Keeping mice out of your tractors engine bay over the winter and summer too.

[scootr]

We have a lot of birds of prey, Redtail hawks, Owls and such here. They are all making a comeback after one neighbor went on a squirrel poisoning binge 20 yrs ago. Ground squirrels and snakes are their main food source.
Our cats keep those critters at bay. The Redtails are nesting in the big Eucalyptus trees along the creek. Neighboring wineries are all putting up owl boxes for the Barn owls. We also have the Great Horned owl (4.5 foot wingspan) and Burrowing owls. The Peregrine falcon is common as are many others. Here is a list of the local birds of prey: There is a 1500 ac wildlife preserve nearly adjacent to us. Wheat fields and vineyards offer good wildlife habitat as well.

• Cooper's Hawk
• Sharp-shinned Hawk
• Ferruginous Hawk
• Osprey
• Harris' Hawk
• Merlin
• Prairie Falcon
• Red-tailed Hawk
• Red-shouldered Hawk
• American Kestrel
• Broad-winged Hawk
• Rough-legged Hawk
• Great-horned Owl
• Barn Owl
• Screech Owl
• Barred Owl
• Turkey Vulture

 

[MROlson86]

Hola, the dryer sheets are necessary but what I was surprised to learn is that the scent from a nest is a powerful attraction. Cleaning, good old soap and water helps prevent reinfection. Put those power washers to good use! I had an outboard motor that was a mouse magnet until I got and kept it clean. I also employed a physical barrier, some fine mesh metal screen material rolled up and stuffed into the air intake, no more mice, no more wires to splice. Good luck!

 

[Bob64]

I have been using Cayenne Pepper. Sprinkle it around in areas where I can reach. So far it seems to work and I only have had to appy it a couple times a year. IN the fall I think is the most critical when the little critters are looking for good winter shelter and my tractor sits the longest.
Forgot to mention I purchased my tractor 2nd hand with only a couple hundred hours on it. Shortly after purchasing I was using it to do a little grading and some baby mice fell out of it. Fortunately for me they hadn't done any major damage other than chewing on the foam inside the seat back.

 

[TomGTaylor]

Always an issue here. Pesky little rodents like to nest under the hoods and in the cabs of my tractors. I do use the bucket traps that work well but that don't stop them from building nests, only catches them when they go in search of food...

Had not only wiring damage in the past but rodent nests under the hoods can be a PITA to remove.

I finally settled on scented dryer sheets. Mice hate the smell of them and stay away.

I put them under the hoods on the engines and in the cabs on the seats and floors. So far (knock on wood), they have eliminated the nesting issue and damaged wiring.

Cheap and effective and they impart a nice smell in the cabs too....

Buy some peppermint oil, available at any natural food store or online. 10-15 drops to a new or used 1 litre Windex type spray bottle and spray hard to reach areas and all wiring in addition to the Bounce type dryer sheets. Haven't had a mouse, squirrel or any other critter problem for over 30 years. Guaranteed to work.

 

[bgr]

Very interesting to hear all the ways to stop mice. Lots of good ideas. Thank you.

The hawks in California are impressive. Thanks for telling us about them.

As stated rodents pee everywhere they go and mark their paths and nests with it. If it gets on copper wire or connectors the salt rusts them away quickly. They do a lot of damage in a short time if they get in.

The pee also glows in ultra violet when exposed to sunlight. Hawks and owls can see ultra violet, so they can sit in a tree and see every mouse pathway. If a little black dot moves on it, they know what it is. If a mouse has pee on it, it stands out.

Mouse poison usually has warfarin in it. This is a blood thinner which also reduces the ability of blood to clot. In light doses, it is a blood thinning medicine. Heavy doses in a mouse make the capillaries leak blood through their wall and the mouse dies but not immediately. The mouse becomes thirsty and goes to find water. Usually the body will be outside where other predators can find and eat it. Warfarin accumulates in body tissue, so eating a number of dead mice can be fatal over time.

Cats can catch and eat a lot of birds, especially young ones which can't fly well.

Glad to hear about all the repellent strategies. Moth balls work for me, but a big barn would make me think about cats. Attracting garter snakes might work, too. thought i don't know how to do it. I would be looking carefully I had a barn in rattlesnake territory.

Everything has a downside. Whatever you use, you need to keep an eye on what is happening.

 

[MTGreen]

First, I never get enough shop time so letting her know that one of the cats didn't make it would be more time on things I need to do.

I get the cats came w the marriage, I am sure many others do here too. however, paw prints everywhere, xxxx on your boots and the smell are pretty big pills to swallow, at least IMHO. More so w the cat xxxx on your boots and you track it wherever you go. To me [thinking out loud], if that continued, would ask for punctual assistance in cleaning up machinery and cat feces in work areas and similar. I pick-up after the dogs even in remote areas, so the goose and gander thing. Hope it gets worked out for you.

Lucky for you, but that goose and gander thing never works out well in my marriage. Double standard is the norm and pointing it out leads to the proverbial hell hath no fury...

 

[Alan46]

A little off topic, but dryer sheets work great for keeping spiders and the like out of mailboxes and parcel boxes. Change out 3 or 4 times a year!

 

[Pag]

I had a lot of trouble in the past with rodent damage. Finally said enough is enough and adopted a couple of cats. Got 1 in each barn. The mice are gone. The neighbors mail cat comes in and sprays a bit. That really helps deter any new critters from entering the place and I keep my tractor in the barn. As for the dryer sheets... take them to the next level with a few drops of eucalyptus oil applied each month. Mice can't forage or mate when overpowering scents like dryer sheets and oil are present.

