Of Mice and Cabs

ibboatin28 · May 11, 2020

I use this and have not had a problem in my building. Buy a bunch and put them everywhere. Cheaper than wire!

Tomcat Mouse Killer Disposable Kid Resistant Station, Pack of 4, 2364 at Tractor Supply Co.

DieselBound · May 12, 2020

Thanks for all the replies!

Regarding cats... NO. I've got chickens/fowl, AND, a BIG DOG that'll likely terrorize any cats. And then there's the wildlife: coyotes and such.

Poisons are out of the question: I have a lot of animals.

My aim is to fortify the tractor: patch the leaks rather than coming up with bailing buckets :thumbsup: I'm NOT going to keep mice out of the engine bay; and, I might not be able to keep them out of the cab; BUT, I'm at least hoping to keep them out of the cab roof (which I could not regularly have access to to put any odor repellents (I've had some inside the cab, but regularly replenishing it is something that I have a hard time keeping up on; I will look to be more diligent from now on!).

JerryK · May 12, 2020

DieselBound said:
Thanks for all the replies!

Regarding cats... NO. I've got chickens/fowl, AND, a BIG DOG that'll likely terrorize any cats. And then there's the wildlife: coyotes and such.

Poisons are out of the question: I have a lot of animals.

My aim is to fortify the tractor: patch the leaks rather than coming up with bailing buckets :thumbsup: I'm NOT going to keep mice out of the engine bay; and, I might not be able to keep them out of the cab; BUT, I'm at least hoping to keep them out of the cab roof (which I could not regularly have access to to put any odor repellents (I've had some inside the cab, but regularly replenishing it is something that I have a hard time keeping up on; I will look to be more diligent from now on!).

Cats aren't the end all best solution. They climb over and scratch up vehicle finishes, piss/mark their territory, have kittens just a boot everywhere, etc. Not to diss on them too much, kind of like talking bad a boot Kabota or something... but to each his own. Live and let live...

Looking4new · May 13, 2020

When I had chickens and cats at the same time, the cats soon learned to give the chickens wide berth. One cat used to hunt in the chicken pen and they (the cat and chickens) ignored each other. The cat would hunker down in the chicken pen and wait until a stupid tree rat or a chipmunk would come in to eat the chicken feed. That would be the last of that tree rat or chipmunk. The cat would grab it and climb to the top of the hen house to eat it.
Our dog was a black lab-border collie cross and she and the cats had an 'agreement', she would take her time going out for a P after dark (we made sure the cats were inside at dusk) and the cats would walk under her belly to sneak out.
Dogs and cats will get along together as long as you let them make friends at their own pace.

DieselBound · May 16, 2020

Our previous dog (Mastiff/Lab) was fine with cats and with all our fowl: she was as good as ANY livestock guardian dog- better than a neighbor's Great Pyrenees. Current dog is an American Staffordshire Terrier and Lab mix (toss in some others). She's a 90 lb terrier/terror, a jumping, climbing, digging, chewing and swimming machine! Just over 2 years old now and only a hint of getting out of her puppyiness: STILL not allowing her off-leash around our fowl. Training for leaving the fowl alone and for chasing off predators requires all the patience that I have available.

We already struggle to keep our fowl out of our gardens. Cats would be using the gardens as over-sized litter boxes.

Ingerdeere · May 19, 2020

DieselBound... I posted about this in the Fall of 2019. I AND THE DEALER missed this to the point where the dealer replaced a front work light switch. The machine was returned and my wife and I popped the top which is really easy ( easier than my John Deere 5093e). Short story long... wires to work lights destroyed by mice. Easy fix and I'm whole again. I've popped the roof off a couple times since following the " do not remove but fully loosen" the 2 rear roof nuts and prop open with a 2 X 4 to work under the roof. 15 minutes max to just the wires in the roof and rule out damage. If I have another electrical problem in the future... I'm starting by checking the wiring topside and work down. Hope this helps.

sixdogs · May 19, 2020

coobie said:
I put pure peppermint oil with cotton balls in a old pill jar.Seems to keep out the mice of my cab.

How much peppermint oil per cotton ball?
I've tossed moth balls around the gravel floor of the machinery barn for years and had excellent results.

arits74 · May 19, 2020

google a product called fresh cab,it works great

DieselBound · May 20, 2020

I am going to use ZORBX for clean-up. Many "popular" cleaners are reported to have questionable fragrances. ZORBX is odorless; no scent to cover over whether it's actually removing the problem odors.

For deterrent I'm going with this:

Here's a pic of the scene of the crime:

Have not done full forensics yet: I'm still thinking that it's the rear pillar where a wiring harness runs up from the fuse box/tray: I think I can access it from the bottom side such that I can jam some steel wool into the hole. Nor have I fully looked into the cabin fan issue: no obvious signs of damaged wires, thankfully.

While things are opened up I can finally secure the rear mount of the stereo: I didn't do it during install owing to the dealer having RTV'd the lid (which is going to ring up a good 6 hours or so of additional work time [to remove the lid and to then clean everything up- it's a massive mess, as I document in this thread]).