Keeping Mice out of your equipment

[johnsond98]

Like said earlier, fabric softener sheets seem to work. That is what I put in my boat to store it over the winter months and have not had any problems so far. Plus they smell good, unlike moth balls. Worth a try anyway. I also use the little electric boxes that plug into the outlet. From what they say, it sends out a signal of somekind thru the wiring that rodents and birds do not like, and ever since I've had it there are not nearly as many birds in my garage anymore.

 

[HLNTOIZ]

I also use the little electric boxes that plug into the outlet.

Can you post a link. I do have a power outlet in one machine.

 

[johnsond98]

Can you post a link. I do have a power outlet in one machine.

Sorry, I should have been more specific. It is a box that plugs into the 110v outlet in my garage. Do a quick search for "electronic rodent control" and you will see what I am talking about. Good luck, mice can be such a pain:drinkup

 

[stock]

What we used in a dump was a ferret,leave him in the cage over night in each machine,moving him daily and the vermin get his scent they are off very quickly as he is their natural predator.Now they tell me that any ermine urine will do the trick also, but I can vouch for ferret pee as it did work for us on the compactors and dozers and a Toyota van once where an undesirable long tailed bucktoothed critter took up residence.

 

[mule]

Ohhhh! come on stock tell the whole story....or I might.

 

[stock]

Well mule and myself were on our way to a job and were sicker than a small hospital from being on the razz for the weekend before.(long before we knew alcohol was still in the system the following morning) It was around the middle of January and it was bitter cold,Mule threw the nose bag down under the seat rolled up a pair of leggings and nodded off, how he managed to sleep is beyond me the side door was missing the door seal and the back door was held closed with a wedge of wood jammed down behind the back bumper.
The exhaust was broken on the haul road for the umpteen time, the noise and fumes did nothing to aid my sickness or headache.We rattled along our journey when something moved under the dash,there was a bone curling squeal Mule jumped in fright kicked the dash and out popped a rat.
Now to say I have a morbid fear of rats would be an understatement,saw the rat braked ;mule slid forward hit the rat who sank his teeth in to mules boot, while trying to have his tail freed,by now I had the door open and had vacated the vehicle which was free-wheeling into a hedge with mule roaring to have the rat removed.To shorten the story we were late for work,the van had to be rescued only to be left behind the digger I was driving,and your's truly tracked back over it with Mule nose bag and flask still under the seat.So all in all it wasn't a good day for mule.Happy now Mule.

 

[willie59]

Well mule and myself were on our way to a job...

Ahh, tis a shame there's not a Utube video of this adventure. I would have been LMAO if I had seen this. Stock abandons the moving vehicle and leaves mule to deal with his new found aquaintance firmly attached to his boot...and the hedge row!

I would be laughing to tears. :falldownlaugh

 

[liebherr1160]

Remember in the movie Aliens(unedited version) ..they had these centurion robots ..whit armor piecing exploding tip high caliber chain gun's ..couple thousand rounds each..
Remember they were guided by sound, infrared and motion radar ...

That'll fix the mice..even vandal's...just remember to unplug them before you go to work :thumbsup..

 

[Speedpup]

and for the squirrels this was my problem.

Did a job and the guy went belly up. So I left the Lull on the job from past January as the bomding company was doing squat. I figured machine may as well sit there as clutter my yard and I won't look so slow.

Drive over start and charge the batteries every few months runit coat the pistons. Start machine up and batteries crank it over and it starts right up. Go to extend the boom and hear two pops! I say this is not good! How could this happen just when I just started the machine, We all know things all break but the odds of first extension on boom is wierd

Get out and start to look:cool2 for reason for the noise. I see the hose sheave or trolley is not in good shape. Also the hoses and cable is in the same boat. :jawdrop, While assessing the damage Mrs. Squirrel runs out in a hurry. I take the back cover off the boom and see a very nice nest:crying Problem is part of the nest was sucked into the cable pulley at the back of the boom and was jammed so tight the cable anchor snapped.:Banghead

Now I say she left let's clean the boom out. Bright yellow shirt around the pulley and parts of a sweat shirt amongst other things like insulation. Start to put my hand in there and remove some stuff. Then next trip for my hand and I feel something that feels like poop. My hand recoils rapidly in disgust:shf

Error on my part it was not poop it was a baby squirrel with no hair. Now the poor b*****d is dangling out the back of the boom with it's rear feet kicking in the air. I gave up on any further work and pushed him back into his nursery. Figured the machine sat so long whats the difference. Hope his mother came back. That was about 5-6 weeks ago so this Saturday he was grown and gone. Well I just brought up a squirrel for 400+ in parts and a days labor :woohoo

 

[willie59]

Well I just brought up a squirrel for 400+ in parts and a days labor :woohoo

Ahh, the travails of being a...Dad?

