Vintage vehicle winter storage

Jon Skagfeld · #1 08-10-10, 05:19

Looking for some shared advice with the above, especially WRT mice.

I've been fairly lucky with storing MVs and laying out small pots of mothballs.

Has anyone had luck, good or bad, with:

-mothballs (sorta answered my own question)

-rodenticide which rots a mouse from the inside out

-Bounce fabric softener

-or other?

By using, say, a rodenticide and Bounce or motherballs, would one negate the other?

derk derin · #2 08-10-10, 06:43

Jon,
My dad put bounce sheets in his motorhome for winter storage and come spring,we checked inside and they crapped right on the bounce sheets so I wouldn't recommend the sheets for anything more than a fresh smell!Mind you these Manitoba mice are hardy vermon and don't scare easy.
Derk.

Richard Coutts-Smith · #3 08-10-10, 07:30

Over here we use Brown snakes to keep the mice down.
Rich

Richard Coutts-Smith · #4 08-10-10, 07:32

Hmmm, sorry thats SUMMER storage, can't help with Winter.
Rich

cletrac (RIP) · #5 08-10-10, 12:30

Around here, farm machinery dealerships sell a bag of stuff that you put in the cab and the little critters stay away but I can't remember the product's name. Whatever you put in the cab, make sure you use rodenticide in the building or surrounding area too.

RHClarke · #6 08-10-10, 14:16

We have a sure-fire mouse control system that we use at the barn. Bob's herd of "outdoor" cats help to keep the pests from overwhelming us. Mind you, the natural "by-products" of the cat patrol can be somewhat off-putting...

Bob Carriere · #7 08-10-10, 21:28

.....cats are effective to some extent but have limitations.....

They tend to mark their territory like CMPs...... not noticeable at -40 degrees but come Spring and warm sunshine....phew.

We had a really bad smell coming from my 3 level big red tool box on wheels a few months ago..... narrowed it down to the bottom drawer where I store delicate things like air oilers/dryer, pressure gauges, paint gun filters
and my 3M paint mask.

Well I found a nest of small mice..... who had obviously been abandonned after mother became a meal to the cats..... they had turned to jelly and maggots...... and they had nested in the inside cup of my mask...... yeck!!

So I bought a new one......geez!!!

Boob

Don Dingwall · #8 08-10-10, 23:25

Jon:

At the risk of hijacking this thread back to your question, try cayenne pepper.

Sprinkle copious quantities around. The little bastards will stay away. Works for deer, squirrels, kids.....

Cheers
Don

Ganmain Tony · #9 08-10-10, 23:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bob Carriere

.....cats are effective to some extent but have limitations.....

They tend to mark their territory like CMPs...... not noticeable at -40 degrees but come Spring and warm sunshine....phew.

We had a really bad smell coming from my 3 level big red tool box on wheels a few months ago..... narrowed it down to the bottom drawer where I store delicate things like air oilers/dryer, pressure gauges, paint gun filters
and my 3M paint mask.

Well I found a nest of small mice..... who had obviously been abandonned after mother became a meal to the cats..... they had turned to jelly and maggots...... and they had nested in the inside cup of my mask...... yeck!!

So I bought a new one......geez!!!

Boob

That sounds perfectly vile Bob, glad you didnt post any photo's..

John, a lot of the mouse & rat baits on the market contain Warfarin which thins the blood to an extent that the animal goes into Cardiac arrest and suffers from death (dreadful way to die, death).

The down side is their body temp drops and they seek out warm places to die, then of course, decompose.

So when you nail em you'll end up finding them behind the beer fridge near that nice warm motor for example.

So the simple answer is to, as Rich suggested, aquire one of our brown snakes and watch him go!! (from a safe distance....)

RHClarke · #10 08-10-10, 23:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by Don Dingwall

Jon:

At the risk of hijacking this thread back to your question, try cayenne pepper.

Sprinkle copious quantities around. The little bastards will stay away. Works for deer, squirrels, kids.....

