Rodent Damage Prevention

[cancunia]

Mice can be a major problem that others often make fun of. After all, how can a cute cuddly little animal be a problem? I have a yearly round of persuading them to stay out of my car after previous damage. Trapping them makes no difference as there's always another one to take their place. I spray anti-bacterial surface cleaner around the front wheel arches and in the engine bay & have an ultrasonic deterrent in the engine bay that runs off the car battery. The spray is combat the scent trails.

[notsofast]

Funny that you should post this today, as only last night I was googling this very issue (prompted by the fact that the last couple of days I've had a rat in my garden eating some crocus corms, so I've had rodent control on my mind).
I'm sure there's lots of advice out there on the internet, some of it more helpful than others, but I thought this article from Hagerty Insurance was interesting, particularly the fact that the use of Bounce tumble dryer sheets - which wouldn't have been something I'd have thought of - was mentioned more than once:
https://www.hagerty.co.uk/articles/maint...ored-cars/

Does the anti-bacterial spray work? I'm assuming that mice are only really a problem when a vehicle is stored under cover or somewhere surrounded by overgrown vegetation, rather than when parked in an average street?

[cancunia]

Thanks for the link, the drier sheets look interesting for stored vehicles.
The spray does seem to have an effect, it's cheap and easy to use. I move my car at least every couple of days too.
I live in a rural area surrounded by arable crop fields, my car is on a driveway from the main road that runs past the house, there's plenty of cover in hedges etc.
The odd thing is that I was living in an even more remote area of Cumbria and never had mice problems in my car even though I had one stored under a cover for months at a time. I had mice in the loft in winter but never car damage, the only difference in the countryside was the fields were used for sheep.

[saskak]

Many thanks indeed for that post. I have not had problems with mice, but you never know. I keep my car in a garage and move it every so often or when needed, but mice can still get through the garage door.

What kind of antibacterial cleaner are you using if it makes a difference? I thought of some humane traps that can be put around the car and checked every day or so, so if they can get trapped they do not die from hunger.

[cancunia]

I have some humane traps, they are the same as these but were cheaper when I bought them from somewhere else that I've forgotten:
https://www.toolstation.com/pest-stop-tr...lsrc=aw.ds

They need a small washer to weight the flap a little, held on with Blu Tak

I use Aldi anti-bacterial cleaner.
https://groceries.aldi.co.uk/en-GB/p-pow...8600076607

[notsofast]

I've used humane traps around the garden before and they do need to be inspected regularly - at least once a day (probably best first thing in the morning, seeing as they're most likely to be active overnight). If you give a good dollop of bait that gives them a bit of food source.  I always wore gloves when handling the traps so my scent wasn't on them so much.  Also, when using humane traps, bear in mind that the trapped mice, when released, can find their way back to their home territory over a surprising distance - possibly even as much as two miles.