 

[OFF]

And old cowboy just told me Irish Spring bar soap is the ticket, for packrats. If you could trade packrats for mice you'd take the mice every time!! I'm going to give it a try.

We use Irish Spring too. Works like a hot dam and it smells way better than moth balls

 

[powerjoke]

I wasnt gonna read all the post so this may be a duplicate......

In the combine and other stuff that sits we use some stuff called "Cab Fresh" it looks and smells like ceader chips and its in a net baggie, throw a bag in under the seat every fall and no mice in the spring . get it at a farm store or I get mine at the tractor dealership's (all of them around here have it). Good luck

Pj

 

[HLNTOIZ]

I wasnt gonna read all the post so this may be a duplicate......

In the combine and other stuff that sits we use some stuff called "Cab Fresh" it looks and smells like ceader chips and its in a net baggie, throw a bag in under the seat every fall and no mice in the spring . get it at a farm store or I get mine at the tractor dealership's (all of them around here have it). Good luck

Pj

Thanks PJ I am going to try and find some. Maybe I will do everthing. Irish spring, Fabric Softener, and a few moth balls. It is cheep enough after finding a mouse house in one of my trucks it would be worth any try.

 

[Colorado Digger]

yeah, i think i will go will all suggestions as well. the other day i popped the hood on my work truck and the darned pack rat just looked at me! besisdes that there are some good suggestions here. i also want to pick up a few barn cats for the shop. will have to stop feedind the critter's deacon though. we also have problems with beaver's clogging up our creek. it's always something:Banghead

 

[zhkent]

Mice are a problem for me also.
The poison bars are effective but seem to attract them in for a meal.
And it seems after one mouse has scented up a machine others find it.
They get in my ac/heater on my grader.
Switched the fan on high one day and had chopped mouse souy blown out the vent.
Got creative another day when I knew one was in there. Turned the heat to high, left the fan off, and opened the doors. Waited all day for speedy gonzales to come out with his sompreo on, empty canteen, white flag, and go "senor it's hot in there". No luck that day, but he was dead in there the next day when I took the seat out to look.
Can't stand the smell of there poop and pee, and man does the ac/heater circulate it good.
The cab fresh stuff works, mine lasted just a month or two.
I have a tupperware full of mothballs in the machines now.
Seal it up when in machine, open the tupperware when I shut down.

 

[AtlasRob]

I can't do it:Banghead

I was going to say , you will once one of them has had a leak on your circuit boards, but then I read this

............................. That was about 5-6 weeks ago so this Saturday he was grown and gone. Well I just brought up a squirrel for 400+ in parts and a days labor :woohoo

Man, you aint got a hope in hell with a heart like that. :notworthy

 

[joispoi]

how about skunks that hang out in your yard. how can you chase away skunks? I think they are breeding under my deck and it stinks every time i walk outside.

Skunks under the deck? That's easy. You'll need a flashlight, a tennis racket and an air horn (the kind in a can). Irish Spring might be a good idea.

 

[cat345bl]

I heard a good way to keep pest away (mice) is to use human hair. The mice will not set up home in equipment if they smell presence of humans (that being the hair). It's sorta like marking your territory. IF you go to a barber shop to get your hair cut ask if you can take home a bag of hair or if you cut it at home sweep it, and put it in a mesh bag and put it in your piece of equipment that you might think mice are taking shelter at.

 

[stock]

I heard a good way to keep pest away (mice) is to use human hair. The mice will not set up home in equipment if they smell presence of humans (that being the hair). It's sorta like marking your territory. IF you go to a barber shop to get your hair cut ask if you can take home a bag of hair or if you cut it at home sweep it, and put it in a mesh bag and put it in your piece of equipment that you might think mice are taking shelter at.

Might be a bit of a old wives tale that.

 

[Speedpup]

Well I went today to get the machine running after the squirrel nursery. I left the rear boom cover which is 16" x 18" 1/4" shaped steel on the back of the carriage. In my zeal to test it I retracted the carriage and now have a rear boom cover that is bent up fairly well.:Banghead I heard it pop out and it went about 30 feet from the machine. I knew what I did as soon as I heard the noise.:throwupIt would have been cheaper to put the squirrel up in the Hilton.

Another thing to fix