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.

 

[crimsondragon]

Whoops I meant garage.

 

[kenamond]

Well, no go on the sticky PB trap yet. And from what folks are saying, the mouse can come and go as he/she pleases. I know that since the weather turned cold we've seen mice droppings in the garage. I guess I'll start cleaning out the droppings and pulling the easy parts off to clean up additional "gifts" and, if I find them, nests. I'm wondering if it's possible/practical to screen off all of the entrances into the driver's compartment. Sure, the mice could chew through it, but maybe it'd be enough of an impediment that they'd not bother.

I might also lock our cat in the garage at nights. The cat's been misbehaving for a year or so (pissing on the carpet occasionally), and she's been getting much better, so I don't wanna piss her off. But she'd definitely take care of the mice that have set up shop in there.

Thanks for all the info.

 

[GofaST4life]

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

THAT made my day!

 

[DSM Jeff]

Well, no go on the sticky PB trap yet. And from what folks are saying, the mouse can come and go as he/she pleases. I know that since the weather turned cold we've seen mice droppings in the garage. I guess I'll start cleaning out the droppings and pulling the easy parts off to clean up additional "gifts" and, if I find them, nests. I'm wondering if it's possible/practical to screen off all of the entrances into the driver's compartment. Sure, the mice could chew through it, but maybe it'd be enough of an impediment that they'd not bother.
Thanks for all the info.

I would say to look for the vent openings up front. Use some metal gutter guard and cut some "covers" for the vent openings (cowl and I do believe theres one around the rear trunk area, you'd have to remove the rear inner plastics) Maybe use some silicon to hold it in place. This may keep them back. They love insulation. Even check your garage for this or if you keep any kind of foods. I can't tell you how many cars I see with house insulation and animal food that mice carry into cars and store or make nests with. Also drop the blower fan under the dash. I believe you can remove these relatively easy on a 2nd gen and see if theres any "crap" in there.

Good luck.

 

[eclipsemustang]

this thread makes ne worry i just stored my car in my grandparents barn for the winter, and i always put a ton of bounce sheets and moth balls in my car to keep the mice out, because they used to nest in the trunk of my dads car when he stored his car and it would smell like mice urine for most of the next year. but when i stored my car last weekend i was in a hurry and didnt put anything in or around my car to keep those rodents out

 

[Defiant]

Ah, here's the little cuffer:
http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/hangout/189844-blower-motor-vibration-not-what-i-expected.html

 

[whyadsm]

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.

What kind of car seat you have in the back? infant or toddler ? Please help I have an infant child and I need car seat for him. I dont want to get rid of my 99gsx.haha

 

[Neezer]

Haha, totally not related to the topic! But this might somewhat help... http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/app...362661-rear-facing-car-seat-97-spyder-gs.html But I know that my friend sold his GST because he was having a kid and needed a more practical car.

 

[KazooGS-T]

This is a thread that's going on three years old. You can always look at the recaro and sparco baby seats.

 

[BGuinard]

I'd set the trap in hopes there is no mouse family to rot in your dash..

 

[gusu]

This reminds me of when a cat was keep warm by laying near the engine block of on of my family's old cars.

My dad turned on the car and the cat couldn't get back out and it smelled very toasty after the long 6 hour drive on the interstate. We also had a snake get caught in a pulley one time when I was living in Florida. Another rattle snake bites the dust...

 

[AndrewD5418]

Ah, here's the little cuffer:
http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/hangout/189844-blower-motor-vibration-not-what-i-expected.html

He thought it was a Gerbel wheel....

 

[viprez586]

Wow, old thread revival FTW.

I just got paid 8 hours to repair knock sensor wiring on an '97 LS400. The knock sensors sit in the "valley" of the V8 so you have to separate the plenum and remove it. Which can be a minor PITA.
The whole time I was working on removing it I could barely breathe, nothing like rodent droppings/fur baked into the valley. When I couldn't bear it anymore I'd take a break spraying Lysol over everything, vacuuming out what I could. When finished and cleaned it still stunk!

Needless to say if you park outside I'd definitely look into rodent repellent. They love Lexus cars!

 

[kenamond]

Surfed across my old thread and realized that I could end that story.

Flash back 5 years...

Went to work, snow on the ground, returned to my car and saw the little frakker standing on the snow by my front passenger tire (actually, the mouse was really cute in hindsight, but it was frikkin' Satan incarnate at the time), so (who knows if anyone saw this) I stomped, screamed, kicked the wheel (yes, it hurt), then ran over to the drivers side, hopped in, and hauled ass gettin' 'er sideways (in snow, that's the usual...no mouse required).

Either little Mickey/Minnie mouse was abandoned in the snow or made it back into the car and decided to pack up shop, but the little furball was gone thereafter.

The aftermath:

Interior carpet sub-padding is 5-star mouse bedding material. A big lump of it was arranged on my intake manifold. Years later, I found more on a shelf in my garage.

Checking compression, I found dried mouse-piss-pools on the valve cover under the plastic spark plug cover (just hoping the little shit got burned before escaping).

Found a peach pit under the carpet under my driver's seat. You gotta give the little shit credit for somehow dragging a peach pit up into the car, through the HVAC, and under the carpet.

