Rodents

Buy some packets of "Final". Get them on ebay as they stopped selling it at Home Depot. Place packets away from pets and kids. These babies killed about 5 rats in 2 days. SImple, cheap and quick. The packets are sweet, so the rats and mice are attracted. They're dead within a day.

 

this is what I'm using to keep mice out, I'm next to a large wooded area, so I probably can't guarantee to keep them out with the current state of my garage. It's an animal pen I got off of Amazon, so far so good. easy to put up or take it down for when you use the car.

my kids thought at first I got it to keep them away, they were like 'really?!??! you don't trust us?', till I told them it was for field mice....

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The secret to keeping rodents out of any building is to find out where they are getting in and blocking their access. With rats, it's really the only solution as those varmints are incredibly smart. I battled those buggers for years in Florida and finally beat them by closing off their access holes. Every point of access was a construction defect.

 

Agreed. I used mouse traps for years, kept seeing the food being eaten consistently. My wife went around garage sticking steel wool in any little gap she saw. It’s been 4 years, no more mice, no more mousetrap food being eaten

 

you absolutely need to fill all holes and points of entry, but i wanted them DEAD so i used FINAL and it worked great. I put some tape mats for rodents near holes to discern where they were coming in. They worked well, and they got stuck to the mat so it was easy to "extinguish" them and fill the hole.

 

i am in Florida as well. i live on over an acre. ultrasonic did not work at all. don't waste your money. i tried it....

 

Best solution IMO: Bait stations outside the building, installed by a professional pest company and serviced quarterly. Rats take the bait, run away with it, eat it and die.

Been rat-free for years. Reasonable annual cost for complete peace of mind keeping rats out of the industrial-style barn building (car shop, machine shop, etc.) as well as the garage.

Same method used world-wide around buildings and restaurants. Proven effective for decades.

[I live on 5 acres in the country and we'd be overrun with rats and mice if we didn't do this]

Jedi

 

careful on the stuff they eat and kills em!!! i use to use it as well, problem is they eat it and sometimes die in your walls or someplace that is difficult to find them.. and the smell is HORRIBLE!! have had to pull drywall out to find them in my buisness. That being said i only use the sticky traps now, lil peanut butter in middle, slide against a wall and it does the trick!

 

In four years of having stations around my 1700 square foot "barn shop" we have had exactly ONE rat die inside, and one small chipmunk/squirrel. And yes they stunk. But it's a helluva lot better than having them nesting there. We've also only found maybe 4 or 5 dead rodents outside the barn - no biggie to dispose. And again, still a helluva lot better than having them nesting inside the building.

Everything has tradeoffs.

Jedi

 

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This might help if it is one of the big ones

 

A reputable mechanic I go to also suggested chili flakes to keep them away - may help in addition to the above.

 

I know it doesn't work on gophers. It actually seems to attract them.

 

I had mice in my garages. They didn't get to my cars but did eat all my powdered soup.

Ultrasonic didn't work (although it drove away my children). Organic mint spray didn't work. That's when I gave up the humane options and called in the pros, and professionally laid pest control bait traps did work. The pest people also said to plug up the holes in access for a long term solution.
So far so good.

 

Caught 4 mice the first week with this thing, it's awesome, has kept my shop rodent free since I got it. No mess, no touch clean up.
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I've used Fresh Cab for years when storing cars.

Another tip: Don't store food in the garage.

 

Subscribe to Shawn Woods YouTube channel. There are some very inventive ways of catching rats/mice there.

https://www.youtube.com/c/ShawnWoodsprimitive-archer

Everything from a slippery bowl of peanut oil to some fancy electronic traps.

This seems to be very effective with a bucket of water:

 

I use Grandpa Gus(see package next to 2NA's suggestion). Not a bad smell and appears to work. My back-up is good old Victor snap traps. Very effective. Never had rats, battle mice.

 

if the dog pen doesnt extend around the back of the car then its useless for mice. so yeah, really, your kids were right.

 

Car jacket. Best money I’ve spent to keep rodents out. It can be a little bit if a hassle if you use the car often, but for occasional use it guarantees they stay out.

 

Not visible in the pic, but it goes around the whole car

Also, I can not keep my garage door closed 100% of the time so they can potentially walk in when the door is open, which is I expect how they got in in the first place.

Plus, I have no interest in battling, killing and disposing of mice, just protecting the car

 

My DIL's new Honda Accord's wiring was destroyed a few months ago by mice, the cost was around $6K for the main harness and other wires. The issue is that car makers switched from petroleum-based wire insulation to soy-based wires which I guess attracts the little buggers for a tasty meal.