De-mousing a cab

[Gordon Maney]

My first Power Wagon became a multiple family dwelling for mice, and has been that way for some years. It smells of mice, as you can imagine.

I am thinking that the seat just has to go, but even with that, it will be quite a project to make it inhabitable. My significant other is particularly fond of the truck in question, and I think I should pursue her fascination.

I am wondering what experience you have had in performing this task. I learn that ozone generators can make a huge difference, so that may be one thing that I try.

Discuss....

[Clint Dixon]

Scented Fabric Freshness

My first Power Wagon became a multiple family dwelling for mice, and has been that way for some years. It smells of mice, as you can imagine.

I am thinking that the seat just has to go, but even with that, it will be quite a project to make it inhabitable. My significant other is particularly fond of the truck in question, and I think I should pursue her fascination.

I am wondering what experience you have had in performing this task. I learn that ozone generators can make a huge difference, so that may be one thing that I try.

Discuss....

Is your main concern keeping mice out of there, or getting rid of the smell?

I have had good luck with placing dryer sheets in my trucks to keep the mice out. Martie let me use some from the storehouse of household chemicals in our laundry room. I am not really versed on the subject of laundry, but these are small pieces of fabric (about the size of a ladies handkerchief) which I believe are impregnated with a fabric softener. You normally would use them by placing one in a clothes dryer along with a load of wet laundry to help keep your flannel shirts all nice and fuzzy.

They smell kind of flowery and apparently the mice don't like this. They do not leave a lingering odor like moth balls do. They also do not break down over time if they get wet like paper towels would. I just drag out the old ones and throw fresh ones in the cab every once in a while, thinking that maybe the anti-mouse effect has a limited shelf life.

They are also convenient to have around to use to wipe the dip stick while checking oil level in the engine.

[Gordon Maney]

Is your main concern keeping mice out of there, or getting rid of the smell?

Yes.

Both.

Initially, get the smell out. Then, keep the little buggers out. I even have problems on occasion in my shop in my tool cabinet drawers. I have been putting mouse bait packages out there in the last six months and I am discovering mice that have passed their time, resting peacefully on the floor.

Julie and I actually discovered a snake in my shop last weekend. That is the second snake I have seen in there since 1978.

[OLD DODGE]

What Smell?

Gordon,

If You Contact Your Local Janitorial Supply Store They Will Sell A Product That Comes In One Gallon Containers. I Don't Remember The Name But It Is Marketed To Get "pet Odors" Out Of Carpeting. You Could Scrub The Cab With That After You Toss The Seat Out. It Chemically Changes The Urine So That It No Longer Has The Smell. It Is Not A Cover Up Air Freshener.

The Ozone May Work But I Haven't Heard Of It. Is A Portable O3 Generator Available? Make Sure You Don't Breathe It.

Kevin

[splummer]

Snake In Your Shop

not good i will take a million mice and spiders , and anything else but i dont do snakes. so let me ask you what type and how big. its warm up here so i now have an eye out for snakes. steve from western maine

[Gordon Maney]

not good i will take a million mice and spiders , and anything else but i dont do snakes. so let me ask you what type and how big. its warm up here so i now have an eye out for snakes. steve from western maine

Bullsnake.

The one last weekend was 20-22 inches long. The one years ago was about three feet long, and in inch or a bit more in diameter.

The big one was lying on the bottom flange of a section of my overhead door. I guess it was warm. When I went to open the door, he came out the end and on to a shelf. I never did find him.

[splummer]

Snakes In The Shop

thats sounds like a pretty big snake to me, we have garter snakes and milk adders and they are all i can take. i saw one in fla once wrapped around a truck engine at a salvage yard,so needless to say no more salvage yards in the south for me . how do you guys snake proof in your area steve from western maine

[Kevin Mienke]

I used to get mice and snakes (bullsnakes and timber rattlers) in my machine shed at the old place. Where there are mice you can usually find a snake. Get rid of the mice and you'll get rid of the snakes. Moth balls work, problem is they have kind of a bad odor of their own. Dryer sheets sound better.

