Moved house this summer, only a few hundred metres from the old place but the new place has a much more rural, off the map - 'here be dragons' feel to it.

Lots of mice about, eating windfall fruit without too much shyness in the autumn, recently getting up to more mischief eating 'ranunculi' (whatever they are) in pots in the greenhouse.

 

Opened the Polo's bonnet today to top up screenwash, and was greeted with this unusual 'mod':

 

 

What can I do to discourage this cheeky fecker or his mates from coming back?

Can't have a cat, the dog is a little 'hostile' to felines to put it mildly.

 

Sort of feel that if I start putting traps outdoors I'll be dealing with a very large number of corpses. 

A mate of mine has an ultrasonic repeller thing in his garage; anyone had success with these?

I think I might trial a couple in our cars unless anyone has any better ideas?

 

Thanks for reading.

 

 

Ultrasonics can work quite well but I wouldn't say they're 100% guaranteed to work. Other tricks are to leave the bonnet open, have used that one successfully on the tractors at our farm, we were regularly bothered with mice and birds nesting in the engine compartment so this might work well for you as they're nesting on the strut top, although leaving the bonnet up for extended periods can be far from ideal but it removes their dark/secure/sheltered area to hide in. Have also heard of using peppermint oil or peppermint infused granules as mice don't like the smell. 

You can bait them but they have a habit of going to unwelcome places to die and stinking to high heaven. 

There are other techniques! 

 

It may come to that. The missus was livid about her ranunculi, Might have to hide the larger axes for her own safety.

2 hours ago, Wino said:

Can't have a cat, the dog is a little 'hostile' to felines to put it mildly.

 

Canis lupus? 😮

 

Thanks AG Falco

Insulation on wiring chewed by rats (from dealer service video)

Tricky. It is the one thing moggies can be quite good at.

 

https://www.jcehrlich.com/mice/myth-busting-natural-mice-repellents/

 

Using used cat litter seems to be one solution. But as solutions go it's a bit like using nerve gas or nuclear weapons to deal with them. The mice might not want to come near your house but neither will you.

Hmm, we have friends with multiple cats, so cat litter could be freely available. So far...the problem isn't inside the house, it's limited to sheds and a car!

 

We've attempted to pretty much airtight one shed and put traps inside to see what we get if anything.  There are plenty of places I don't mind them living, but under my bonnet is taking the, err, mickey.

Normally I'd suggest a non ball bearing mouse trap ( a female cat, when ball bearing ones are male, but not as effective), but as dog hates cats, perhaps an alternative- a small terrier. I'd normally suggest a Cairn ( bred for the job), but as these are hard to come by , something with JRT. I hunted high an low for Cairn/Westie or similar and was adopted by a JRT/Yorkie cross. She wooed us. But the prey drive is high in this .

I'd suggest these might be field mice. I had a colony living next door after she put down a membrane with access from the sides . Other side neighbour told me that he'd seen mice nesting under membrane. I didn't have a pet at this time, and it was a regular occurrence to see mice on the patio outside my kitchen. I saw one mouse feeding on a normal trap, but too light to spring the trap.

Normal traps did not work. It took very sensitive traps to catch this lot. In the past ten years of terriers ,even the hedgehogs are very nervous.

If you get a cat, you may also get presents on doorstep of dead mice.

Edited 22 November, 20196 yr by VWD

1 hour ago, VWD said:

If you get a cat, you may also get presents on doorstep of dead mice.

 

and frogs in the bathroom, shrews behind the freezer,  birds on top of the wardrobe,

and once a live very active mouse under the duvet at bedtime.

 

Thanks AG Falco

And in my case, we didn't have a cat. It belonged to next door .But it must have thought we need presents of food .

Just had a thought how do we keep away hopeful candidates to become our next MP if you don't have an ex-Police German Shepherd for a pet. Let's face it a budding Politician is the largest Rodent known to mankind.

Maybe put up a notice on the front door saying "Please come in, I'm really keen to tell you all about my incredible car!"

2 minutes ago, Wino said:

Maybe put up a notice on the front door saying "Please come in, I'm really keen to tell you all about my incredible car!"

They can see that already because it's parked in the drive. Unless they are called Blunkett.

On 16/11/2019 at 20:28, Wino said:

What can I do to discourage this cheeky fecker or his mates from coming back?

 

A little late to the conversation with this perhaps but never mind

 

 

😆

That was fun, ta. Saw him at Oxford New Theatre a lot of years ago.

 

I'll check again shortly but so far no return visits under the bonnet. Sprayed around a bit with peppermint oil. 

 

Stuffing bramble sticks down mole holes worked for me at the old house, just in case anyone was after a cheap remedy for that. 

😂

 

 

After reading the thread title, all I could think of was a rat shouting in a Cockney accent "Oi mate! Yer ****!"😁