Mouse living in my car

[kenamond]

For the past few weeks I've been smelling something "funny" especially on Mondays after my car's been parked for the weekend. I looked for "discarded" McDonalds fries, burgers, nuggets, BBQ packets that my kids may have dropped, but there was nothing.

So today as I'm buckling my son into his car seat in the back, I notice out of the corner of my eye that a mouse had scurried up from under the passenger seat up under the dash.

I looked more closely on the carpet and, sure enough, mouse droppings were here and there.

So that explains the funny smell.

So I'm curious A) can the mouse be easily getting in/out of the car or is it "trapped" with windows and doors shut and B) does anyone have any good suggestions for the situation.

I can put a trap on the floorboard (the sticky kind like fly-paper for mice) and catch it, but I'm worried that it may be a mother with a nest of little ones somewhere deep in the dash that would decompose if Minnie went bye-bye.

If the mouse is trapped in the car without food and *does* have a litter, I recall hearing that it will resort to cannibalism to stay alive. That's actually a better situation for me; digested baby mouse in the form of little turds probably smells better than naturally decomposing whole baby mice. I recently cleaned the interior thoroughly, so if the mouse is trapped, it wouldn't have had anything to eat or drink for weeks. But if it's trapped, I have NO clue how it got in there. I always leave the doors closed and windows up.

Argh. I don't want to tear the entire interior out of my car - mainly the dash, but I'm sure it's got a "home base" somewhere in the car. This isn't the sort of auto repairs I would expect to have to do, ya know? Little furry bastard.

 

[TunaTalon]

Check around the top of your engine for mouse lunch left overs like nut shells. The engine is a nice warm place in the winter. Mice left some shells under the throttle linkage on my 91 Talon and the throttle acted like an up ratchet. Throttle down worked ok but throttle up left the engine at the last peak position. I had to shut down in traffic with the ignition. But that was over a decade ago, so the mechanics have probably stopped laughing by now.

 

[rossb]

Its better that you do clean it out and fast, mouse and rat droppings can carry a multitude of diseases. So I say trap it then tear out your interior and give it a good clean, with some sort of powerful cleaner. A good way to try them is peanut butter(I don't know why) on a mouse trap. Don't use poison unless you want to have to find its body. And make sure its a mouse trap, not a rat trap(a rat trap will chop it in half 95% of the time)

I say kill it ASAP and get it cleaned ASAP since you carry your kid around in it.

 

[matthewdesigns]

digested baby mouse in the form of little turds probably smells better than naturally decomposing whole baby mice

Agreed

Do you have a video camera? If you've just cleaned the car, perhaps you could set up a camera to a remote monitor (or just record for a while) and some bait, to try to ascertain where it's going in the dash. Could be as easy as taking off the center console side panels. It's probably pretty warm up there next to the ECU...that would be a quick and easy place to check out. And while I have not had it out, I bet the glove box comes out pretty easily.

Good luck!

 

[Ajax]

My dad had that in his mercedes they had to install a new wireharness since they chewed that up to make the nest what he did is once he pulled in the garage he would pop the hood and put some liquid poison in the engine compartment bc they get hot and thirsty. But yours is inside. And yes there was a nest of little ones that we had to fish out of the air handling unit!! All I can say is good luck and get them before they start chewing on the wires!

 

[kenamond]

I'll certainly get the trap ASAP. At my workplace, they use the sticky traps (not spring-loaded) with peanut butter on them, so that tells me it's a "professional" method.

I've also thought about setting up the video camera and then just FFWD-ing through a 4-hour tape to see if I can tell anything. But I know me, and that ain't gonna happen.

I know it's easy enough to look behind the center console, door panels, trunk, rear side panels, and under the center console, so I'll look there first. If I find nothing, I guess I'll wait to see if the smell gets better or worse and dig into the dash if needed. I have the Symborski shifter kit to install, so maybe I'll do that while the center console is out.

What a frikkin' unexpected PITA. I'm relishing the thought of what my turbo compressor wheel would do to that mouse at full boost.

 

[engineer73]

Good luck with this situation. About 10 months ago I had a mouse take up residency in the hvac ductwork of my ford ranger and I tried everything from sticky traps to those small electric high frequency noise makers that are suppose to drive them mad. I finally poisened him with those little pellets that make them look for water but the smell never went away. After about 3 weeks I took the truck to the dealership and they wound up finding the homebase located deep within the bowles of the dash in the box that has the flapper to recirculate the heat/ac. It was all pretty funny until I went to pick up my truck and wound up spending almost $1,200 to evict my little mouse family but the bright side is that Geico covered everything but $200. Let us know how everything turns out.

 

[kenamond]

Good luck with this situation. About 10 months ago I had a mouse take up residency in the hvac ductwork of my ford ranger and I tried everything from sticky traps to those small electric high frequency noise makers that are suppose to drive them mad. I finally poisened him with those little pellets that make them look for water but the smell never went away. After about 3 weeks I took the truck to the dealership and they wound up finding the homebase located deep within the bowles of the dash in the box that has the flapper to recirculate the heat/ac. It was all pretty funny until I went to pick up my truck and wound up spending almost $1,200 to evict my little mouse family but the bright side is that Geico covered everything but $200. Let us know how everything turns out.

