Went to start my 2012 F150 FX4 SC 4x4 and the engine light came on and was running really ruff! Turned off the truck and opened the hood and mouse tracks everywhere! Two injectors wires where ate through and the brake wiring at the master cylinder where ate through. The two flaps next to the radiator where ate up. Both injector covers where all chewed up as was the cover for the harness next to the heater. it was chewed up under the truck and under the hood. they even stored Hazel nuts in the air cleaner box and in the hood openings( can not get those nuts out). State Farm payed to get my truck fixed! I was told that they are attrachted to the wiring covering as it was made with vegitables. Any help to prevent this from happing again would be great.

 

I've got a heated garage. Because of that, I get little visitors all winter. I have half a dozen traps set up baited with peanut butter all over. It works but it's a little gross at times. Doesn't bother me but my wife doesn't want to see their little carcusses.

 

pics of the damage, id love to see that. so they making the insulation now out of something tasty? homless people might eat the wiring too then.

 

Check your CAT, it might not be working right or could have fallen off on a fast turn.

 

I don't know if I would buy the wire insulation made out of vegetables. In 2005 I started restoring a car that had been sitting for 30 years. All the wiring under the hood was original to the car (so it was old) and it was chewed up by rodents. I did some web searches and the only thing I could find was that small rodents like to chew things. Wires just happen to be a perfect size. Engine bays are nice hiding places for them. Easy in/out access & lots of things to chew on in their spare time. Glad you got your truck fixed and glad your insurance covered it.

 

Wow how long was it sitting for?! I agree put put out some traps...I really like the electric traps baited with peanut butter or real peanuts still in the shell. Those electric mousetraps work awesome!! killed 6 mice in my attic in 4 days time! Just empty and reset the button. It kills 50 rats on 4 C cell batteries. The red flashing light on top tells you that you have a kill.

Victor Electronic Rat Trap-M240 at The Home Depot

 

you could wrap your wiring in steel wool i know that keeps them from going into holes.

 

tomcat bait blocks mailed down every 6-8 foot along the perimeter of the garage,



and "fresh cab" inside the truck.




just don't nail the blocks down where your dog can get at them.... ask me how i know.


if stored for a long time, consider putting mothballs in the engine compartment. for the love of god, though, don't put them in your truck!

the smell of fresh cab isn't for everyone, though. i don't mind it, but my mother in law hates it, she'd rather smell moth ***** than fresh cab, but there are also some cheaper pouches you can put in your truck that have peppermint and spearmint oil extracts in them, and they work very well too. sorry, but i cannot find the name of that product of top.

i will say that i haven't had a single mouse in a vehicle since i started using fresh cab in the vehicles.

 

Inexpensive, readily available critter repellents ...

• Bounce dryer sheets.
• naphthalene (a.k.a. moth *****).

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bounce drier sheets don't work

ask me how i know.

mothballs ruin a vehicle for years .... again, ask me how i know.

 

get soem stray cats to put under hood and inside.

 

Have used either|or|and for 29 years with success and no issues.

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I haven't used anything and have had success over 38 years, or maybe luck. Although we did have a possum living under the hood once.

meborder how do you know mothballs ruin a car for years and how do you know dryer sheets don't work?

 

after we bought our acreage i parked my crown vic in the machine shed, one of the reasons i wanted a place with a large out building.

having been told that dryer sheets are a good way to keep mice out, i put about a whole box in the car and truck. having also been told that irish spring soap keeps mice away, i cut up a couple bars and them in cab and trunk as well.

as added insurance, i spread out a box of mothballs around the vehicle and put a small pie plate of moth ***** on top of each tire and one under the hood.

should be good, right?

that worked for a couple of months, until the mice really started nesting. i had the car under a cover to keep the bird crap off of it (cauz i cant keep the sparrows out of the shed), but i'd go back and open a door and check the car once a week or so. after a couple of months of sitting i opened the door and smelled this horrible smell inside.

i pulled the cover and opened the trunk and saw the problem. there was a mouse nest in the trunk the size of a couple bags of dog food. and i saw the little batturd scurry back up into the car when i opened the trunk.

while getting the car cleaned out i also found a nest in the glove box ... right on top of the dryer sheet and irish spring i had put in there, which gave me a pretty good clue that they don't care too much about dryer sheets and irish spring.

after that, because i didn't know of anything else that worked at the time i put moth ***** in the car. in the spring when i pulled the moth ***** out of the car i opened the windows and let the car "air out" for a couple of days.

for the next 2 years everytime i'd drive that car to work the guys would give me a hard time about how they knew i had driven it without even seeing what i drove.

i only put mothballs in the car the one year, after all of that happened my uncle told me about the fresh cab and gave me a box to try, so i never used mothballs in another vehicle again ... but it took about 3 years for that moth ball smell to leave the car. that smell just takes forever to go away.

i think if you don't have a real rodent problem, dryer sheets might work just fine. but if you really do have a rodent problem, you are asking for trouble. the best use i've found for the dryer sheets is to put them in the before you take it out for a drive, especially if you don't like the smell of the fresh cab (some don't). the dryer sheets are strong enough to cover up the smell of the fresh cab, but NOTHING is strong enough to cover up mothballs!

since i found the fresh cab, i not had a mouse in a vehicle or in the camper. even parked in the same shed, the fresh cab keeps them out. i had taken the pouch out of the plow truck once, thinking i didn't really need it.... a while later i could smell mouse in the cab, but the fresh cab back in there and the mouse smell went away ... the stuff just works.

all of this reminds me .... i gotta get new fresh cab in everything. winter is all but here.

the 79 ford and the plow truck (standard cab pickups) i use one pouch each. the crew cab gets one in the front and one in the back. the crown vic and tbird get one in the front, one in the back, and one in the trunk. the pop up gets at least two pouches, more if i have some left over. the escort (hatchback) gets one in the front and one in the back ... but i forgot to put any in there last year and now it smells like mouse, so that one may just be headding to the scrap yard... the cavalier gets one in the cab and one in the trunk.

last year i pulled the t-bird out and the car was fine, except mice built a nest under the intake manifold, on top of the engine block. so i know the little batturds were trying to make a nest in the car too. in fact, i could see mouse poop on the floor board, so i know they were in the car (could smell it a little too), but they didn't make a nest.... except on the motor, where i didn't have anything. this year, i'm putting something on top of the motor under the intake, whether it be mothballs or fresh cab ...

take it for what it's worth ... but i've tried it all. and i wouldn't buy so much of it if it didn't work. the stuff is 9 bucks for a box of 4, and you can see how much i need every year (bout 4 boxes).

there is a generic for the fresh cab and that seems to work well too, plus its a couple bucks cheaper.


what's the take away?
1. dryer sheets don't work
2. irish spring don't work (they will eat it even)
3. mothballs work, but ruin the car for years
4. fresh cab works. period.
5. insomnia sucks.

 

I've tried both of these items at the same time for a while now.

When calling it a night, I place a dryer sheet in each rim of the truck near the ground where a mouse could climb up. I've also placed 2 irish spring bars in the engine bay (one on the driver's side in the batter box tray and one on top of the passenger side wheel well).

I, second, the idea that these methods may not work.

I found some chew marks on both irish spring bars. I added a dryer sheet underneath each bar and have flipped the bars over. I will check them in the near future to see if there are any chew marks.

I'll be looking into the fresh cab product and maybe even a cat.