Cheers
Don

Free trade opened the borders to many a foreign invader - I suspect that the pepper will work on our Canadian mouses, but not on the likes of speedy Gonzales...mind you, Bob's cats may like them with a little seasoning. Failing that, Grant has experience in ridding mice from CMP fuel tanks...

aj.lec · #11 09-10-10, 00:14

Double dose of spider bombs work well on just about anything in area it is misting .
Spiders ,cockroaches ,mice and snakes .
Do that every month , in conjunction with a few baits and that should minimise damage

Phil Waterman · #12 09-10-10, 17:09

Yup it is that time of year to seal things up and protect them, remember my experiences last year with something crawling all the way in to the valve ports through the manifold http://orbit.dnsrouter.com/~mlu/foru...ad.php?t=14498. What really bother me about that was along with the acorns the critter hauled in it carried in enough rat poison pellets to take out a lot of mice, rates and anything else but it still got into the engine and did damage.

So remember to seal up exhaust pipes, soda cans seem to work well.

If you want to do a quality check of your cats work on keeping the critters down, a friend of mine Dr. Duce has a critter early detection system he uses. Steve saves toilet paper tubes with the last one or two squares of TP still attached he carefully tears the end sheet so that he has a clean square edge he then leaves these around his shop and vehicles. If he sees a ragged edge he knows the critters are in the area.

Personally I have two methods I'm using one plain hold mouse and rat traps peanut butter seems to be the best bate. The other is one that I have used for years on my HUP. For some reason mice like to build nest in the rear seat tool box tried various the things the best one is antifreeze I leave an open gallon jug with a couple of table spoons of fresh antifreeze still in the jug. Lay the jug on it side without the cap. No more mice nests in the seat box.

But thanks for bringing this issue up again. Did several things one went and covered all the exhaust pipes, refreshed the moth ball pans in all the hardware cabinets. Baited the traps. And made a note to put a tech tip reminder club newsletter.

Cheers Phil

mike mckinley · #13 13-10-10, 00:17

in addition to the above mentioned methods of rodent control, here is one that works pretty decent. get a plastic bucket..say 3 gallon, dump in about 2 gallons of used engine oil. take a piece of wood strapping and set it up so that the mice can crawl up to the top of the bucket and dive in. there is something about oil that attracts the mice, and once they get in the drink, they can't get out, and end up drowning.

maple_leaf_eh · #14 18-10-10, 04:24

Rot-tawa is feeling the effects of a resurgent rat population. Mild winter, wet and humid summer, new city-sponsored curbside compost pickup, low price street drugs, the return of Parliament, etc. Added together, we have more critters than even last year. I have gray and black squirrels in my immediate area, a skunk fell in a window well, and ... a family of raccoons that prowl the garbage cans. The mono-coloured beggars get killed in traffic and avoid the Jeep shelter. But the stripey ones have free run of the yard, to the point one crapped on the back porch right beside the back door.

Before I have to argue with a raccoon for drivers' seat privileges, any suggestions on how to 'deal' with them? A fresh pan of anti-freeze and a half-dozen apples? A few bricks of mouse or rat poison?

RHClarke · #15 18-10-10, 04:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by maple_leaf_eh

Before I have to argue with a raccoon for drivers' seat privileges, any suggestions on how to 'deal' with them? A fresh pan of anti-freeze and a half-dozen apples? A few bricks of mouse or rat poison?

Don't call the city's pest control organization (easily found by calling the number in the city directory and being transferred at least seven times). Some politically correct dingbat will inform you that you will have to "humanely" trap the offending beast(s) and transport them one kilometer away from your home where they should be released. Now, if you live in a built up area, the release point for pepe lepew will be in someone's neighbourhood...When I trapped a racoon, I called the animal control knobs and spoke with a pablum-puking save-the-whale type. She gave me firm directions as mentioned above. I indicated that I would only be transporting the critter to someone else's yard, and that made no sense. It replied (in a snotty, talking down to an idiot voice): "Sir! They were here first." I replied that I didn't think the racoon was 50 years old, but who am I to argue with an "expert". After some polite thank yous, Jesse and I loaded the less-than-pleased racoon into the trunk of the car and headed out of town. I looked for the first liberal election campaign sign and released the racoon in their yard.

Now I have a skunk residing under my shed. The next trick is to get the bastard out without getting sprayed, and keeping him out. Can't poision him, can't shoot him, don't want to transport a stinking skunk in the car, so I will have to wait until he comes out at night and seal off his front door. Hopefully the neighbours won't call the tactical squad out while I tackle the lil runt...