Hi scootr, you mentioned eucalyptus oil. I wonder if a dab of Vicks vapo rub would work as well. They now have sheets of Vicks that might be cut up and placed in critical places. On a couple of occasions the pesky critters have gotten into my Tundra and messed up the interior air cleaner under the dash. I might try the Vapo rub there and it might clear out my sinuses lol Pag

 

[Ken_L]

In the last 10 years or so, since starting to leave the hoods open on our old Case tractor and Corvette when stored, we have had no mice nests or wires chewed in engine compartments like we had problems with before that. Also have used Fresh Cab pouches inside our cars and trucks. It works but is not cheap and is only claimed to be effective for about 3 months. The pouches are filled with ground corn cob and use essential oils like Fir Needle for the repellent scent. I reuse them by dipping in Fir Needle and Peppermint oils.

 

[Pag]

ooops sorry hit the wrong button, new to this forum........somehow they have me listed with a JD350...it should show a Kubota L3130

 

[scootr]

Hi scootr, you mentioned eucalyptus oil. I wonder if a dab of Vicks vapo rub would work as well. They now have sheets of Vicks that might be cut up and placed in critical places. On a couple of occasions the pesky critters have gotten into my Tundra and messed up the interior air cleaner under the dash. I might try the Vapo rub there and it might clear out my sinuses lol Pag

Hey Pag, welcome. I don't see why that would not work. The main take away here is use overpowering scents, remove old nests, clean peed and pooped upon surfaces.
Leaving hoods up decreases the desirability & security of the engine compartment.

 

[Elembytes]

Always an issue here. Pesky little rodents like to nest under the hoods and in the cabs of my tractors. I do use the bucket traps that work well but that don't stop them from building nests, only catches them when they go in search of food...

Had not only wiring damage in the past but rodent nests under the hoods can be a PITA to remove.

I finally settled on scented dryer sheets. Mice hate the smell of them and stay away.

I put them under the hoods on the engines and in the cabs on the seats and floors. So far (knock on wood), they have eliminated the nesting issue and damaged wiring.

Cheap and effective and they impart a nice smell in the cabs too....

One of the biggest culprits is our beloved EPA insisting to use a Soy based product for insulation on wiring. That is a tasty treat to the little critters. Didn't happen too much until wiring insulation changed. I still place bait stations around my equipment each fall and that has tended to stop them before they got to my engine and wiring.

 

[oosik]

My M6040 is open station. No cab to worry about. I've found that most anything works against mice & chipmunks - for a while. Dryer sheets - bucket traps - peppermint oil - etc, etc. The very best is a hungry barn cat. I've gone thru several. Hawks, owls & coyotes love barn cats.

Right now and for the past year and a half - leaving my hood open has worked VERY well. It seems the little buggers don't like open spaces. I leave the hood open on all my equipment with outstanding success. Riding lawn mower - ATV - tractor - Taco Wagon.

 

[beenthere]

Always an issue here. Pesky little rodents like to nest under the hoods and in the cabs of my tractors. I do use the bucket traps that work well but that don't stop them from building nests, only catches them when they go in search of food...

Had not only wiring damage in the past but rodent nests under the hoods can be a PITA to remove.

I finally settled on scented dryer sheets. Mice hate the smell of them and stay away.

I put them under the hoods on the engines and in the cabs on the seats and floors. So far (knock on wood), they have eliminated the nesting issue and damaged wiring.

Cheap and effective and they impart a nice smell in the cabs too....

Spray the nesting area with a bleach/water solution that will cover the urine scent and nesting scent left by the nesting mice. If you don't, they will come back over and over again due to this urine scent they leave behind.
Trapping is good, as well as putting out poison bait. But the bottom line is removing that scent.

Also works for raccoons that crap on the deck or other areas where you don't want them to do that. It is the raccoons way of communicating with their friends and neighbors. Called a communal latrine. Clean the raccoon crap up, then spray the area with the bleach/water solution. They will not come back to that area for a long time. At least a year.

 

[oosik]

I've never really had much dealings with raccoons here. I haven't seen a single one or any signs of them since I quit burning my garbage. I quit burning garbage fourteen years ago. Garbage goes out for collection.

 

[Alan46]

Spray the nesting area with a bleach/water solution that will cover the urine scent and nesting scent left by the nesting mice. If you don't, they will come back over and over again due to this urine scent they leave behind.
Trapping is good, as well as putting out poison bait. But the bottom line is removing that scent.

Also works for raccoons that crap on the deck or other areas where you don't want them to do that. It is the raccoons way of communicating with their friends and neighbors. Called a communal latrine. Clean the raccoon crap up, then spray the area with the bleach/water solution. They will not come back to that area for a long time. At least a year.

Silly question, would the bleach solution work under a chicken coop for keeping rats from living underneath the coop?

 

[gstrom99]

The best I found was these (see pic of a catch) box traps with the rotating paddles that reset for the next catch. I put then in partially open door between rooms to direct the mice toward the trap.

Do you have a link to where you got that trap?

 

[gstrom99]

I've never really had much dealings with raccoons here.

I had raccoons in my house attic, found that they crawled up the gutters and got in, the first winter after I moved in. Even tore open the eave vents, after I thought I sealed their entry point. I trap and get rid of every dang one that I can. It took a few years to thin the population down. The ground nesters thank me, I think.

 

[Oaktree]

I've never really had much dealings with raccoons here. I haven't seen a single one or any signs of them since I quit burning my garbage. I quit burning garbage fourteen years ago. Garbage goes out for collection.

I have a compost bin and only rarely do raccoons get into it. I do have to fence off my corn or they'll decimate that. I do burn bones, no issues with anything getting in the burn barrel other than the one year we had bear issues.

 

[Big Blue Florida]

Moth Balls in thin socks or the like. Doesn't matter the brand.

It also deters coons from under buildings.