I too hate the rats. When we had livestock my Treeing Walker coon dog was my ratter. After she passed, my first cat showed up. He was a h!!l of a mouser. He would torture the mice to death but let him spot a rat and it was pounce for an instant kill. Wish he was still with me. I believe my present 4 are afraid of mice.
Mousetrap #1. Miss Wild Thing Mousetrap #2. Stripey. He is a true mouse assassin. I'll often find 2-3 mouse heads in the barn in the mornings.
GF brought her camaro in for an oil change and the service guy showed her the mouse nest under the hood. I've had a bucket trap up there for 4 weeks no catches. I decided to clean out a mouse nest from the compressor cover on the freezer as that's where Billy Bob has been pointing. After vacuuming I notice seed shells and stuffing behind the discharge...WTF? The filter was installed turns out they built a nest in the discharge of my shop vac
I had a Ford Escape in a few weeks ago. The blower motor was packed full of insulation. It was so bad, that when the blower was turned on the dash shook because of the insulation making the squirrel cage out of balance. We had a Honda Odyssey that had a would blow pieces of newspaper out when the blower was on and the same guy had a Camry that had a mouse nest in it with a dead mouse. Before you shut your car off, if you turn your climate control to Max a/c, the button with the circular arrow or whatever the setting is called on your vehicle, just make sure it on recirculate . This closes the door in the HVAC system that allows fresh air in. Now mice can't crawl from the cowl into your car via the HVAC.
What I have found that works ,and is cheap is this ; buy some ground pepermint leaves from your local grocery ,add a bottle of either spearmint ,or peppermint oil . Put about 2 ,or so tablespoons in a cloth bag ,or old sock . Put that wher you don’t want mice . Refresh it every couple of weeks by adding a bit more peppermint,or spearmint oil . You can also buy a product called Rodent Defense online . It also is effective .
I work from home so the Buick can sit for days without me driving it. One day I had to run some errands; on the way back in a 35 mph zone I see a mouse sitting at the wipers looking at me through the windscreen. What the heck? So I pulled over and opened the bonnet with the idea to chase the mouse away. I didn't see it again so went on my way. I checked when I got back home and didn't see any nest or anything. They are bad about getting in Mum's Buick. They even put acorns in the silencer. I was running Mum's car one day and it kept blowing out little chard pieces of acorns.
I have seen lots of mouse damage at the shop. From chewing wires to making nests in the hvac. The problem is what the plastic is made out of. Soy and corn are attracting them. I hate the buggers and try to kill them any chance I get. I’m not a cat guy but have contemplating getting one.
Had a nest under my Yamaha’s seat, chewed insulation/wires. We have a Northern Harrier that hangs out but ole Henry doesn’t have a big enough stomach for all the mice we have. Our two cats are fine with getting anything inside the house, dogs will sometimes get some. We had a single outdoor cat for awhile, then she disappeared... We are on ‘the list’ with local humane society for barn cats, need to have outdoor cats without any names up here, too many predators (eagles, coyotes, bobcats, etc.).
