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  #1  
Old 12-29-2002, 11:19 AM
sunil190e-1.8's Avatar
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Exclamation rodent in the trunk of c200!!!

i was cleaning out the trunk of my car when i discovered a shredded chip bag and chewing gum wrapper.Initially ,i thought it may have been a spider or insect but discovered to my horror some rodent droppings.

i looked under the trunk mat and discovered more droppings and a shredded,rodent eaten car toolkit cloth . ilooked under the rear seat-no evidence of damage or rodent droppings.

i do not know how the mouse/rat got in there in the first place.

any ideas where it may have come in from?
or did it just hop in when the trunk lid may have been left open.

what should i be doing next? should i use rat poison in the trunk.

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  #2  
Old 12-29-2002, 12:49 PM
I told you so!
 
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Location: Motor City, MI
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Easy now..... Jim may have had in mind to keep the trunk open. If the car is in storage, this would be the logical thing to do.

Sunil, I had a bad bout of rodent damage on my Cutlass during the 18-month engine rebuild. I've stored cars for 28 years before experiencing rodent damage for the first time last year. I can recommend a few things. Looking back, a lot of damage to the interior could have been prevented by myself. For the first time I kept corn in the garage to feed the squirrels. Bad idea!!! I didn't keep it in a metal container. The mice had a huge party last winter. I still find piles of corn here and there in my garage!

For starters, keep any food or food residue out of the car. Keep food away from the nearby vicinity (garage). Don't park your car next to a corn silo! Good garage hygiene helps. If the car is in storage, this is just another reason to exercise your car once in a while. Take it on the road once a month. Any rodents in the car will get the hint a moving vehicle is not a good home. Lastly, put mothballs hare and there inside your car and roll the windows up. This'll help.

Rat poison is not my style. The creature may die inside your car. I think deterrence is a better plan. If there's one, there's more.

Once, while driving home, I had a mouse fall down from the passenger side dashboard while making a turn!.... sent a few shivers through my body! Parked the car with the doors ajar and the windows open...never saw it again!
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Old 12-29-2002, 01:08 PM
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Gently

LeBenz,

I'm glad you edited and softened the original reply. Use the search here and you will find all kinds of posts that you can flame on. Most of us on this sight have a great sense of humor. There have been some posts that I have found offensive but I have NEVER taken any of them to heart, nor have I chastised or questioned the integrity of another person on this forum. I am sure that you could have expressed your concern and feelings without such a berating tone. Apologies may be order.


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  #4  
Old 12-29-2002, 01:35 PM
sunil190e-1.8's Avatar
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kestas,

my car is not in storage and used daily
it is not garaged either,parked on the road outside the house.

get the feeling it(rodent) must have crept in from underneath the car along some channel that leads into the trunk.(the trunk floor is at least 2 feet high from the ground)
the car did have some rear end damage some years back,when it was repaired by the previous owner via insurance.-maybe some seals are missing somewhere and let the pest in.-

will have investigate further.

for the time being, i have resorted to a mousetrap in the trunk baited with bread and let us see what happens overnight.
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Old 12-29-2002, 01:56 PM
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I know there are a lot of computers in cars nowadays but,

may be somebody forgot a mouse in the trunk!
It is just a joke guys/girls!
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  #6  
Old 12-29-2002, 02:49 PM
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Remember that where there's a "Mickey" there might be a "Minnie" too. I prefer the enclosed glue board traps, baited with a couple of cocktail peanuts. It's less messy that way, no blood and the mice don't wander off to die and stink up the car. The peanuts are particularly fragrant and the mice love them. Plus you can use the rest of the can to go with the beverage of your choice while waiting for the traps to work.
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  #7  
Old 12-29-2002, 02:52 PM
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Amazing how mice manage to get into the smallest of openings (possibly through one of the water drains or the like.)

Have you checked to make sure that all your tools are still there? The mouse could be stripping your car---piece by piece. (Check "eeek"-Bay and see if your lugwrench is up for auction)

For the "humane" crowd (a misnomer for those--some on this forum --who treat animals with greater dignity and respect than they do their fellow humans), I have a solution. A few years back, I stumbled upon what is, literally, a better mousetrap!

It's a rectangular green plastic box (approx. 3" x 6") that looks like a little house. It has a spring-triggered door through which Mickey or Minnie enters to snatch the bait (I use a cracker with either some peanut butter or some American cheese.) The mouse's weight on the floor trips the spring and the door snaps shut. In the morning, you find a healthy, well-fed mousey waiting for you to free him/her.

I learned the hard way that you've got to take the little rodents quite a distance away to ensure that they don't return for seconds (they seem to know they've found a sucker who feeds them hors d'oeuvres.)

All things considered, you're pretty lucky: The squeek in your Mercedes can be eliminated a lot less expensively than the one in my 420SEL's transmission ...
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  #8  
Old 12-29-2002, 03:28 PM
tim johnson
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mb mouse

I had a mouse in the driving compartment of my 190E.
He got out of a bag I had in my backseat and took up
residence up in the front seat upholstery. I just
put out one of these little live catch traps and caught him the
next day. Now he's on his own in the wild woods.
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  #9  
Old 12-29-2002, 03:40 PM
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AH'L BE BAACK!!!

Hey Sunil!

I think he's been spotted:
Attached Thumbnails
rodent in the trunk of c200!!!-4sunil.jpg  
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  #10  
Old 12-29-2002, 05:35 PM
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maybe you can get one of those devices that emit a high-frequency noise that supposedly drive away rodents - these are above the hearing range of humans and therefore have no effects on us.

If you install this in your garage, then you might need to leave the trunk open for the sound to be heard loudly enough by the animal ...
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  #11  
Old 12-29-2002, 06:26 PM
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Location: Surrey, Beautiful British Columbia, Canada
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can someone please stand up for the mouse.
it sure is a living, breathing creature, too!!

i'd say all animals, including what we call pets, should
be in the wild, in their natural habitat and environment.
their fate and future should rest on the natural law of
nature; the balance between prey-predator which no
(hu)man should intervene.

are you sure your captive pets are happy?

chill out and may everyone have a happy and prosperous
new year!!
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  #12  
Old 12-29-2002, 06:45 PM
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I like goldstone's idea - catch them live! I try to catch my critters (mice, voles) live and release them in the park. I name them hawk food!
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  #13  
Old 12-29-2002, 09:10 PM
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Talking rodent in the boot!

Forget the electronic bull and use the dreaded spring mouse trap. Just put a piece of cheese or biscuit or scrap meat on the end of it and you should be rewarded with a definite trophy the next day.
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  #14  
Old 12-30-2002, 03:42 AM
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Talking

Many good suggestions here on the circus mouse problem (yes, this is a Tech Help Area but ya gotta have a sense of humor too) Would it be considered inhumane to hang fly-paper on the rear view mirror to nab an uninvited passenger? Yall know just how aggravating a rogue fly can be, windows down it hides, up, here comes the dive bomber.....LOL
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  #15  
Old 12-30-2002, 05:31 PM
sunil190e-1.8's Avatar
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thank you guys for all the useful comments.
used a spring trap last night-no luck with brown bread.
trying cheese tonight-hopefully the problem will be solved tomorrow.

got a flat tyre on the other car-it has been raining all day.
hope to do a wheel change once it stops raining here in england.

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