My body shop guy Jerry, who lives in the country, says that BOUNCE “Outdoor Fresh” dryer sheets stuffed in all the usual locations does the trick. Mobile homes, travel trailers, cars, boats & etc.
He gave me this tip after a fetid, putrifying mouse corpse violated my Eldorado. I had to cancel my date with a lovely lady after I asked her if she could bring her own nose plugs as I didn’t have a spare set! Sheesh.
We live out in the country and had a problem with car wiring and seats getting eaten. We went to the local animal shelter and got a male cat. He works well, sprays the area. The only down side is that his urine smells terrible and once in a while he will leave the head of his kill near our car. We did try the drier sheets, works for a few days only (get a lot if you are to use this method), and tried many other items listed and only the cat works well. ? Good Luck
Animal eating the car is really a problem in rural areas. A friend of mine left his car outside over the night and on the next day an opossum made his way to my friends car. I am of the opinion that the idea with the electric fence is good. I will suggest this the next time I see my friend.
I also live in a rural area and have been trying with limited success for 25 years to stay a step ahead of the legions of mice with whom I share my humble abode and also my car. On two occasions in recent years I’ve had the critters bed down in my air filter, making the car hard to start and turning the filter into a Johnny on the Spot. When I last had the car serviced following an apparent evening of rodent debauchery under the hood of my RAV4, a service tech at my Toyota dealer advised me to stuff fabric softener dryer sheets into the glove box, under the floor mats and into every available compartment in the cabin. So far this seems to be effective and the waterfall fresh scent is really quite refreshing. In the wintertime, the sheets also impart the added benefit of mitigating the spark of static electricity that may occur when one’s rump makes contact with the synthetic seat upholstery.
I’m a urine fan myself. I use bobcat or wolf urine to keep keer away from my house. i have two wooded acres that butt up againt 12 more so lots of deer. i sprinkle the urine crystals about 30 feet from the house and the deer don’t come close. i would suggest coyote, fox or bobcat urine as any of these things will eat small rodents. AND IT DOESN’T SMELL, FYI don’t ask me how they de-stink it but they leave behind something animals smell and we can’t. i buy it at Agway, one container lasts a long time
Hi Devon, We lived on a lookout at 7500ft and small critters liked our car wiring, too. They would also drag the moss off the trees and pack it into the engine area! No, we never had a fire, but we did solve the problem. As soon as we arrived in the driveway, we would open the hood of the car, which immediately cooled the engine. No little critters wanted to be on the cold metal, hence no more chewing!! Good luck!
I think the suggestion of a garage or dog is very good. We live in a heavly wooded area and the fact that we have a dog does help. However, I have another suggestion.
We have numerous Wildlife Officers and persons working with humane societies who have ordered NBS 30 from our company, LogFinish.com. NBS 30 is an all natural plant oil repellent which has a VERY STRONG citronello smell. The NBS 30 is usually added to paints or stains or mixed with water for problems with carpenter bees, wasps, spiders, etc. The Wildlife Officers and others have ordered the NBS 30 to help solve problems with raccoons, groundhogs, etc. They report it works well after soaking a tennis ball with the NBS 30 and placing the tennis balls where needed.
This is a natural approach to Devon’s problem and I hope she will try it.
Good luck!
Rae, LogFinish.com
I also live in the country. I get my dog to sleep on a towel and put the towel in the car. The smell of the dog and her hair seems to keep the mice away. Either that or you could brush your dog and put the brush in the car.
I suggest highly scented soap, such as Irish Spring. Shave it (veggie peeler) and sprinkle it in and around the car, even in the engine. My mom had mice eating her wiring and she tried this - no more mice (the car did smell of flowers when the engine heated up, but at least that’s not harmful). Works to keep away deer too!
I too live in, and park cars in, a forested area. Field mice and/or chipmunks have built nests in the engine compartments of our two Jeeps. One Jeep has had its fuel line chewed through and replaced twice. The other Jeep, once. Wiring has been chewed though a number of times. All this during 2008 and the first half of 2009 at a repair cost of $600 plus until I solved the problem.
For info - an internet search will bring up a number of instances of possums chewing on car wiring and fuel lines and photos of them being found inside engine compartments. You’ll also find out that some manufacturers (esp. Chysler)use a soy bean product to make their fuel lines. Yummy.
