Rats in my Truck

[Alan L.]

Well I had some excitement on the way home from my Dallas office tonight. I was on the highway driving in the rain and thunder, listening to the weather on the radio, looking at the clouds, when I decided I needed a piece of my red candy I keep in a bag in the glove box. I reached over there and was just about to stick my hand in the glove box when a RAT stuck his head out of my glove box. I nearly needed a diaper. I slammed the glove box shut and drove on home.

When I got to our road I figured on getting him out AWAY from the house so he won't go into the garage part of the shop building we live in. I picked up my newspaper out of the box the newspaper people furnish and went to the driver side, opened the door, then the glove box. I see where there is a nest of whatever is under the dash thats all chewed up so I use the paper and sort of goose it a little bit when TWO rats come barreling out of that lint out the top of the glove box and INTO the dash.

I drove on into the shop and couldn't get them to come out. I can see where they've been carrying my candy up in the dash. I wondered why some of those candies I've been EATING were already unwrapped. Yuck!

Right now I've got the shop lights off, the passenger door open with the owners manual wedged in the door to keep the dome light from coming on, and the glove box open with the light switch taped with duct tape. On the floor of the garage is a rat trap baited with cheese. So far I haven't caught anything.

I guess they might decide to stay in there. I hope they don't die in there and stink it up.

Any ideas on how to get those rascals out of their would be appreciated.

 

[JerryG]

Alan,
I haven't ever had that problem, but I have been told by several different people that Moth balls would get rid of them. Some farmers put moth balls in their combines during the off season to keep mice out.

 

[TonyC]

I have somehow managed to have this experience four or five times in my life. You are correct...if they die in there the word <font color=red>stink</font color=red> doesn't describe it adequately!/w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif The worst experience was one that died in my heater motor fan. It not only stunk to high heaven but cost me $85.00 to get it taken out.

But enough bad news. Set a trap with peanut butter...not cheese. In my experience, only cartoon mice eat cheese./w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif In the cases where I realized they were in my vehicle, a trap with peanut butter caught them in literally under an hour each time. Try it, they won't like it...but you will!/w3tcompact/icons/cool.gif

 

[Dozernut]

JerryG is on the right track with the mothballs. Mice and chipmunks were a real problem with the truck and equipment. I threw some mothballs under them and have not had a reoccurrence. I did'nt put them in the truck cab, as they are very strong smelling.

 

[Thomas]

Man ole man I would have freak for sure.

I did get a /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif from your post tho,for I was driving long slowly and a chipmunk decide he didn't like my driving and wanted out..man didn't that little ^%$#* scare the heck out of me. /w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif

 

[Thomas]

Man ole man I would have freak for sure.

I did get a /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif from your post tho,for I was driving long slowly and a chipmunk decide he didn't like my driving and wanted out..man didn't that little ^%$#* scare the heck out of me. /w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif

 

[Anonymous Poster]

/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

Alan...

I can't help it... but that's funny.../w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

Do me a favor... see if you can coax those little rascals out and get a picture or two... are you sure Rats...?... and not maybe some large field mice...? /w3tcompact/icons/eyes.gif

I'd invite a few "kitty's" into the vehicle for a picnic and some r&r... if those critters don't leave with the cats...

Well then just sign the car's title over to the animals... /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

 

[MJB]

Maybe you need to bait the trap with a piece of that red candy./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

 

[Bird]

Alan, that's more common that most folks realize. A couple of years ago, the heater/air-conditioning blower motor quit on my brother's Suzuki Sidekick. He tore into it and found a dead mouse that was keeping the fan from turning; removed the mouse and everything was OK./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

And one night about 15 years ago, I was going home from the office about 3 a.m., no traffic fortunately, except for one car about a hundred yards ahead of me on the freeway (south R.L. Thornton about Illinois Ave.), when suddenly that car swerved to the right, off the right shoulder, lost control, came all the way back across the freeway, jumped the curb onto the median, got stopped, and a young couple bailed out; him on the driver's side and she on the passenger side. Naturally, I stopped to see what in the world was going on, and when I walked up to them, the guy hollered, "Officer, did you see that big rat that jumped out of the car when I opened the door?" Seems it came out from under the front seat as they were driving down the freeway./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

And I've used, and given up on, cheese and peanut butter on rat and mouse traps in the past. I've not found anything that works as reliably and consistently as a small piece of raw bacon tied onto the trap with a piece of thread.

 

[DavidInNH]

Wow - that would have really freaked me - the unwrapped candy that is...

I heard a news blurb on the radio the other day that a woman (in Boston I think) had a rat come out of the toilet - while she was on it!

I still remember my folks telling the story of a crab that would come out of the toilet. They kept flushing it and it kept coming back. When guests asked where the bathroom was, the directions came with a warning... Man, what if the crab thought they were bait or something?

-david