[splummer]

kevin and gordan

i never had a snake in my shop,tonight iam sure i will find one hahaha, but first i will throw in a bunch of moth balls just for good luck steve from western maine

[Cheyenne Dave]

not good i will take a million mice and spiders , and anything else but i dont do snakes. so let me ask you what type and how big. its warm up here so i now have an eye out for snakes. steve from western maine

Snakes ARE a good thing (depending on the breed) if you want to be rid of mice. More snakes = less mice...cheap too!

C.D.

[splummer]

dave

you are right. they are good for certain things ,like mice and bugs, i just rather not be near them . when we are working in the garden ,i have my wife go before me. steve from western maine

[Julz]

you are right. they are good for certain things ,like mice and bugs, i just rather not be near them . when we are working in the garden ,i have my wife go before me. steve from western maine

Oh, Steve. Haha, that's just not right. The snake Gordon discovered was in a part of the building where you walk through in the DARK to open an overhead door. Gordon will be going first from now on. The snake can stay, as long as she surprises the mice and not me!

[Paul Cook]

Never met a snake I didn't like - except one

Snakes are pretty common here in Texas. There are folks who will swerve all over the road in an attempt to run over a snake. It's true that we fear what we don't know. You have to be pretty ignorant to choose to protect rats and other things that destroy crops and property. I always avoid running over any snake (or any other living thing) because nature has its own system of balancing things.

Most snakes are really good. They eat mice and other such vermin. I don't know what snake poop looks like or smells like, but it can't be as bad as a rotting mouse carcass. I would guess that snakes don't poop where any scent would warn their prey.

Rattle snakes are really good with mice, but not so good with people. Lacking "people skills" they tend to get away from us as quickly as they can. There is only a problem when people surprise them or move in faster than they can move out. A rattlesnake does not consider people as food and will only strike in self defense. And they are polite since they warn you that you are too close. If you hear them rattle, stop - look to see where they are - and move away. Unless you have surprised them, their warning comes before you are too close.

A good rule for not getting too close to most snakes is to make noise when you come into an area they may be in. Snakes don't hear well, so "noise" means clomping your feet on the ground. Snakes "hear" vibrations transmitted through the ground.

The one snake I do not like is a Copperhead. They are territorial, nosey, and aggressive. Back when I was the Duty Officer performing security checks in an area of bunkers cut into a mountain side, I saw a snake on the road about 200 feet ahead. I stopped my M-880 duty vehicle (DODGE CONTENT) and stepped out. I was really surprised when this snake started to come toward me right up a paved road. It was a copperhead coming to see who was in its territory. That was at Fort Hood.

Once while riding my motorcycle in the training areas at Fort Dix, NJ, I had a copperhead strike at me. Like rattlesnakes, they are pit vipers and use its heat to locate their prey. The heat signature of a motorcycle engine must be overwhelming because the snake struck at it. The snake was not quite fast enough because it missed and stuck its head into the spokes. I had seen all this take place. I did not stop to let an angry snake recover. I just kept riding until there was no snake left.

Copperheads are venomous, pit vipers. Copperheads account for more cases of venomous snake bite than any of our other species. Fortunately, their venom is the least toxic of our species. Bites from Copperheads are very seldom fatal; however, a bite may still produce serious consequences.

This quote is from http://www.snakesandfrogs.com/scra/snakes/copperh.htm

[HWooldridge]

Quarter stick of dynamite works well on mice but of course, there ain't much left of the truck...;-)

Seriously, we always used mothballs to keep vermin out of tractor cabs. As a side note on snakes, we had an old man in the neighborhood when I was growing up who was having trouble with people getting into his truck at night - this was around 1965 or so. They would rifle the glove box and take anything he'd left behind. This was an old '49 Chevy that did not have door locks.

He caught a big, blue indigo and left it there for a day or two. Came out one morning to find both doors open and the snake gone. No one messed with the truck anymore. Said he didn't want to hurt anyone (including himself) which is why he didn't use a rattler. I've heard a version of this story told before as an urban legend but I knew someone who really tried it and got the results he wanted with nobody getting hurt - unless someone busted their head trying to get away...

[splummer]

paul and hw

ive read that about cooperheads,almost phychopathic and hw,ive heard and read about people doing that ,kinda funny steve from western maine