How do mice get in?

I now have my 01 Prism back after an expensive cleanout of the ventilation system. In this case I assume they got in when I absent mindedly left the driver's side door open all night. How else can they get in? The dealer claims the vent tube is too narrow for them to go up. They recommend stuffing drier sheets under the dashboard. I stuffed some stainless scrubbers in two possible entries under the hood near the wipers. What else can I do so this won't happen?

---MIKE---

>In the White Mountains of New Hampshire >> (44=B0 15' N - Elevation 1580')
Reply to
---MIKE---
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You know, IIRC, there was once a caller on "Car Talk" who had a similar problrem. Except that episode was long ago, & I don't remember what their solution was! ;-)

Cathy

---MIKE---

Reply to
Cathy F.

---MIKE---

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A cat will do wonders at reducing the rodent population in the vicinity ;-)

The evaporator drain tube is theoretically too narrow for rodents to enter, but at camp, I've seen some pretty small mice slip through cracks that looked way to narrow for them. You can stick a coat hanger down through the top of the tube and bend the top of the wire so it doesn't fall through.

You can also fit some wire cloth under the plastic grates on the cowl.

Reply to
Ray O

Is there an easy way to get at the tube to do this?

I have two cats but I don't let them out. There are too many predators out there.

---MIKE---

Reply to
---MIKE---

Is there an easy way to get at the tube to do this?

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If you root around under the passenger side of the dash and pull the carpet away from the footwell, you should be able to find a rubber tube going from the evaperator housing through the floor outside the car. You could pull the tube out of the floor, put a few kinks in the wire so it sticks inside the tube, then push the tube back through the hole in the floor. You want the kinks to impede the access of any rodents without blocking the flow of water down the tube.

I have two cats but I don't let them out. There are too many predators out there.

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Our cats are indoor cats for the same reason ;-)

Reply to
Ray O

stuff a cat up in there, that will do it.

Reply to
frcorey

I actually tried sticking our cat in my Corolla once when I KNEW there were mice in it. All he did was stand on the dash and howl.

According to the wildlife gurus, mice can enter a space the size of a U.S. dime. Pretty small. And, I have tried all the tricks, but I live out in the woods and a warm car on a cold night, with the extra added bonus of food crumbs is a pretty good incentive for them to do what they can to get in.

The only solution I have found is to keep traps, either "live-catch" or kill dead sorts in the car on a fairly regular basis. Once caught 12 mice in my live trap in my son's car one night....Since he put in the "big monster" stereo system, however, he hasn't had a problem. Apparently they can't stand the noise....neither can I.

One sort of grusome story. I was walking by my wife's Corolla about two months ago and saw a mouse head poking out between the passenger door jam and the front fender panel -- door was closed at the time.

I thought the mouse had tryied to get out and was unlucky enough to get caught when the passenger slammed the door shut and now the mouse was long dead. Forgive me as I admit I started laughing thinking my wife had been driving around town all day with a dead mouse head sticking out from her door.

I went over to pull out mousey and realized that it was blinking and moving it's whiskers. In other words, still alive. Wanted to dispatch it humanely and all I could think of was a snap trap. Ran off and got one and finished the job very quickly.

Felt sorry for the critter, but Know if I had opened the door, it would have darted back into the car, and that I did not want to deal with.

Reply to
timbirr

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