Bob Carriere · #16 18-10-10, 15:15

You can catch a skunk quite eaily with left over chicken meat/bones using a Coon trap...... the trick in moving the trap is to cover the trap carefully with a heavy blanket or tarp........ pick up gently..... don't trip on the way to the car.... put him gently down the back section...... if you wish you can drive with the rear hatch open...... nearest city ball park..... again remove gently the blanket and fromone end only and open the trap....... you will no doubt have to coax the little sucker out of the cage by big lifting one end to slide him out...... once inside a darkened area they will be slow to move out........

If that does not work or backfires don't come to the barn for a few days...

Boob

RHClarke · #17 18-10-10, 16:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bob Carriere

You can catch a skunk quite eaily with left over chicken meat/bones using a Coon trap...... the trick in moving the trap is to cover the trap carefully with a heavy blanket or tarp........ pick up gently..... don't trip on the way to the car.... put him gently down the back section...... if you wish you can drive with the rear hatch open...... nearest city ball park..... again remove gently the blanket and fromone end only and open the trap....... you will no doubt have to coax the little sucker out of the cage by big lifting one end to slide him out...... once inside a darkened area they will be slow to move out........If that does not work or backfires don't come to the barn for a few days...Boob

All rightee then, will do. May I borrow your "humane" critter trap? I will follow your instructions, but be aware, if the striped rat farts, I will be residing at the barn until the persistent agents disperse...Not to worry, you get use to the stench after a few days...

Don Dingwall · #18 18-10-10, 16:38

Rob:
If the skunk is in a burrow, get the garden hose, run it into the hole and fire it up till the burrow is full....then whip the offending carcass out the window as you speed by Ottawa city hall....

RHClarke · #19 18-10-10, 17:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by Don Dingwall

Rob:If the skunk is in a burrow, get the garden hose, run it into the hole and fire it up till the burrow is full....then whip the offending carcass out the window as you speed by Ottawa city hall....

Don, I don't think the liberal candidate for mayor will appreciate the competition, but I do like the flooding out part...

Geoff Winnington-Ball (RIP) · #20 18-10-10, 17:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by RHClarke

All rightee then, will do. May I borrow your "humane" critter trap? I will follow your instructions, but be aware, if the striped rat farts, I will be residing at the barn until the persistent agents disperse...Not to worry, you get use to the stench after a few days...

Just shoot the bloody thing. Use a .22 and if you need a silencer, you can find the plans for it on the bloody internet. Pests are pests.

Of course, if you wish to be humane, trap it and then release on Bob's property. He will probably appreciate your gesture......

cletrac (RIP) · #21 18-10-10, 18:57

Out here in the wide open West, I still use strychnine to get rid of skunks. Take a hypodermic needle and inject the liquid into an egg and cover it to keep dogs away. Skunks can't resist eggs even if they've been in the sun for several months and they'll die within a few feet of the egg. This might not be politically correct but I don't really care. Like Geoff says, a pest is just a pest. One year I killed 22 of them in my yard using this method.

Alex Blair (RIP) · #22 18-10-10, 19:55

Bob can't hit the side of the barn with a rifle,that is why he has subbed out the job to his cats...anyway ..
If you want to keep critters off your property use Meekers Magic..
It is a fish based compost manufactured in the Manitoulin Islands and one of the unexpected by products of this compost is that it repels all kinds of critters.
Squirrels..skunks..raccoons hate it..slugs..rats..mice..Canada Geese..deer..cats and dogs..
We don't know why./.there are chemists now from Lambton University that are working on it now ,but it works..
I am in involved in a Goose repel project right now on Petrie Island in Ottawa,and we did a test patch of 75'X75' square ,cleaned completely free of goose poop..and the after we applied it the geese were waiting to feed on the grass where we set out the patch and we watched as the geese landed on the sand beach,walked onto the grass and started to feed..they continued to walk forward and feed until they came to the edge of the treated patch..and then the heads all came up..they turned left and right and worked their way around the square like it was an invisible fence //amazing to watch..
The city roads and grounds people had their maintenance person check the patch daily and the patch was almost completely free (95%) of goose poop..
I went back after two weeks and there was not a goose to be seen anywhere..and a month later..went back again and the same thing..and the patch is still free of goose poop..so it is quite possible that one patch has rid Petrie Island on Geese..
Not saying 100% sure but I haven't seen any sign of them since we laid down the patch..