I never even thought of being able to claim it on insurance. But if I evict the bastard and clean everything myself, can I charge myself $50/hr and claim it on my insurance?

 

[GofaST4life]

, i think i have this same problem....evrytime i go home and get in my car there are peices of nuts, corn, and mouse turd on the floor, and it does stink like mouse...DAMN IT!...this is so funny to me, im glad im not the only person getting teased by a 6oz animal...i think ill taclk it when im home for x-mas break...things could get dirty

 

[JusMX141]

Rodents HATE the smell of moth balls / flakes. If your car stays in the garage, put one or two moth balls in the interior, a couple in the rear hatch and a few under the hood. Place baited traps on the floor at all four corners of the car. The theory here is that it will drive the mice away from the car and into the traps. It's worked well for me in the past!

You must get those mice out of there or they will eat the sh!t out of your wiring and cause electrical issues that can never be solved!

 

[GofaST4life]

i will be very VERY upset if my pride and joy is grounded because of a stupid rodent...making the call home to start the "War on Rodentism"...

 

[Bender]

Get a tarantula or scorpion They will be able to crawl under the dash and get it.

On a more serious note, it will only take a half an hour to take the dash out. That beats waiting overnight for a trap.
Just pop off the dash and have a look for a nest.

 

[GofaST4life]

when you guys say dash, you mean the whole like damn things right...30min of work, im thinking bolts and what not, right?

 

[flinguist]

I had a mouse take up residence under my center console when my car was in winter storage at my buddies barn. Once I started driving the car again, and the mouse's food sources were gone (stuff in the barn) it just left on it's own. I cleaned up everything I could find, and you can still get a whiff of "mouse ass", as my wife calls it, every once in a while, and that's after five years. Good luck getting rid of the smell.

 

[Bender]

Yes by dash I mean the whole shebang. All it is is a couple of screws. Just make sure you get the one from behind the glove box. You will also need to cut the wire going to the glove box light, and then re crimp it when you reinstall the dash.

 

[kenamond]

Well, I picked up a box of sticky pad mouse traps over lunch and put one in the footwell. Maybe a freaked-out mouse will be there when I leave work. The goo in the little tray is "peanut butter scented".

I'm suprised the little bastard is still in my car after a couple weeks of me driving it every weekday.

 

[TrboANTsi]

better act quick and pray it hasnt started nibbling through wires.

 

[GofaST4life]

i called home and sent in the one person thats got my back when im not there to work on my car...my mom ...id be afraid if i was that mouse, very afriad...shes packing traps, sticky pads and moth balls...

 

[asexton6969]

They typically dont go for the wires on our cars. They have easy access up underneath the front seats and underneath the rear seats. Pull out the rear seats to make sure he isnt under there. Ive had this problem in my eclipse and my 87 olds calais. Peanut butter is awesome and chances are if you just noticed him hes still making his nest. So you should be ok, just hurry and kill him.

On the side I used to drive the olds calais to school. I was 16 and crusing down the highway to school. Im sitting there jamming out to music and it was a cold morning, so im waiting for the car to heat up so I can turn the heat on. Jammin and out and all of the sudden I notice something out of the corner of my eye. I look on the passenger seat and two damn mice were just staring back at me. (They were checking out my rice krispy bar) I guarantee anyone who was behind me had to think I was drunk. I swerved all over the place for the next mile and a half just swatting at the bastards. Good times.....

 

[1gcrazy]

Just hope none of those ####ers are nesting in between your exhaust manifold and heat shield...

Well after the fire department put out my engine fire, the mouse jumped out with a burnt face and scurried off into the field I burned next to... Grr.... That was a nice car.

 

[Defiant]

Where's the damned thread with the dead mouse in the heater fan? Stupid search engine.

 

[DSM Jeff]

This thread makes me laugh. I work at a Porsche dealership and we see mice ALL the time. I've had to tear apart interiors to replace carpet or clean (these people don't touch their own cars) they build nests on the pollen filters, in the rear trunks (boxsters) and the list goes on. When things get slow we work on Audi or VW. I came across 3 cars just yesterday that had rodent nests under the hood. Side story, mice will go for wiring harnesses. We had a guy with a 997 who had his harness patched up once and then a few months later needed a $1k wire harness.

I had mice in my dsm when I bought it. I had to remove the dash and then take apart all the duct work for the fan, a/c and heat. I believe they got in through the wiper cowl opening for the fresh air. They then made there way past the fan and nested in front of the a/c exchanger (forget its real name). This was in my 1g but I'm sure could be similar to a 2g. Clean the heck out of your car, pull up all your seats because there will be "crap" everywhere. There will probably be stuff under the center console. Also check in the rear truck area, i believe on a 2g there is a vent flap in the rear bumper area. (to vent pressure when you close your door) they may have also gotten in through there. Thats a popular enterence for Boxsters. Those things only need the smallest opening to get in and out of.
Good luck.

 

[1gcrazy]

Mice need to chew to wear down their teeth. If they dont their teeth will keep growing...

 

[crimsondragon]

Put your car in a garage. If it's a garage not attached to your house, the better. Turn on said car. Close garage doors. Sit outside car with a six pack of beer. Finish 6-pack. Open garage door. Mouse problem gone

 

[laserspeeddemon]

You mean outside the garage? Cause if he just sits outside the car thats gonna take care of the Mack problem as well.