Yet Another Mouse Thread

[Rivalsock]

Mice -- how the hell do they get in?

A while back I found a mouse nest under the backseat of my 2005 4runner and thought it was a one time thing. Months later when driving I heard the definitive mouse squeak and proceeded to tear apart the interior to find where it came from. This time there was a nest under the center console (near where the shifter wires head to the transmission) complete with two newborn baby mice.

Since then I have taken some 1/4 inch mesh chicken wire and GOOP'ed it to cover the cabin air intake, as well as the engine air intake. For awhile this seemed to work, but recently there has been some new evidence of mice in the car (few new droppings, but no new nest as of yet). I have also found evidence that they have gotten up in the roof of the vehicle as I found some chewed up insulation had fallen into the overhead light, but I do not know if this is new.

I checked the cabin air filter and there were a few droppings there, but I haven't had a chance to see if that was just because they may have been sitting on the mesh, or if it has been jarred loose.

Aside from the cabin air intake, where else can the little bas****s get in?!?

I do know that my father has been having a mouse problem with his 2009 Pilot as well. When he took apart nearly the whole interior in the back, between the gas cap and taillight there was a 1-way vent designed to let air out of the cabin only (to help equalize pressure??) that was not listed in any manual or forum as a possible entry point.

This is driving me absolutely insane, does the 4runner have a similar hidden vent? What other holes could they possibly be getting in?!?

 

[nah2323]

have you though of getting one of those electronic noise making things you plug in?

 

[rlinger]

Mice elimination

Have you considered mouse poison or at least the sticky tape traps outside where the vehicle is? I recommend that sticky tape first. Poison can lead to dead mice in the vehicle. Alternatively, an outdoor cat?

 

[Rivalsock]

have you though of getting one of those electronic noise making things you plug in?

I was actually just starting to look into that when I thought I would put a post up here and see if there is any other possible holes somewhere as I have read reports here and there that the electronic things don't work for some people.

I have heard that about most remedies:

Some have said use drier sheets, others of said they just tear up the drier sheets to make nests.

Some have said use moth balls, others have said they just take the moth balls and hid them elsewhere in the car.

Some have said use peppermint oils at obvious entry points, others have said it makes no difference other than making your car smell like a candy cane.

I would like to try and find a rechargeable electronic repeller that I can leave in the car and charge when I drive, but aside from that I figure the most fool-proof way to stop them coming in is to cover the entry points. I was hoping someone had gone through this before as my only other option for finding them is to completely tear down the interior, and that isn't something I really want to be doing at all, let alone in the middle of winter.

 

[Rivalsock]

Have you considered mouse poison or at least the sticky tape traps outside where the vehicle is? I recommend that sticky tape first. Poison can lead to dead mice in the vehicle. Alternatively, an outdoor cat?

Generally the runner is parked outside the garage. While we have not tried the sticky tape option, the garage itself has a full blown trapline of regular old snap traps baited with a rotation of peanut butter, honey and brie. While there is a pretty regular stream of snap trap induced mouse fatalities it doesn't seem to eliminate the problem. We shy away from poison both because it can lead to, as you said, hidden rotting mice carcasses and the house cats spend nights in the garage here and there when they sneak out as you come in and we don't want them eating it.

As stated above we do have indoor cats, but that doesn't help much. However, we do live in the country with plenty of farms around and we have a mostly forested 20 acres so there are outdoor cats all the time, both feral and the barn variety.

 

[philsey]

In my experience, you simply cannot keep them out of your truck. I'd just keep plenty of baited snap traps around your truck. PB has always worked for me. Mouse nests in a car is nasty!

 

[Mike G.]

I had the same problem in my other car, traps and poison if you can. If all else fails get serious.... That hole in my car cover is from a mouse...

 

[philsey]

.... We shy away from poison both because it can lead to, as you said, hidden rotting mice carcasses.....

Agree.

 

[Tilo]

If you don't mind my asking, where do you live?

I'm guessing it's somewhere really warm?

 

[Rivalsock]

If you don't mind my asking, where do you live?

I'm guessing it's somewhere really warm?

Actually no, I live in Minnesota so really cold Mice never are an issue in the spring/summer but come fall/winter when they are looking for warm places to nest vehicles always seem to win.

 

[T4Fun]

geese i never knew such an issue existed with mice in the car! I always wondered how the heck they get in the roof. Now this is just absurd

 

[bobs4state]

Year?

What year is your 4Runner?

 

[adio3x]

Mice? I had a squirrel in my engine bay once, I heard something screaming in there, opened it up and out jumped a squirrel. Now explain how that got in there lol.

 

[Rivalsock]

What year is your 4Runner?

