wildlife that love automobiles

I once got involved with fixing a car that had erratic throttle response.A nut had gotten down into the butterfly valve !!!
 
I had mice move in to my old truck when I was out on deployment. Mice can do a lot of damage to your wiring but snakes don't, so I caught a gofer snake and put him in the truck thinking he would leave when he was full of mice. He didn't leave use to come out and visit when I had a woman with me. Those were good times.
 
i know some mechanics that had a car towed into their garage.

they put the car on the lift and started to work, and then they noticed that part of the car was smiling at them. it was a 4 foot black.
they then fixed the car and snake with a Hammer.
 
As mentioned by bulgron, the marmots in the Sierras can be a problem. The worst spot is Mineral King in early summer. They will chew on hoses and belts. It is a $400 tow to the nearest town. There was even one case where a marmot stayed in the engine compartment and got a ride all the way to Los Angeles.

When you go to Mineral King in early summer, you will see cars that have been driven onto large tarps, with the tarps then tied over the top of the car to keep marmots out. I have used chicken wire to keep them out of my car. It seems that chicken wire is falling out of favor, most people now use the tarps.

Where I grew up in upstate NY, it was not uncommon to have porcupines chew on tires.
 
jh205 said:
I have a problem with kangaroos running in front of my car. These stupid things sit on the edge of the road at night, wait for your car to approach and then jump right in its path. And big ones can do some very serious damage.
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ROFL the camels in SA are just as bad
 
Ok this is for all you with the mouse problems whether continuous or occasional or if you are going to park a vehicle for extended periods. Bounce dryer sheets place in several locations in the cab, trunk or under the hood will help keep them out. However, the best thing is Irish Spring soap. The standard green bars. Shave them into 1/4" thick pieces and place them in mesh bags or throw the shavings on the garage or shed floor and you won't have mouse problems. This works for boat storage too. Your vehicle comes out of storage without that usual musty smell too. It also works in cabins garages and storage sheds. My wife's family has a lake place here in northern Minn. that is a summer cabin only. For years they used D-Con and other poisons, then you have to worry about the dogs picking up the dead rodents and chewing on them and getting sick. It would take days to clean the mouse droppings off the furniture and out of the cabinets every spring. When I told them about this they set the shaved Irish Spring on paper plates in the cabinets and under the furniture on the floor and there hasn't been one mouse dropping in the cabin when they've opened the place up in the spring for years. I used to use both of these in my boat when it went into winter storage and never had a problem. I learned about this at the firehall one year when mice got into our medical storage cabinets. One of the women on the department told us about it, we didn't believe it, but darned if it didn't work! They were gone right away. No poisons no harm to the environment either. The little beasts just can't tolerate the soap. Try it, you'll see!
 
Living is rural AZ had mice nest in the air conditioning vents on a LTD wagon that had been sitting in the drive for about a month. Did not know about the mice until the car had been running for a while and tried to use the air conditioning ...a loud fwoooop-plattt sound and the entire cab of the car was filled with foul smelling foggy cloud of nest and "stuff". Just lucky I didn't catch anything from it.
 
puukko said:
Ok this is for all you with the mouse problems whether continuous or occasional or if you are going to park a vehicle for extended periods. Bounce dryer sheets place in several locations in the cab, trunk or under the hood will help keep them out. However, the best thing is Irish Spring soap. The standard green bars. Shave them into 1/4" thick pieces and place them in mesh bags or throw the shavings on the garage or shed floor and you won't have mouse problems. This works for boat storage too. Your vehicle comes out of storage without that usual musty smell too. It also works in cabins garages and storage sheds. My wife's family has a lake place here in northern Minn. that is a summer cabin only. For years they used D-Con and other poisons, then you have to worry about the dogs picking up the dead rodents and chewing on them and getting sick. It would take days to clean the mouse droppings off the furniture and out of the cabinets every spring. When I told them about this they set the shaved Irish Spring on paper plates in the cabinets and under the furniture on the floor and there hasn't been one mouse dropping in the cabin when they've opened the place up in the spring for years. I used to use both of these in my boat when it went into winter storage and never had a problem. I learned about this at the firehall one year when mice got into our medical storage cabinets. One of the women on the department told us about it, we didn't believe it, but darned if it didn't work! They were gone right away. No poisons no harm to the environment either. The little beasts just can't tolerate the soap. Try it, you'll see!
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i like this idea and i'm going to give it a try. Thanks
 
Yes it sounds very good.What is this Irish Spring soap, does it contain some special ingredient like coal-tar?
 
bikermikearchery said:
I had mice move in to my old truck when I was out on deployment. Mice can do a lot of damage to your wiring but snakes don't, so I caught a gofer snake and put him in the truck thinking he would leave when he was full of mice. He didn't leave use to come out and visit when I had a woman with me. Those were good times.
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Er...sure that wasn't the notorious one-eyed trouser-snake by any chance?:D
 
puukko said:
Ok this is for all you with the mouse problems whether continuous or occasional or if you are going to park a vehicle for extended periods. Bounce dryer sheets place in several locations in the cab, trunk or under the hood will help keep them out. However, the best thing is Irish Spring soap. The standard green bars. Shave them into 1/4" thick pieces and place them in mesh bags or throw the shavings on the garage or shed floor and you won't have mouse problems. This works for boat storage too. Your vehicle comes out of storage without that usual musty smell too. It also works in cabins garages and storage sheds. My wife's family has a lake place here in northern Minn. that is a summer cabin only. For years they used D-Con and other poisons, then you have to worry about the dogs picking up the dead rodents and chewing on them and getting sick. It would take days to clean the mouse droppings off the furniture and out of the cabinets every spring. When I told them about this they set the shaved Irish Spring on paper plates in the cabinets and under the furniture on the floor and there hasn't been one mouse dropping in the cabin when they've opened the place up in the spring for years. I used to use both of these in my boat when it went into winter storage and never had a problem. I learned about this at the firehall one year when mice got into our medical storage cabinets. One of the women on the department told us about it, we didn't believe it, but darned if it didn't work! They were gone right away. No poisons no harm to the environment either. The little beasts just can't tolerate the soap. Try it, you'll see!
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i found the snakes were making a den under the cement slab for my pole building. i used to have a live and let live policy until i had them trying to come in my open garage doors to help me work on the cars/trucks and one day i was going in the human door and heard something looked down and one of my no hands helpers were half up to the door knob pushing against the door while i was opening it. after using snake away which works, i also found that Tide liquid with bleach mountain spring scent in a weed sprayer works. they don't cross where the scent is. i know people that use diesel fuel for the same thing but i don't like what it can do to my well water.
 
For smaller mammals you can line where you park your car with mothballs. My grandfather restores classic cars and that's how he keeps mice out of them.
 
We had a 1200lb cow moose do a swandive onto out car hood.Moose are nice except when they are comming at your car at 60 km an hour.
 

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my brother in-law lives on a farm and has a car-mouse problem as well, he started opening the hood when he parked the car at home and he no longer gets the mice looking for a nice warm place to live.:D
 
Porcupines are known to climb above timberline and eat the electrical wire insulation and seat covers on bulldozers stored along the Alcan power line between Kitimat and Kemano in western British Columbia. Go figure...
 
we have problems with cats on cars and trucks. always scratching the finish. makes me wish i had a fast and mean dog that was always hungry, lol. groundhogs are good to eat from what my dad tells me. i have never had any yet but i have had raccoon and its better than beef if fixed right and the grease drained well before serving.
 
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