What do you do to keep mice from a stored snow machine for the months of not using them? I have a friend that thought was suppose to be a mouse proof building but that wasn't the case. There must have been one mouse or so and eat up the wiring etc.. Is there anything that can be done to help this from happening. There must be many here that store machines and boats etc. for winter where there is a possibility of mice. There must be something that would work.

Thanks

I'm thinking a bait station of poison would keep them occupied so as to leave the wiring alone. I know a guy that stored a pulled V8 engine in a shed under a tarp and in the spring both exhaust manifolds were stuffed full of acorns from chipmunks.

I had the chipmunks fill the intake manifold of a v8 engine full of acorns. Really annoyed me, had to pull the engine apart to clean them out. Of course it was an engine with expensive gaskets. I declared war on them.

Eliminate food sources and keep traps set is how I handle mice.

Park inside a shipping container. That’s what I have to do with my little 38hp tractor, if not they’d have a field day with it

Plug off the exhaust and intake. Always check cooling fan and shroud area for nests before to run it next season.

Once had a nest in the air box of an ATV.

Works for me to put half a dozen sheets of Bounce dryer fresheners in under the hood here and ther. No problems.

Osky

I had always heard about putting dryer sheets in areas to repel mice, but they do not work with our super determined mice. I had mice chew up the wiring on our central air every year for three years in a row. Come spring, I would open up the cabinet, empty the mouse nests, repair any wires I could reconnect and start over. I put dryer sheets in there and a mouse actually made a nest out of stinky dryer sheets!!! I have since found out that the mice really hate moth balls. I bought some moth balls that came in little packets and I dropped one inside that cabinet. No more mice for the next two years. I could smell moth balls outside when the unit started up! I wouldn't want to smell that coming from my truck, but outside the back of the house is okay!

I have been hearing recently from some reliable sources about using peppermint oil to repel mice. I just dropped $465 on mouse chewed wiring in my truck. (They are really determined little buggers here!) We heard from the folks who work on our vehicles that they have started using peppermint oil for mice. They spray it all over the engine compartment, etc. and said it has been working really well. They recommended respraying every few months. It is not obnoxious to smell (like the dryer sheets are). Zim and I had mice moving in and setting up shop under the seat of our 4 wheeler, so we dripped peppermint oil on the foam parts of the seat a few months ago and they have not moved back in there yet.

So I would use pure peppermint oil in places where you might smell it, and mothballs in places you won't be near! I hope that helps!

Oh boy do I know this one ! LOL !

I just had a new great V8 engine installed in my Ram truck. Runs like a champ. At idle , the glass packs sound amazing, and in the increased gas milage and air intake they provide. When the conventional oil usage is accomplished, it is then , pure synthetic , and Im off and operating full bore again.

For years Ive covered any large openings to the engine with hardware cloth wire- it really works in keeping mice and chippies out , yet doesn't interfere with the intake and air needed for the engine.

When my mechanic pulled the old engine, we found a nest right in the center valley of the block itself !

I have a block heater I use also, and with this fantastic new engine, I am determined to keep the small varmints out.

So, like a good trapper, I run a longline of traps around the walls of the pole barn where I park .

Good old peanut butter , and I check them every time I do pre trip inspection. Works like a charm. I haven't got many, but the ones who do make it to my truck encounter a buffet of food they cannot resist . A couple days ago I caught another deer mouse , a big one .

As mentioned , keeping food sources away is best , but for those with livestock, or bird feeders, or outside pets, that poses a challenge.

Either way, good old traps do the trick for me.

Chippies also are caught in mice traps, but can drag them off if not suitcased square across the head and shoulders ....so, attaching thin wire from the trap to a drag , like a piece of wood, stops the travel distance in that case.

I hope this helps !

Patrice ! Just read your info after I posted .....Im going to try that peppermint oil !

How easy is that to do !

Thank you for that info !

(wonder how that aroma blends with peanut butter ? ) Could it be .......?????

Thanks everyone for that. I have heard the dryer sheets work but haven't every tried them. I guess peppermint and dryer sheets and hit them with both maybe the answer.

Those buggers can cause a lot of problem and cost a guy a fortune when they do that. Thanks

Same thing happened to my son's Cadillac

Patrice are you talking peppermint essential oils? Thanks, and that is a shame the damage they have done to your truck.

Put a cat is there …

Garry-

Old school-a cat-or pet weasel.I never harass weasels around the trapcabins.

Some good advice but this place is a storage building and doesn't get entered very much in the winter months. Not sure the people would want a cat there and would have to cut a door for the cats to go in and out. Weasel the same way. I have weasel at the ranch and they are my friend and never do I mess with them. I had one run through blind last fall and scared the holy crap out of me. LOL Just very un-expected! LOL

Thats what we did with our camper ...it did work

Traps and more traps I took over 200 mice out of 1 chicken coop for a guy a few months ago should yield about 1 1/2 gallons of mouse bait!