It is a 2005 (I realized after I posted that it was in the 5th gen forum instead of 4th)

 

[toyslug]

i guess i was luckier since i only got a fried frog on top of my fuse box under the hood!

 

[philsey]

We used to have outside cats, and they would get up in the engine bay to keep warm. Once one got caught in the drive belt/alt. pulley when the wife started the car. Not nice.

 

[ToyotaRKEEngineer]

Mouse Issues

I just posted to a heater thread, my blower motor failed and found a large nest on top of the in-cabin air filter.

Tried the dryer sheet thing and yes it got shreaded to remake the nest.

The mouse is entering the 2003 4 Runner at the cabin air intake, anyone know how to block this off from mice?

Outdoor cats are of no help at my house in Michigan.

Thought of the poison but hate to use that for the reasons mentioned but this sounds effective. Don't car to kill the mice just get them to move on.

Where is the intake to the outside - any one know, I cannot find it.

 

[philsey]

I just posted to a heater thread, my blower motor failed and found a large nest on top of the in-cabin air filter.

Tried the dryer sheet thing and yes it got shreaded to remake the nest.

The mouse is entering the 2003 4 Runner at the cabin air intake, anyone know how to block this off from mice?

Outdoor cats are of no help at my house in Michigan.

Thought of the poison but hate to use that for the reasons mentioned but this sounds effective. Don't car to kill the mice just get them to move on.
Where is the intake to the outside - any one know, I cannot find it.

If there are mice around, there is absolutely NOTHING you can do to keep them totally out of your car. A screen will only keep them out of the intake -- they WILL go elsewhere in your car. The only real way to deal with them is to trap and kill them. Poison will kill them, but they just die somewhere in your car or garage, and that is not good ... at all.

Spring traps baited with peanut butter are the most effective. Glue traps work ok, but they are trapped alive and will just drag the trap off.

Mice breed like crazy, they pee in their nests, and will chew up everything, included the insulation off wiring. You also must keep setting traps all winter long.

 

[dekeman]

As mentioned, do not use poison - any dog will find it — no matter how well hidden or obscure, and they will eat it, and it will kill them just as effectively as a mouse because it stops the animals ability to clot, so they literally bleed to death, and the owner typically only finds out after its too late to do anything about it. The fix for any animal that has eaten poison is a vet trip that will erase $500 from your wallet for all the vitamin k injections, pills etc.

There are some excellent traps out there, and baited with peanut butter can be almost 100 per cent effective.

 

[UtahSooner]

If there are mice around, there is absolutely NOTHING you can do to keep them totally out of your car. A screen will only keep them out of the intake -- they WILL go elsewhere in your car. The only real way to deal with them is to trap and kill them. Poison will kill them, but they just die somewhere in your car or garage, and that is not good ... at all.

Spring traps baited with peanut butter are the most effective. Glue traps work ok, but they are trapped alive and will just drag the trap off.

Mice breed like crazy, they pee in their nests, and will chew up everything, included the insulation off wiring. You also must keep setting traps all winter long.

+2! My wife and I had a mouse get into her Honda a few years ago at a trailhead parking lot in Wyoming (we were on a backpacking trip in the Wind Rivers). That little buddy shredded everything in the glove box, ate destroyed the kleenex box in the rear floor and found it's way into the trunk, where it helped itself to some snacks we had packed in a cardboard box for when we got back to the car. Oh, and it pooped everywhere.

Then, when we moved a few years ago, a whole family of mice got into our storage garage at our apartment (which had most of our stuff from a 3 bdrm house stored in it while we were house hunting). They decided that the foam insulation in the bottom of our fridge (which was still wrapped in moving blankets) was the best nesting spot... took me 2 days to clean up all the crap they left behind in/on/around our stuff (those bas****s crapped all over and inside my propane grill).

Don't get me wrong, I love animals. But, my deal with most animals, especially mice, is this -- stay out of my stuff (truck/house/etc) and you get to live. Get into my stuff and destroy it? Well, you'll probably be warmer in heaven anyway...

If you go with the glue traps, I'd put them on a towel or something since the mouse will try to get unstuck and flounder around once stuck, potentially causing the glue trap to stick to your carpet or seats. I'd put a bunch of glue traps in other spots in your garage too -- you might get lucky and trap 'em while they're exploring for food. You'll also get any spiders and other bugs stuck in the process. Only rule with glue traps my wife made me promise is that if I find a mouse stuck to a trap that is still alive, I have to give it a quick death (a shoe usually do the trick).

I did feel a little bad though when a neighbors cat decided to venture into my garage and get a paw a little too close to one of the glue traps... I came back out the garage to find this cat going nuts trying to get it's paw unstuck (and making the situation worse) and laughed my a$$ off until my wife came out to the garage to see what was going on...

Good luck rooting out your infestation!