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windcatcher_gw

@%#***%$ Mice!

17 years ago

Yes Gents you were right. I recently received a long handled set of grass shears and used them to trim the old dead grass around my garage this past Sunday. I cleaned up the shears, but let the grass lay thinking the wind would blow it away.

I got my Simplicity out just a bit later and did a test run, making sure I checked all the fluids, etc. before running the garden tractor for a test mow. This was only an hour after cutting the dead grass.

I put the Simplicity up and set about my other chores, then went to work this week. I was out in the garage last night checking the oil in my Farmall Cub, and I decided to check the oil in the Simplicity too.

As soon as I opened the hood on the Simplicity, I looked at the screen on top of the B & S engine, and it was PACKED with the dead grass I'd cut only a few days before! @#%^$#$$# mice had taken the grass and made a nest in my engine. Luckily I haven't started the engine yet.

I guess I'll take the screen off and the top shroud off this coming weekend since it is supposed to rain, and clean all that mess off. Right now, there is a fresh box of moth balls sitting right on top of the engine with the hood closed. I hope it'll keep the mice out until I can get the mess cleaned up. Anyone want any of these friggin mice?

Take this as a lesson folks. Always check the fluids in your equipment before starting, and eye ball the cooling fins on your engines before starting too. Otherwise, you may get a surprise $$$$$$$$ bill you don't want right when you need your equipment.

Windcatcher

Comments (16)

  • 17 years ago

    Put some moth balls or moth crystals into a cloth bag or a pair of panty hose and hang them on the engine. Remove before starting engine and put back in place after engine cools. How you get the panty hose is up to you. :^)

  • 17 years ago

    I have found those smelly dryer sheets work well to discourage nest building! Can't you just visualize a family of mice, sitting under the flywheel cover, bibs tucked under their chins, knife and fork at the ready, and waiting for father mouse to start carving away at the nice thick rubber insulation on the spark plug wire, or the ground wire and charging wire for the ignition?!?
    OOHHH, they just love that insulation. Take a sniff of it some time--doesn't that rubber smell nice? Must smell like liquorice, to a mouse!
    It seems that the smell from a dryer sheet disrupts their sense of smell, so they stay away! And, after all, having to smell those dryer sheets all day would certainly mess up your life, too! The preceding came from the mind and pen of Rusty Jones, who is recoverring from an ill spent winter, looking out at the cold and snow, and eagerly awaiting SPRING!

  • 17 years ago

    Well, ill spint or knot, ur emajinashun haz knot bin ill. I hope ur steal kikken reel hi.

  • 17 years ago

    Only good mouse is a dead mouse. D-Con. By the case under all small engines, air compressors, table saws etc.

    Then give them a Viking funeral in the burn barrel.

    Why bother with moth balls. The mice are still around. If you are a member of PETA to bad. My deffiniction of PETA is
    People Eating Tasty Animals. Mice don't qualify.

  • 17 years ago

    I had a customer with a 6 month old Honda mower complaining it would not start. He was doubly pithed when we would not cover the chewed plug lead and kill switch wire under warranty LOL.

  • 17 years ago

    Had a customer in the auto shop years back that had his intake plenum pulled and injector harness replaced 2ce in like 45 days due to the varmints. Couldn't ask Chevrolet to cover that one either. So far in L & G have had 2 mice nests for the year. 1 in a Courage single that I caught on PM and the other a 28" Briggs that the owner caught the smoke....

  • 17 years ago

    As far as D-con or other products like that...I worked for a large storage facility and we had a couple different pest control companies that would spray & check bait boxes in hallways & outside weekly , and people would take the bait or bring their own and put in their units. All of the pest control guys said to tell the people not to put bait in their units because they are inviting the pests in...leave it away from the units and leave it in hallways & outside of buildings.

  • 17 years ago

    Well, I was able to pull the shroud off this weekend. It rained like the dickens here so I worked inside.

    I sure was glad I pulled the shroud off. Those dang rascals had just started packing old twine, old grass, etc in between the cylinder head fins. The top of the engine with the cooling fins were almost full.

    I still hadn't started the engine up, so I think I'm ok. I didn't notice any chewing on the wires, and I've left the fresh box of moth balls in the engine compartment. I hand pulled as much of the mess out that I could, and used the air compressor to clean out the rest.

    I did start the engine a bit later on once it was buttoned up, and it seemed to run just fine.

    I now have four mouse traps set, and have already snared three of those varmits!

    I tried the Decon treatment two years ago, but they eat it and then crawl up inside my vehicles and die. I'm not sure which stinks worse....a dead skunk in the middle of the road or decaying mice in your vehicle.

    The moral? Make sure you check your oil and look down into your engine's cooling system to make sure there isn't anything there that shouldn't be there.

  • 17 years ago

    One day I noticed some mice in my shed so I decided to place a picture of a cat near my tractor. The next day when I checked, I found a picture of a dead mouse. LOL.

  • 17 years ago

    I've had rodents in my garage for years , killed them with a good poison and put up with the rotting stink of their dead carcasses til I found them (doubt if I ever found all of them) and disposed of them . But none this winter for some reason , none at all . Only thing different about this winter was a late season oil change and leaving the filter in the drainage pan to drain out , giving the garage a strong oil smell - I guess the pests don't like the smell of used motor oil (don't mind it myself) . I'm going to save some in a couple of plastic containers to test that theory next winter .

  • 17 years ago

    Score now stands at 5 dead mice. I've changed from using cheap cheese slices in the mouse traps to cheap peanut butter. I know I have a long way to go, but at least this is a start!

  • 17 years ago

    Peanut butter isn't the best bait for mousetraps . I've seen the little buggers lick it right off without triggering the trap !

  • 17 years ago

    Peanut butter does work efficiently as bait. I too had some initial frustration in finding (on a few occasions) an "unsprung" trap where the bait tab had been polished clean by a delicate mouse tongue. To overcome the possibility that a mouse might "lick" the PB off the bait holder without tripping the latch you need to improvise as follows. Put a "dab" of peanut butter on the bait holder. Take a length (about 2 feet) of sewing thread or dental floss and wrap around and around the bait tab, tie the string in a knot and cut off the excess string. The mouse will now have a reason to bite or chew and thus move the bait tab in order to get all the PB. I got 2 in one trap this way once. I mused that it might have been an adult mouse saying to a young mouse, "Now watch me Junior and do like I do."

  • 17 years ago

    I use everything I can get my hands on and then some.
    I have several classic cars in my garage that don't get moved to often and I have had the mice come visit on occasion.
    I use D-con under each car and under the hoods.
    I have several Rat Zappers spaced out in the garage.
    I also have several trays of moth balls through out the area and lastly I have Victor Pest Chasers plugged in around the garage.
    This has stopped the varmints cold.
    The Rattlesnakes are other story, but they don't chew wires or build nests.
    However, they do announce their presence.

  • 17 years ago

    Count is now: Victor mouse traps - 11, mice zero.

    The mice I'm now getting are smaller in size than when I first started. I think I nailed the parents early on, and as time goes by, the little ones are getting hungry and inquisitive.

    My Simplicity's engine is staying clean now from the mouse nests, and I've not seen any sign of chewed wires either. Of course, the moth balls and a bounce dryer sheet are in place under the hood too.

  • 17 years ago

    Best control I know of for mice in the garage, shed, yard, etc:
    {{gwi:316047}}

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