My 98 F-150 extended cab seems to be letting a mouse in somewhere. Lately I find droppings in or around the cup holders. All my doors fit well, truck is still like new, no rust or anything. Has anybody heard of a common spot that they may be able to get in? I'm going to set a trap inside tonight and see what I get. I gotta find the opening though, my truck sits outside even in the Winter, those little guys will just keep coming back in.

Thanks.... spotty

 

Sorry to hear that you have a mouse getting inside your truck, those little critters can fit thru the smallest places i swear. So he could be getting in from many places. Maybe somewhere in your firewall there could be an opening there, maybe one the gaskets is out or has fallen out and he's getting in that way. I live out in the woods some what and im always getting small critters in there, mostly bugs but if they wanna get in there gunna get in no matter what you do. One thing I wouldnt do is leave any kind of poisen in there, its better to have a alive mouse then a dead stinky mouse you cant find.

 

Get a cat to sleep in the truck.

 

I never use poison, actually I use one of those humane traps you get for a buck at "Wally Town". I have good luck with those, kind of hard to clean the peanut butter out of though.

 

I have have a friend that has had this same problem before. What we found is the rubber gromet under the passenger door's kick panel was missing. the little critter was running down the frame rail, jumping in the hole, and following the channel up past the fuel shut-off switch and into the dash. That might be a good place to start.

 

lol I have 5 if you need one, just kidding my wife would kill me.

 

I checked that grommet, all was OK. I looked all over the firewall inside and out, all looks tight. I did notice something on the outside on the back of the cab. If you look up between the back of the cab and the box you will see on each side near each end what appear to be some type of louver. On the one side I could get my hand up there and between the plastic it feels like fabric. On one of them I can poke my finger in, as if the fabric is broken. Couple of mice could easily fit thru there. Does anyone know what these are and what is behind it? I flipped the seats down but I have to figure out how to get the back of the seat off so maybe I can see what's back there.

Spotty

 

It's also possible he just went in when your door was open. Mice run like bullets and can jump quite high too. A normal mousetrap will catch him. I had a family of mice in my old cutlass (it had "happy doors" ) and I caught them all with the simple wooden traps.

 

Yah, he might have just jumped in. Lot of times when I start it up in the AM one will run out from underneath. I checked oil the other day and there was a dead one on top of the fan shroud, kind of hacked up.(he was dead) So many critters where we live we just accept a certain amount of "interaction"

 

You better fix that, man. It reminds me of an episode of Pimp My Ride, there was a lot of rat feces in a car and they were taking off all inside of the car and stuff and then they found a big ol' rat. Nasty stuff, man. Hopefully you don't let it go to that extent, but believe me, it was some nasty stuff.

 

Try throwing a few mothballs in the glove box under the seats etc they hate them things and will stay out

 

yes by all means get rid of the mice. My daughter used to work at a dealership and had a coustomer who had a nest under the dash and they chewed up almost $10,000.00 worth of leather and electronics.

 

Well, I spent a lot of time this weekend on this matter, but I may have it solved. I took all my tools and parts I keep in the backseat( it's my work truck) flipped the back seat down, unbolted the back of the back seat and removed it. Not a lot of droppings but some. Shop vac'd the interior completely, then set a humane trap on the front floor before dark. About one hour later I went out to check, little brown mouse in trap. Took him back by the woodpile, let him go. Did this 3 more times, within 20 minutes I would have another mouse. Finally I went to bed next morning another mouse in trap. I crawled all over that truck in and out could not find an opening. So I figure a mouse being a creature of habit may be able to tell me where he is getting in. So Saturday night I set the trap in the same place on the floor. Go out about hour after dark, mouse in trap. This time I let him go inside the truck. Without hesitation he runs right to the drivers side kick panel, and up over and is gone. So I reset the trap, replay this scenario 3 or 4 times, each time they head right to that kick panel. So Sunday morning I pull of the plastic door sill and driver kick panel. Down in that channel the parking brake cable exits the vehicle thru a oblong shaped grommet. Here the grommet was not placed in the hole correctly, just enough room for a mouse to fit thru. There was so much rust and gunk near that grommet, about 6 inches each way, I think water,salt and such has been getting in there since the day it left the factory. Cleaned all up, let dry, siliconed the grommet in, from both sides, nice tight seal. Here the little guys were walking down the frame rail, doing the high wire act across the parking brake cable, thru that little hole, down the channel and up and over the kick panel. I put some peanut butter on that cable between the frame rail and the grommet, checked after dark last night, eaten clean. I set the trap in the truck last night, no visitors. I hope this helps someone solve a similar problem in the future. I won for now, but am not 100% sure they won't be back.


Spotty

 

sounds like you might have got them. let us know how it works out. I never would have thought of watching the same mouse over and over again. I would have killed the little *******.