Check out these links..

http://www.orleansstar.ca/News/Local...and-of-geese/1

http://www.emcorleans.ca/20100923/Ne...to+repel+geese

http://www.meekersmagicmix.com/index.html#

I can't sell it but if you want some in Ontario,Home Hardware handles and it OR can order.. if you want some PM me and I will give you the information to get it..
In Northern Ontario they stock it.
In Southern Ontario it is available from the warehouse,but it has to be requested at this time of year..Hopefully next year it will be in stock year round..but call your Local Home Hardware and ask for it by name..
Should be around $15.00 for a fourty litre bag +tax..

Grant Bowker · #23 18-10-10, 21:07

At 40 square feet per 40 litre bag (from their web site) it could get expensive covering Bob's "back 40" (acres).
Lets see....... 40 acres x 43560 sq.ft./acre x 1 bag/40 sq.ft. x $15.00/bag = $653,400 which sounds like an awful lot of CMP parts to me.
I think Bob will probably spend his money on CMP parts and keep the pussies, on the other hand he wouldn't mind if a few beavers swam away from the property, does anyone need a nice beaver fur hat?

Alex Blair (RIP) · #24 18-10-10, 21:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grant Bowker

At 40 square feet per 40 litre bag (from their web site) it could get expensive covering Bob's "back 40" (acres).
Lets see....... 40 acres x 43560 sq.ft./acre x 1 bag/40 sq.ft. x $15.00/bag = $653,400 which sounds like an awful lot of CMP parts to me.
I think Bob will probably spend his money on CMP parts and keep the pussies, on the other hand he wouldn't mind if a few beavers swam away from the property, does anyone need a nice beaver fur hat?

Picky picky Grant..
You want all the critters from all over Hammond County to run away..??
Scatter a fourty liter bag around your vehicle and that should do it.
You are trying to keep the animals away from and out of your vehicles..that is where you use it,....and it is only sawdust and fish guts .,.but no smell..it has been heated and sterilized for three days so no smell.
It works..

RHClarke · #25 18-10-10, 21:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alex Blair

...If you want to keep critters off your property use Meekers Magic...

Alex, Does it work for door to door political campaigners??

Alex Blair (RIP) · #26 18-10-10, 21:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by RHClarke

Alex, Does it work for door to door political campaigners??

No Rob...It doesn't..use the .22 !!
When are we having another Gracies Parade..??

Where is Gunner..?

Grant Bowker · #27 18-10-10, 22:03

With Rob's luck on the critters, he'd put a stripe around the HUP and every stinking critter from miles around would get inside the stripe and then be afraid to leave.

RHClarke · #28 18-10-10, 22:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alex Blair

When are we having another Gracies Parade..?? Where is Gunner..?

Good questions, Alex. I think that Saturday 30 October would do just fine. I will put out "feelers" to the Charter Members. Gunner is back in town for now - he will be heading back to Jamaica soon, tho'.

Phil Waterman · #29 18-10-10, 23:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alex Blair

....... Meekers Magic..
It is a fish based compost manufactured in the Manitoulin Islands and one of the unexpected by products of this compost is that it repels all kinds of critters.
Squirrels..skunks..raccoons hate it..slugs..rats..mice..Canada Geese..deer..cats and dogs..
We don't know why./.there are chemists now from Lambton University that are working on it now ,but it works..
I am in involved in a Goose repel project right now on Petrie Island in Ottawa,and we did a test patch of 75'X75' square ,cleaned completely free of goose poop..and the after we applied it the geese were waiting to feed on the grass where we set out the patch and we watched as the geese landed on the sand beach,walked onto the grass and started to feed.......

Ok my first question is the company listed on the stock exchange and do they want a distributor in the United States?

RHClarke · #30 19-10-10, 00:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by Geoff Winnington-Ball

...Of course, if you wish to be humane, trap it and then release on Bob's property. He will probably appreciate your gesture...

Geoff, Since this thread will forever exist in the ether of the internet, I choose the humane method of disposal. I do like the idea of catch and release at Bob's cathouse, but I don't think Bob's cats are that desperate for some cross-species breeding...yet.