If I turned my vent fan to position #3, it spat out hunks of napkin and tissue into the passenger foot area.

So I dropped the vent fan under the passenger dash ( upside down, head on the floor, feet over the passenger seat head rest...I'm 6'2") and extract about 1 cup of cat food and a couple tissues from inside the fan wheel. Irony.

The mouse poo/pee smell went away after a couple years. However, I still can't turn the vent fan over #2 without hearing some sort of buzzing sound. I was an idiot and didn't try the fan in-place but not-bolted, so after I went inverted again, feet in the air, cramped up my neck, shoulder, and wrist screwing the fan back to the dash, I noticed that a napkin or something was still in the duct-work and got sucked back into the fan wheel.

So did the mouse win? A tie?

All I know is that when I see signs of mice in my garage, I now set 8 old-fashioned, smash-em-in-half mouse traps in my garage *and* lock my cat in the garage. No mice since.

 

[undefined0000]

Epic, just epic.

 

[serviceguy]

My car has been in the garage for more than two years now, and for most of the time I believed there were no mice in the garage. That is until I had a look at the intake manifold. The area on top of the runners was literally covered in mouse shit, I could have scooped it up it was that much! Now that I am closer to finish it up I am afraid of looking at the interiors and find traces of mice residency. Luckily enough I could not find any trace of chewed up wires, but again when it comes to clean up the interior it may be a different story. The kicker is that my wife loves the little critters and disposed of all the mouse traps I bought when i lived in my previous apartment, she even went to the extent of making a little mouse-house with a cardboard box filled with paper and put it in the garage, so any extermination will have to be carried out in a stealthy way...before being documented on the internet! I could only wish my cat would be of any help with this matter, the little creep is scared by her own shadow!

 

[H@xtGSX]

That's both hilarious and really shitty, literally. I still think the guy who said put the car in the garage, turn it on, shut the garage and wait until it chokes the motor out is a f**king GENIUS. That was Stephen Hawking brilliant! I want to buy that guy a beer.

 

[serviceguy]

I think you may want to re-phrase that maybe? Let's leave name calling and considerations on other people's views for ourselves.

 

[Calan]

Seriously? That was sarcasm...did you not see the smiley? I don't even know your wife; she may be a brain surgeon for all I know.

But hey.... whatever. I deleted it so you and your wife won't get your little feelings hurt.

 

[H@xtGSX]

Seriously? That was sarcasm...did you not see the smiley? I don't even know your wife; she may be a brain surgeon for all I know.

But hey.... whatever. I deleted it so you and your wife won't get your little feelings hurt.

Damn Craig, you're a dick.

 

[kenamond]

Seriously? That was sarcasm...did you not see the smiley? I don't even know your wife; she may be a brain surgeon for all I know.

But hey.... whatever. I deleted it so you and your wife won't get your little feelings hurt.

Okay. I gotta know what you posted. MODERATOR: Calan can't offend me. Friendly banter. He may reference virginal qualities or otherwise insult me, but it's okay (and it reasserts the fact that he's PMS'ing) .

This all assumes you were insulting me and not some other member (...assault...member).

Craig, you can insult me via PM...I'm curious! BTW, wassup bro?!

 

[Auto RS T]

Great update! That mouse was really feeling at home apparently. I'd say the mouse got you pretty good, but at the same time abandoning the little turd at your work may have gone in your favor. One of those "fellow employees" that you may not like so well, could have acquired a new mate for the daily commute, on you.

 

[kenamond]

Great update! That mouse was really feeling at home apparently. I'd say the mouse got you pretty good, but at the same time abandoning the little turd at your work may have gone in your favor. One of those "fellow employees" that you may not like so well, could have acquired a new mate for the daily commute, on you.

I should do some research on which sounds really piss off mice. If there is such a thing, put it on your iPod, hook your battery up to a charger, open the garage door, and play that track on infinite repeat overnight at max volume (assuming the neighbors don't call the cops).

In hindsight, I think folks should realize that the "run the car all night with the garage door shut until the car runs out of O2" solution can kill you and your family. I recall hearing stories of the carbon monoxide seeping through from the garage to someone's house and killing them. FYI. I guess this would be okay for a detached garage, though .

 

[j5productions]

i can relate to this story. About a week or so after getting my gs, i was smelling this weird smell (took out the bad air fresheners) so i decided to clean everything up and sure enough when i removed my back seats, there was a decaying mouse and LOTS of ants eating it and trying to nest in the back seat foam. now I hope the ants are gone for good, since it is winter-ish around here and to cold for them to live in there.

 

[kenamond]

i can relate to this story. About a week or so after getting my gs, i was smelling this weird smell (took out the bad air fresheners) so i decided to clean everything up and sure enough when i removed my back seats, there was a decaying mouse and LOTS of ants eating it and trying to nest in the back seat foam. now I hope the ants are gone for good, since it is winter-ish around here and to cold for them to live in there.

Not only dead but ant food. Nice!

Take the back seat out, grab a tarp ($5 at a hardware store), cover the seat and leave it outside in the winter chill for a few nights. Not sure how cold ants can take, but it might work. Would let it air out a bit, too. That rotting mouse funk is probably in the foam a bit.

I guess my experience was a bit tame. Still sucked though.