ahhh!!! Rodents in my cars!!!!

bmwtinut · 01-01-04, 08:42

Well I pulled my old BMW out of storage last week to get is running after sitting for 2 years. No problem besides a battery that won't hold a charge. Got it running and parked it beside my other three cars.

Now today it is nice out and decided to wash all the cars before moving at the end of the month. And to my surprise there are rodent droppings on the dash of my old bmw. The past two years I have washed the car and have never seen any activity of rodents in the car.

Looking around more I found evidence of rodents in all of my cars.

My bmw 320i that was in storage had dropping all over the interior and they chewed part of the cloth wire cover on the wiring in the firewall area. They also chewed up a towel that was in the glove box that was there from a leaking windshield. It looks like they came and went through the firewall/blower area in the engine.

In my bmw 318ti (my baby) there was some droppings on the dash and the back seat. There was also a pile of those helicopter seeds/leaves from oak trees on the intake area in the engine bay.

Also in my two wagons they got into the hood pads and stored a bunch of those oak things and chewed the hood pad all up. Those two cars have seen the most use in the past couple of days/weeks.

Anyone know what I can do to prevent this and to make sure the cars are free of rodents?

Right now I live out in the woods and have the cars parked near a barn that have critters in it. I will be moving at the end of the month and would like to leave the critters here. Anyone have any suggestions to rid me of these critters. It is strange I have never had this problem before and I have been living here for 4+ years.

00alero · 01-01-04, 10:42

I've heard that you can put mothballs around the tires.

Mr Concours · 01-02-04, 02:11

I left 2 containers of Rodent poison one outside the car and one inside the car when I went to the Garage to run the engine I notuced the one outside the car under the engine had all been eaten,no sign of any Rats/Mice dead or alive so I have topped up the poison and will check at the end of the week.I would always recommend leaving Poison out if any car is to be stored for more than a Month.

I would put out posion AND traps then at least one or the other will get them,any way of storing the cars somewhere else?
If one of them dies in the car you will have real problems with the smell,can you borrow somebodys Terrier(dog) or cat and leave it in the car/garage over night?

You could buy an air rifle and have some fun,exacting revenge!

Jimmy Buffit · 01-02-04, 03:27

Reminds me of a story...

Folks have two black Vettes, stored in a barn in Horse country. They keep the dogs,and dog food in the barn.

One Vette had plenty of dog food in the muffler.

I thought #2 was ok, til I got to the engine...almost 3 pounds of (baked) dog food on the manifold, under those plastic covers...

Its always something.

Jim

Brad B. · 01-02-04, 06:13

Some friends of ours have a nice collection of Mustang Cobras, Jags, etc. and live in "the country". They have out buildings, fields, etc and a surely a healthy population of vermine of all sorts.

They use baited traps (peanut butter) and an electronic (sonic?) "Pest Control device". It's one of those things that at first glance seems silly. But apparently, it works very well. Before this they were catching field mice and rats in the traps almost weekly. Now they never catch anything in the traps and have never have had an animal get inside the interior or engine compartment.

Check them out.

4DSC · 01-04-04, 11:27

Quote:

Originally posted by Brad B.
Some friends of ours have a nice collection of Mustang Cobras, Jags, etc. and live in "the country". They have out buildings, fields, etc and a surely a healthy population of vermine of all sorts.

They use baited traps (peanut butter) and an electronic (sonic?) "Pest Control device". It's one of those things that at first glance seems silly. But apparently, it works very well. Before this they were catching field mice and rats in the traps almost weekly. Now they never catch anything in the traps and have never have had an animal get inside the interior or engine compartment.

Check them out.

Woah... I didn't know those sonic pest control things actually worked! Wow....

Good to know though.

The only rodent-proofing things I had ever heard was to plug up the tailpipe and other holes you can find in the car. I was thinking "rags" at first, but seeing as how they might just make a nest out of it instead I'm thinking "wooden plugs" now.

Brad B. · 01-05-04, 07:17

Quote:

Originally posted by 4DSC
The only rodent-proofing things I had ever heard was to plug up the tailpipe ....

Aw, that will spoil the excitement at startup. "Crank, crank, crank, ptoohie.....splat!

4DSC · 01-05-04, 09:54

Quote:

Originally posted by Brad B.
Aw, that will spoil the excitement at startup. "Crank, crank, crank, ptoohie.....splat!

OMG

scottabir · 01-05-04, 10:02

my neighbor just paid $900 to find out that there was 3 pounds of corn kernels stuffed into his dash.

tetz · 01-06-04, 07:31

"The only rodent-proofing things I had ever heard was to plug up the tailpipe .... "

I've heard that too, but why? Assuming Mickey gets past the
baffles in the muffler, gropes along in the dark to the converter,
somehow gets through the converter mesh/whatever, up the exhaust manifold, happens to find a cylinder with the exhaust valve
open, he will soon come to a dead end.
I would think the exhaust system would be a harmless (for the car)
place for Mickey.
Everywhere else is a bigger problem.
regards
JonT, with poison bait traps in the garage but an open tailpipe.

00alero · 01-13-04, 09:26

don't use any poison, b/c where ever the mice die, it will reak!

Trust me... do not use poison if you don't want a stink!

titus · 01-13-04, 10:43

Here in the swamp, cats DO have a purpose!

Swamp Cat Haiku:

_ Are we not as gods?
_ We jump, roll and purr with love.
_ Smell my butt.