mouse blocks inside the garage as well.

There is a slight time delay after they chew on the green blocks which usually gets them after they leave for work.

 

Some mice are immune to the green blocks. I have seen them pooping out green pellets in a live trap.
That's what I meant by better poison.

 

Get cat at shelter. Keep food and water in garage w door open 6 inches to come and go

 

MICE SUCK! Hate them. I've used Peppermint oil in a spray bottle to some success. BUT stumbled on to this one that perplexed me at first.

Mice seek warmth, dry, food and material. ("Green" soybean oil based sheathing on wires was/is a stupid idea.)

Eating in the car is strictly prohibited. Spill anything best you pull out the seats and rugs and clean it.
Remove the insulation under the plastic Prius cover on top of the engine or remove that cover completely.

They Seek Dry, warm, bedding.
I trap mice with 5 gallon buckets of hot water set out at night. 4-5 inches deep, covered with leaves i shred with mulching mower. then spring sunflower seeds or some other light weight feed on top. plank to edge of bucket. quickly reduces breeding population.

The 2015 V I have now I bought in SLC Utah and drove home to Maine. No signs of prior mice damage or current activity.
But it has a unusual "defense". Apparently someone forgot to put the oil filler cap back on drove it. The under hood insulation is soaked in motor oil!. Learned this when I cleaned up engine compartment . new HG, valve cover and degunked engine and under compartment. With hood raised kept dripping oil in lower right corner of that insulation under the hood. LOL .
No mice in under my hood. Sons Camry they pee and leave dropping on his valve cover all the damn time.
Soon I am going to remove his under hood insulation and soak it in cheap oil. Hang it to let it drip out and reinstall it.

Good luck

Pete

 

1. Remove the engine cover. This improves engine cooling and provides no place for a rat's nest.

2. Add screens to likely entry points using steel mesh or 1/4 inch opening hardware cloth.

- Add a screen over the intake air filter to prevent the rodent from chewing through to clog the intake.

-Cut a 2 inch strip of hardware cloth and roll it up. Shove it into the intake snorkel.

-Get a cabin air filter that has a built in screen. K&N reusable filter have a steel mesh screen that will prevent chew through.

-Remove the plastic rear flow through air exit vents accessible under the rear side panels. They will pry out from the outside.
Install screens and reinstall. A photo is attached.




3. Rodent repellent.

1. Cover all wiring and all surfaces in the engine compartment with a light petroleum based rustproofing aerosol spray. Rodents
will not chew on soy based wire insulation covered with petroleum oil based wax.

2. Spray peppermint oil and red pepper based rodent repellent over the petroleum based rustproofing.

3. Lock in the rodent repellent with a light overcoat of petroleum based rustproofing.

 

Once I found the hole they had gnawed to get in, I still had the problem of the live ones living in my car. I don't like poison either, but there was zero chance of another animal being poisoned by it.

 

I have had a lot of problems with my mice in my vehicles over the years. So far, they don't seem to be getting into my new car.

My Dodge Ram had them, because one day I found a mouse dropping on my coffee cup. In my Prius gen 3, it was a roll of paper towel shredded into a nest. In my T-Bird it was a cache of seeds in the trunk. So yeah, I hate them too.