I've heard that putting dryer sheets in your cars....will discourage mice from nesting in them.....but read recently that they are not effective for any length of time....
No, but I've had good luck placing bars of Irish spring around the car- on the cowl, a couple in the interior, one in the glove box, one in the trunk etc. Has to be original Irish Spring. Apparently rodents can't stand the smell.
I warned about this before, but it may save someone's interior. Don't put the Bounce sheets directly on the carpet, dash, seats or rear window ledge. Over the winter, a waxy compound leaches out and will melt into whatever the bounce sheet is lying on. I put them on a sheet of paper towel and that seems to work.
I don't know if the Bounce sheets actually work, but I've been using them for about 20 years. No mice so far. Cheap insurance.
I sell this product at work. We've sold it to farmers for many years, because mice love grain trucks, combines, tractors, anything that is full of seeds and is parked for long periods of time. The feedback on it has been excellent.
Interesting yet frustrating scenario to say the least. I have tried everything identified above in an attempt to keep mice out of our RV. In my opinion, the identified items do smell nice but do nothing to keep mice out. We even had cases where the mice pooped on the bounce sheets and Cab Fresh and chewed on the Irish Spring. (Our local exterminator recommended the Fresh Cab, but much preferred traps and poison.) I have even tried the electronic devices with no better luck. What I find works best is series of baited Victor traps set in strategic places. If the mice are going to get in, at least they get dead. I even use the sticky type which can be purchased readily at the Dollar Store or Walmart. These stickies may be a little messy but they do work. I always tie a piece of wire to a trap so that they cannot run off with it. I do not believe in the catch and release traps. If you do some research online, you can definitely educate yourself about the habits of mice and other rodents. One can be guaranteed that if you find one mouse, you will find more. Mice are most certainly dirty and destructive vermin. I do not believe that one can simply try a technique and assume one will not have a mice problem. If possible, one has to be vigilant and check whatever one is protecting often, especially in the fall when mice are looking for a place to live. Although baited traps may well attract mice, it has been my experience that traps are the only thing that works. Good luck.
As much as I like Cab Fresh, I still use traps in our cabin. It's been a few years since we had one get in but I have 6 traps baited with flour (works great, stays fresh way longer than any other bait and they love flour).
I put poison outside under the cabin in containers I've made that are so small the squirrels can't get in and eat it. Not that I'm a squirrel fan, but I don't want them wasting my poison! I buy the commercial poison like exterminators use, not the regular hardware store stuff. It's tough to find someone who will sell it to you (around here at least) but they say the mice easily build up an immunity to the hardware store poisons.
At the cabin I also made a couple of those wonderful 5 gallon pail traps with the wire across and a coke can on it. The mice seem to love those simple devices. Likely my most successful traps.
I too believe that going after them and killing them is the way to go. Just have to be careful that pets can't get to the poison, and that they don't eat too many poisoned mice. My uncle lost a dog on the farm and the vet told him he believed it came from ingesting so many poisoned mice.
When we were on the farm, mice cost me about $2000 in tractor repairs. Twice they got into my tractor clutch and peed so much in there the forks on the pressure plate rusted up and seized. I had to get the tractor "split" (you farm guys know what I mean) to replace the clutch.
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
Ah, although I was never a farmer, I do know what you mean by having to split your tractor. I have had to split my snow blower a couple of times to replace broken belts. Here is a pun for you, Carl. In the case of your tractor story, I assume that you had to "double clutch."
They hate anything stinky. I use old cologne ... Hi Karate works really well!
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Prince Edward Island
'64 Parisienne CS "barn find" - last on the road in '86 ... Owner Protection Plan booklet, original paint, original near-mint aqua interior, original aqua GM floor mats, original 283, factory posi, and original rust.
Mice got into the clutch of my 78 Corvette. I thought my clutch had gone because it would not move when released. took it all apart and found this huge nest. Nest is gone now and all is well.
Brian
I sell this product at work. We've sold it to farmers for many years, because mice love grain trucks, combines, tractors, anything that is full of seeds and is parked for long periods of time. The feedback on it has been excellent.
