Hey is that a mouse on the hood?

September 21, 2012 3:12 PM

How to deal humanely with a mouse problem? We have a family of mice living in our Toyota Rav. Which is funny and actually pretty cute there are 4 babies and 2 adults (that we saw).

Mrs. Groweler was driving on the highway one one came OUT of the top of the hood at 100 KM/hr. We would rather get rid of them humanely if possible but GO they must because we don't want them chewing wires or anything. Tips or suggestions? Humane traps aren't really going to work because of space and we could use poison but a mouse friendly solution would be great.

posted by mrgroweler to Pets & Animals (11 answers total)

They make little plastic box traps where you put peanut butter on the end, and then they walk in and the door swings down behind them. Not only does it not kill them, but they get a good hearty meal in there while waiting for you to check the traps.

We then took ours outside to the field and set them free. Probably not as humane as we thought, as we live in a development called Hawk's Landing, but at least nature was busy doing the killing and not us.

I was similarly on the highway when momma mouse came out and scampered along the dashboard and made me scream like a little girl. It's funnier when you realize I am not said little girl.
posted by thanotopsis at 3:17 PM on September 21, 2012

Mothballs and peppermint oil are the "make it stinky" options if you'd just like to encourage them to relocate. You may also want to dig around somewhat and try to clean out any little caches of acorns or other seeds that you find in there A human trap still might lure the mouse out of the engine or wherever it's hiding, you don't have to leave it under the hood, just stick some peanut butter in it and leave it under the car. Really all you mostly want to do is make somewhere else more appealing than your car as far as a place to be. Where do you park your car? And where did you see the mouse family?
posted by jessamyn at 3:18 PM on September 21, 2012

Bucket mouse trap.

Also, wear face and hand protection when cleaning up after deer mice.
posted by Brian B. at 3:38 PM on September 21, 2012

We use a Havahart trap in our house every fall when the mice move inside from the compost pile. We have a small one like this, which could easily be deployed in your car on the floorboards or seat.

First, make sure you're setting the trap correctly by using a skewer to trigger it. I used crumbled dog treats and peanut butter to good effect as bait. I lay a little trail of dog treats into the trap, and stick a big piece to the tray with peanut butter. This makes the mice have to work a little harder and climb up onto the tray, which triggers the doors.

When I put our trap out at night correctly set up, it always caught a mouse for me by the next morning. User error in setting up the trap will be the biggest problem.
posted by Squeak Attack at 3:40 PM on September 21, 2012

I've had great luck with adult mice using a gift wrap tube with masking tape and cardboard over one end. One hand holds the tube in a convenient escape route location, the other hand plays predator. The mouse runs up tube thinking "Ha ha! They'll never catch me in here!" I then put a gloved hand over the open end, take the tube outside and give it a few shakes to introduce Mr. Mouse to the weedy patch by the compost pile.
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 5:15 PM on September 21, 2012 [1 favorite]

Give Bonide's Mouse Magic a try. Reviews state different results, but it worked in my garage 100%.
posted by vers at 6:14 PM on September 21, 2012

Response by poster: Jessamyn we live in a very rural area and all sorts of animals are an issue. We deal with mice a lot but the real problem this time is they are in the engine area of the car. Momma actually came out near the wipers on the exterior. It has been about 3 days and 300 km so they are well travelled mice now.
posted by mrgroweler at 6:19 PM on September 21, 2012

Aw my mom's boyfriend once transported a mouse across the country when coming to visit her. When he got here they put one of the 'sleepy traps' in his trunk. They have some drug that sedated the mouse, so it just has a long nap until you catch it. When they found it, it was just kind of waking up or something and acting all cute and dopey. They put it in a churchyard and placed food in various locations so it could survive until it learned on its own!
posted by whalebreath at 6:50 PM on September 21, 2012

I've had great luck with the Havahart traps + peanut butter that Squeak Attack (ha!) mentioned. The plastic ones have never worked for me.
posted by funkiwan at 11:19 PM on September 21, 2012

if you have a mouse family in your car you probably have a mouse nest, which most likely needs to be located and removed before it damages your car's engine. i would concentrate on locating and removing that as opposed to trapping the mouse. once the nest is removed the mice will move on.
posted by lester at 6:52 AM on September 22, 2012

Response by poster: Found the nest it is under the plastic vent housing where the engine compartment meets the windshield. We are going to remove that but probably will need to use a water hose or disassemble it.
posted by mrgroweler at 7:15 AM on September 22, 2012