A well placed bucket trap or minnow trap will clean out the mice in short order.

Self repeating mouse traps, along with glue board for rats.

I'm very well aware of how well bucket traps work. They will need to get the bucket traps there also plus all the other deterrents may keep them out. Thanks

I use moth balls for storing snowmachines and outboards for each season. It seems to work for me..

Fresh cab rodent repellent , going to try wal mart.

Mice make nests outta bounce sheets!
Little - just ruined my snowmobile engine. Built a nest under the shroud that surrounds the heads. Couldn't get enough airflow to keep it cool. Died on me a long way out. Fun walk out in deep snow.

Best way is just keep em killed!

Trust me....moth balls deter Moths........... hundreds of ADC rodent jobs in Attics, its the Number one thing tried. Moth balls do not help.

I dug this out of the breather box on my Kodiak. The mice completely destroyed the breather and it's the third time it has happened. Glue traps.

Works for us also

Snap traps are set under the hood of all our vehicles and in our unsealed buildings. We use Hercules putty placed on the traps base and press them onto the mounting surface where they will stay set even while traveling.

We have done this for years. Mouse control in some areas is an on going annual program. Get lax with it for a period of time and you will be reminded that you cant slack for too long before they build back up in population.

All my sheds and buildings have snap traps set also my mowers and ATV have snap traps set on and in them. I check them when I am near the areas like out buildings etc. The vehicles I check them when I think about it. Some days I catch mice regularly till you get some control.

Bait stations will help a lot when place in a good travel location. Just like trapping any animal. Use the block baits not pellets so they cant carry the bait to cache them around the area. Make them eat the bait within the station.

You can also use old buckets or any discarded containers of any size. Drill or cut small one inch holes near the bottom of the bucket or containers. Just bait the bucket with some bait blocks and secure the lid so nothing else can get into the bucket.

Set them high and low on the ground and up in the rafters along the walls or secure them in place. Mice are great climbers and spend more time in elevated areas then the average person realizes. That is where most of your larger predator snakes spend their time also. I wonder why?

Glue boards have a short life and pick up a lot of airborne particulate rendering the glue lifeless in high air flow areas. Traps are reusable and more economical over the long haul.

Odor deterrents and repellents are typically a waste of money for good control. I want them dead with no reproduction possibilities and not just move them around if that is even the case.

Never seen mothballs deter mice.

Read a good article a while back in the fur taker magazine about using bait blocks . Take an 1 1/2” pvc with a T on one end, stand it against a wall and fasten so it won’t fall over. Now you have a self feeding bait station .

The only thing that I have found that will keep them out from under the hood of my pickup is to leave the hood up. They feel safe under there, but when you leave it up, they feel exposed. I've tried dryer sheets, moth balls, etc. I had problems with both mice and packrats and leaving the hood open was the only answer. Yes, I trapped plenty.

Yep, that's pure peppermint essential oil. You can find it online in 8 or 16 oz bottles for cheaper than the tiny bottles usually sold at health stores, etc.

The people who work on our vehicles are now spraying peppermint oil along with an oil change and rotating tires!

had a gold wing where mice completely filled the air cleaner box with sunflower seeds! poison !!! only thing ever worked for me

Thank you!

I used to have mice chew up and nest in my collapsible fish houses during the summer when they were in storage. In winter storage of my boats, the mice would get into places you would never imagine and make a major mess. I found a fool proof, guaranteed to work strategy: Moth Balls! The best deterrent there is. Buy yourself several boxes of moth balls. I try to find the ones that come in individual bags. Otherwise, use sandwich baggies and punch holes in them with a paper punch.

I cover my boats with a tarp sealing in the fumes from the moth balls which I put in all the compartments too. Collapsible fish houses fold up with moth balls in the folds. Snowmobile has several bags of moth balls under the hood. Moth balls really work, guaranteed!

Then you've never tried them. Every year I was plagued with mice. My old plow truck sits outside. I always had a roll of toilet paper in the glove box. Every year the mice would get into it and make a nest out of the paper until I put a bag of moth balls in the glove box. No problem since. Coincidence? I don't think so. I had so many collapsible fish houses ruined by mice until I treated them with moth balls in the folds when I stored them. No problem since.

I put mothballs in the glovebox of a truck I seldom drive after finding a nest in it.
Cleanen out the nest, put mothballs in, 2 weeks later, a nest!
I must have " super mice"?

Could be...… I was told by a friend about how well moth balls work deterring mice. He had been using them for years. That's how I got started using them. It's been years and they sure work for me. It's been years since mice invaded my old plow truck. That's my experience with them.