My solution:
Peppermint essential oil!
Living in the country and having critters eat my electrical system and other parts multiple times, and after trying to deal with the smell of toxic mothballs, I learned about PEPPERMINT ESSENTIAL OIL.
I make a spray bottle of essential oil and water and when I park the car I open the hood and mist the entire engine compartment. From time to time I walk around the car’s parking area and spray the wheel wells and grills. Maybe the adjoining garden wall where some small critters like to hide. wherever.
You can get small bottles of essential oil at most health food stores or other new age hangouts, but it gets too costly. There are 16oz. bottles from NOW foods and other brands available online from places like amazon. Those should last you for most the winter. I don’t fuss too much about the concentration, I may use a 10 to 1 mixture of water to oil. just spray a fine mist with enough of the mixture often enough to keep a good smell going.
I haven’t had a single problem since doing this. AND… it smells good and is not toxic to your baby!
good luck!
I’ve spent the last several summers out in western Nebraska where the rodents cause the same problems. We DO use mothballs… but in a different way. We dump mothballs in an open tupperware/container and simply park the vehicle OVER the open container. So far, it has worked wonderfully and the smell inside the car isn’t bad at all. If the problem is more serious, maybe park over 2 containers; 1 for the front and 1 for the back?
My friend Bill and I were up in the White Mountains on the Nevada/California border – we stopped at the Schulman Grove Visitors Center (that’s where the “Methuselah grove” of Bristlecone Pines are – the trees are ca 5000 years old). We saw the attached sign on the US Forest Service trailer they are using for an office… (No one was working that day so we couldn’t ask what they did with the marmots – but it’s 50 miles downhill to “town” – the visitor center is at about 10,000 feet…
A couple of ideas. First, try moving the car to different parking places. You might not have a lot of room, but moving it around might deter the smaller critters from taking up residence. That has worked somewhat for my neighbor. The farther your parking is from trees, shrubs, and high grasses the better!
Next I would try some type of repellant under the parking area for the vehicle. A friend swears by mothballs under where his RV is parked for the winter. I have heard Irish Spring soap as being very good for deer and apparently other critters.
I have heard of groundhogs chewing wiring and porcupines chewing the sides of houses. I think sometimes the road salts are an attractant. maybe more frequent car washes would help?
Best luck!
Rats chew 28.88 minutes a day on something. Their teeth grow 4 to 6 inches a years. The bite pressure in a rats jaw 24,000 psi, harder than steel. Spray down with Rataway Fragrance to protect, car engines, cables, stored food, business, homes. 25% of all attic fires are caused by rodents. Use Rataway Fragrance to remove odors and stop damage caused by rats, mice, squirrels, raccoons. No more nesting, no more chewing. Rataway Fragrance is non-toxic & non-poisonous
I’m originally from Switzerland and we have also tons of rodents eating all kind of hoses and cables in the car. It is very common in Europe to install a little device called ‘Marderschreck’, which means something like ‘marten shock’. These devices send out ultra-sonic sounds on an irregular basis at a frequency of 20 - 30 kHz. The device is very small, installed in the engine compartment, connected to the battery and uses very little power. As soon as the motor starts it shuts off. I’m sure this is the solution to Devon’s problem. Look it up e.g. on http://www.h-tronic.eu/product_info.php?info=p151_marder-schreck.html. Sorry, this site is in german only. But I’m sure you can find something similar here in the US.
We have used products from Planet Natural, planetnatural.com, to discourage animals from our vehicles. They have a line of natural products, the one we use for mice and skunks is made from mustard seed and cayenne pepper in a vegetable oil base. It is pretty effective, we spray it around where we park about 4 times a year. I have also used it to keep the neighborhood cats out of our flower beds.
I’m from Australia and we have problems with wild animals here. You can buy products from the hardware store that will deter animals both in taste and smell (although there is no smell for humans). The name of the product here is
"Poss-off". I’m sure you’d have something similar in North America
Try giving Billy the Exterminator over at A&E TV a call. http://www.aetv.com/billy-the-exterminator/
Sounds right up his alley. He’d probably capture these voracious vehicular varment nibblers and rehabilitate them. If he can’t capture them, one look and he’d probably scare them to death. Best hurry before the only things left are her lug nuts.