May 10, 2011 – A Car Is Cozy
QUESTION:
There is a question that I am asked over and over again. "How do I keep mice out of my car engine?" This usually occurs outside and it can happen overnight or when there is idle time for the car. I usually look for wood piles, compost piles, sheds, or any other harborage areas for the mice. Do you have any other suggestions?
ANSWER:
This certainly is not a dumb question Bill. I have a friend who just a few months ago had over $2000 worth of damage done to his engine compartment (wires, hoses) by rats gnawing away at things. You wouldn't think that an engine compartment of a car would be such a comfortable place for a rat or mouse, but perhaps they first get in there when the engine is still warm and then begin returning to it out of habit. Fact is though, that while in there they do what rats and mice do and gnaw on whatever is available.
I'll mention a new breed of rodent repellents in a moment, but I always hate to see us relying only on repellents, since these rarely last for more than a few weeks and would need constant reapplication to be effective, if they even work at all. You are doing the right thing trying to take the battle away from the vehicle and eliminate the rodents wherever you find other harborage or travel routes. Repellents also do only that - repel them - and these rodents are still alive and available to damage other things in the area, or to seek a way inside the structure where they are intolerable. I truly understand the empathy many people feel for these peridomestic rats and mice, but in the big picture they are competing with humans for our health and homes, and permanently eliminating them (is that a P.C. way of saying kill?) is the option we must consider.
Fact is that if the mice are living comfortably around these homes and the vehicles they are going to explore, and up inside cars seems to be a common place for them to go and perhaps hang out awhile. You cannot stop the mice from going to the car, but perhaps you can cause them to turn around and leave before going further. A few new repellents are on the market, such as Detour and Rat-Out, which use ingredients of white pepper, garlic oil, and other strongly irritating substances. I have no feedback from users in the field as to how well these work, and would love to get some. The manufacturers have claims about their efficacy, but I am always happier with the industry's opinion from real-world uses.
Rat-Out, for example, is a gel that is labeled quite liberally for use just about anywhere, inside or outside, where rodents are a problem. The label says to apply it to "any surface where rodents travel", including trees, roofing, and around any entry points you find. It suggests creating a "rodent-free zone by surrounding the area with gel", bringing a picture to my mind of a circle of gel around the car on the asphalt driveway. This almost seems like spreading salt to keep a vampire away, doesn't it? The label for DeTour is more extensive, and it claims that rodents affected by the repellent will stay away for 30 days as long as the repellent is still in place. This could be, given that these are creatures of habit that figure out when something hazardous is in a place. This product also offers more use sites, but the ingredients are the same
However, I really like the additional instructions on the DeTour label, in which they say "use DeTour in conjunction with a sound rodent eradication strategy". In other words, the repellent should be considered a stop-gap tool to protect sensitive places and items as you implement the more important overall strategy of ELIMINATING the rodent pests. By pushing them away from a preferred harborage you may cause them to move about more and encounter your traps or baits, and this could enhance your results.
View past Ask Mr. Pest Control questions.
There is a question that I am asked over and over again. "How do I keep mice out of my car engine?" This usually occurs outside and it can happen overnight or when there is idle time for the car. I usually look for wood piles, compost piles, sheds, or any other harborage areas for the mice. Do you have any other suggestions?
ANSWER:
This certainly is not a dumb question Bill. I have a friend who just a few months ago had over $2000 worth of damage done to his engine compartment (wires, hoses) by rats gnawing away at things. You wouldn't think that an engine compartment of a car would be such a comfortable place for a rat or mouse, but perhaps they first get in there when the engine is still warm and then begin returning to it out of habit. Fact is though, that while in there they do what rats and mice do and gnaw on whatever is available.
I'll mention a new breed of rodent repellents in a moment, but I always hate to see us relying only on repellents, since these rarely last for more than a few weeks and would need constant reapplication to be effective, if they even work at all. You are doing the right thing trying to take the battle away from the vehicle and eliminate the rodents wherever you find other harborage or travel routes. Repellents also do only that - repel them - and these rodents are still alive and available to damage other things in the area, or to seek a way inside the structure where they are intolerable. I truly understand the empathy many people feel for these peridomestic rats and mice, but in the big picture they are competing with humans for our health and homes, and permanently eliminating them (is that a P.C. way of saying kill?) is the option we must consider.
Fact is that if the mice are living comfortably around these homes and the vehicles they are going to explore, and up inside cars seems to be a common place for them to go and perhaps hang out awhile. You cannot stop the mice from going to the car, but perhaps you can cause them to turn around and leave before going further. A few new repellents are on the market, such as Detour and Rat-Out, which use ingredients of white pepper, garlic oil, and other strongly irritating substances. I have no feedback from users in the field as to how well these work, and would love to get some. The manufacturers have claims about their efficacy, but I am always happier with the industry's opinion from real-world uses.
Rat-Out, for example, is a gel that is labeled quite liberally for use just about anywhere, inside or outside, where rodents are a problem. The label says to apply it to "any surface where rodents travel", including trees, roofing, and around any entry points you find. It suggests creating a "rodent-free zone by surrounding the area with gel", bringing a picture to my mind of a circle of gel around the car on the asphalt driveway. This almost seems like spreading salt to keep a vampire away, doesn't it? The label for DeTour is more extensive, and it claims that rodents affected by the repellent will stay away for 30 days as long as the repellent is still in place. This could be, given that these are creatures of habit that figure out when something hazardous is in a place. This product also offers more use sites, but the ingredients are the same
However, I really like the additional instructions on the DeTour label, in which they say "use DeTour in conjunction with a sound rodent eradication strategy". In other words, the repellent should be considered a stop-gap tool to protect sensitive places and items as you implement the more important overall strategy of ELIMINATING the rodent pests. By pushing them away from a preferred harborage you may cause them to move about more and encounter your traps or baits, and this could enhance your results.
View past Ask Mr. Pest Control questions.