Mice have made nests in the fuse box in my truck twice now. I see a few wires that have been chewed on but everything still works. I ask the garage how much it would cost to have that fixed and they told me right away it would likely be an insurance claim as that is he main wire harness and runs throughout the truck.
Mechanic Son of mine says that they changed wire insulation to soy based and mouse problems have become bigger problem.

Mothballs dont deter mice!

Seen a guy using Irish Spring soap to stop mice in the cab of his truck when I looked closer at the pieces they had teeth marks on them! LOL

We have mice that make nests out of dryer sheets. Bucksnbears has mice that make nests out of moth balls. If my mice would hook up with Bucksnbears mice, they could produce a new generation of invincible mice that could never be defeated!!!

Besides what we do to keep the little critters out of the trucks, ATV, etc. in places where I can check daily, I do use the repeating bucket trap with the spinning bottle w/peanut butter to thin out mice. I set one up inside our screened porch and one inside the garage with a few inches of RV antifreeze in the bottom. The other day when it was a little warmer outside, I had five mice floating in one and four in the other. That sure beats single traps!

My brother and I set up a camp in CO for muzzleloader elk season, from prior experience we made a bucket trap right away, same year Titanic movie at the theater. So he had thrown a lot of match stubs into bucket from lantern and Coleman stove, one morning a mouse trying to stay afloat on the match stubs, he says " Promise me you"ll live! " We can always have a good laugh about that one. One camp 21 in bucket first morning, they were chewing into our clothes before we thinned them out.

Good idea , Patrice, on that bucket and the peppermint spray ! Im going to order some and apply it as you instructed.

Im trying to picture how you have your B&B bucket se tup (bottle bucket )

That does beat a longline of traps !

Sometime when it is convenient for you, could you take a pic of your B&B ? That would help me to see how you have it rigged with the bottle .

I do that too in the fall, at the trapline cabin.

I love it in the night when one takes the plunge. It's usually so quiet you can hear them scream as they lose their footing and then gurgle a bit in the water

I don't mean to hijack your thread, Snowy, but maybe a few people could benefit if they've never set up one of these!



Five gallon bucket, a dowel, an empty plastic bottle. Drill a couple holes near the top edge of the bucket and one through the bottom of the bottle and set up as shown so the bottle spins freely on the shaft. Add a couple inches of water (or RV antifreeze in winter) to the bottom of the bucket so mice drown. Apply a stripe of peanut butter around the middle of the bottle. Mice will get up there and crawl out to the peanut butter, engage in a lumberjack-style log rolling event and fall into the bucket. When you check it, you only have to grab the mice and fling them somewhere and leave the rest in place. The beauty is that there is no real limit to how many mice you can get per check!

This one is still getting mice now and I haven't refreshed that peanut butter since November! Also, I use the antifreeze for RV water tanks so after I fling the mice out into the woods, they would not be toxic if the girls or someone else would find one!

Rinse them off good and make Zim a New Gourmet dinner

Oh thank you so much, Chickie !

Now I see just what to do .

Yes , this is beneficial ! Ive used and seen other types of bucket traps used on ranches, but I really like this concept.

Between keeping the population way down, as Bob Jameson mentioned, and the peppermint oil , that will be very efficient ADC work !

There is a walk the plank as well. A magnet holds a board over the pail. Once they get out so far magnet lets go. Usually a screw to adjust the magnetic pull.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Original-Walk-The-Plank-Rodent-Mouse-Rat-Trap-Auto-Reset-Mice-Catcher-Tool-NEW/273161685704?hash=item3f99b48ac8:m:mkUGKVV5hK-qXkgpQWo3TyQ

Or look on you tube for a video

They only get in there when you turn it off.

I've caught a lot of red fox using chunks of Irish Spring for bait. True story !

Here's revision #15 for the Fur Shed... spring return with magnetic latch. Two inches of RV anti-freeze as Patrice mentioned, no smell and won't freeze.

Put a chunk of steelwool in the end of the exhaust pipe. Or in the exhaust can, as on a sled. A liberal amount of Bounty Dryer sheets within the motor compartment.

For outside the trailer, storage shed, or house I take a 3" X 20" PVC pipe then I put end caps on it ( do not glue) and drill 3/4" holes centered on each cap. I can put around 20+ bait bars in the tube. It really slows down the mouse problem. One thing though is to drill a hole in the middle of the PVC so a gutter spike can go through and you can fasten to a piece of wood (post, bridge plank or 12" board) otherwise the coon want to play with it and who knows where it might end up at. With this setup you don't have to
worry about pets getting into the poison.

Hawk meal bait works better than blocks. The blocks have wax in them. The wax is kind of like a filler in my mind.