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Elise + Mouse = Oh great.......

5K views 46 replies 30 participants last post by  Surferjer 
#1 ·
So here I was, sunny lovely day here today, going to meet my parents for lunch. Thought, hey its a lovely day I'll take the Lotus.


I'm driving down my street and I feel something falling down on my lower legs? It was just a light sensation so I didnt think much of it, I thought it was my pants feeling funny or something. So I came to the first stop sign and all of a sudden I felt the same sensation but ALOT harder. I was like WTF...so I looked down and what do I see? BIRD SEED raining down on my legs from under the dash.
I turned the corner and heard seed rolling from one side of the dash to the other. I stopped again and yet another fountain of seed rained down on my legs.

I immediately knew what had happened of course. I did a real fast stop and ALOT more seed came down but I havent gotten it all out. I dont know what Im going to do.

I dont like killing things but this CANNOT go on anymore.

I purchased bird seed and put it in the garage last monday. The car has been sitting for about 5 days. This mouse has been BUSY.
 

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#8 ·
You gotta get rid of the mouse by hook or crook. Besides causing mess and stink, they can damage the car with their indiscriminate gnawing.
 
#10 ·
Yeah I know :(

So far all the lights and buttons work and nothing seemed amiss. Im hoping that all it did was store food and hasnt gotten down to making a nest yet. My dad had a mouse make a nest in his mercedes and it used his seat stuffing and heat wrap from under the dash and also chewed some wiring.
 
#11 ·
A couple of mice moved into my vette's engine compartment once while I was storing it. Someone suggested to tie up some mothballs (put them in a rag then tie up the rag) and hang them in a couple of places around the engine (but not anywhere where they'd catch fire) to keep the mice from comming back. The clieanup was easy (vac'd up the engine) and the mice did not come back. Thankfully the mice did not get into my passenger compartment; sorry to see all that seed OFL.

-doma
 
#18 ·
How would they get in from under? I know they get through the smallest holes but how would it work its way inside?

I too do not like killilng things but this has to stop for the reasons above. Any chance of leaving your cat loose in the garage for several hours a day? To act as a deterrent and run the critter out? I can also loan you a greyhound who loves to chase little furry things.
 
#21 ·
first off I would put the bird seed in metal garbage cans so the little buggers can't get to it in the first place,then...SNAP use a mouse trap, they are humane and quick ,and will solve the problem once and for all.I know you don't want to kill them but it's them or the elise. JMO FWIW:(
 
#23 ·
You can evict them by using an ultrasonic pest thingamajig. My old house had a five car heated garage and I used several such devices. They make loud sound up above where humans can hear. But the pests can hear the sound and choose to move out. Day one, put it in the Lotus interior after removing car interior and garage seeds/food. The device also makes birds, raccoons, cats and dogs want to stay out of the place. A raccoon under the dash would be a real pain!!
 
#24 ·
Jen, I just had a thought. With fall/moist weathers, some of the seeds might sprout and worm their way into smaller crevices, they wont get far with lack of light wither and die and crumble into dust thus being easier to clean. I don't know if this will happen but it certainly is plausible, albeit longterm.
 
#25 ·
Jenn,
I just ordered one of these ultrasonic devices, park it in your garage with the door open it might do the trick.

I researched (it's designed mainly for cats which is why I got it) it seems to work according to the articles.

Don't want the neighborhood cat chowing down on our small population of chipmunks.

It's got a motion detector that triggers ultrasonic sound burst.

http://www.scatmat.com/Products/CatStop/overview.asp

Chris
 
#26 ·
This totally reminds me of the time I took my BMW M3 camping in Lassen Volcanic National Park, and left the car unattended (under a cover) at a trailhead for a few days.

When returning to the vehicle after our trip, I thought the wheels had some funny scratch marks (really just more like the brake dust had been scratched away in a weird pattern). I thought maybe it was pine needles that had gotten blown up against the wheels of the car.

I didn't think anything much more of it, except then I went to take the car cover off, and noticed a big chunk of it was missing!!

That was really weird. I thought maybe it got ripped somehow when I didn't notice, or after many years of outdoor use, the material had rotted away.

Anyway, long story short, I open the trunk and there is a mouse building a nest out of the chewed up pieces of car cover (also a shop towel I had in the trunk for checking oil). Arghh!! And then he runs down behind the trunk carpet somewhere into the shock tower. I wait patiently to see if he exits the vehicle (and wondering how he could!!) but never see him.

I drive the car around the parking lot with the trunk open, hoping to scare him out of the car. I try this for about a half an hour or forty five minutes. A gentleman with his dog came over to help... his dog seems quite excited by the trunk, and the owner seems to think the mouse is still in there.

I had been rear-ended a year before, so now I am thinking the body shop somehow left some entrance for critters... perfect!! I keep searching for the mouse, pulling everything out of the trunk including the carpeting. No mouse. Not good.

So, I figure there's not much else to do, and I pack the car full of gear and prepare to drive 5 hours through the California central valley in July. It is not uncommon for it to be 105+ degrees out at that time of year. I am horrified for my own sake that this poor mouse will get baked alive deep within the bowels of the unibody (and then begin to decay, with me having no way to extract him).

So, in my frustration, I begin the 45-minute drive across Lassen Volcanic National Park taking corners as quickly and abruptly as I can, braking hard and suddenly, trying to convince the mouse he really doesn't want to live in my M3.

I get to the exit of the park and make a pit stop on the side of the road. I am sitting in the driver's seat for maybe 60 seconds when I swear to God I see the fastest mouse I have ever seen, run out from underneath the car, zig-zag across the street, and run like hell away from my car.

Mice can be very destructive, and as we both learned they don't just inhabit old junkers that never get driven, but also nice, newer cars that we care about. All they need is a way in. I wouldn't be surprised if there are ways for a mouse to get into a car made out of extrusions... there have to be little openings everywhere.

- John
 
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