HBG

I live in an area with some empty holiday homes and open ground outside and have seen both rats and mice and many other things in the garden. The little dog, who catches them when he can, was barking furiously under the car recently and I decided to have a look under the bonnet.

I removed some protective covering and found a nest, which I think was made by mice or even rats. Other hidden parts under the bonnet were covered with bits of orange peel and small shells. I cleaned it up as best I could and hosed it down but the little dog is still under the car, barking away.

How do I get rid of either the mice or rats? I can’t use poison because of the dogs, and the areas are too small for traps.

anonimouse

Easy one get a good cat.

Your car sounds interesting

steviedeluxe

karmasue

We lived near farmland and had a jack russell who used to kill rats which came anywhere near our house, we hadn't trained her she did this by instinct. Our young daughter had a guinea pig and a rabbit and the jack russell used to lay together with them in front of the fire on winter nights! Don't know what would have happened if she had also had a pet rat So you could try the jack russells or I play the flute, do you want a Pied Piper?

HBG

My little dog is just like a Jack Russell, the trouble is he can’t get at them. Their nest was hidden away under the bonnet of my car. Funnily enough it had a full, pre ITV service only a few weeks ago.

The mechanic must have missed the straw sticking out of the nest, but in his defence my car engine is totally covered by protective material.

We’ve got several of those electronic devices in the house to deter all intruders and I’m going to put one in the car at daylight tomorrow. I’m also thinking of using a strong spray like ZUM, but I don’t suppose the car’s electrics will be impressed.

In the meantime my little white dog has turned black after rooting around under the car.

Dick Dasterdly

You can't beat a good Jack Russell for that job,especially if they're farm bred or kept for hunting. Always had one on the farm, have one here as well.

One was always enough, he would drag a straw bale around with his teeth if he thought there was a rat underneath. Would not even sleep at night if he thought there was a rat on the premises, not until such time as he dispatched it.

This one would probably tear off your exhaust pipe and rip out all the wiring if needs be to get to a mouse or a rat, the instinct is so strong.

150 years ago they used to collect rats by the hundred, drop them into an escape proof ring, then gather round and put the bets on to see who would guess how many rats one J.R. could kill in a given time.
I believe a hundred was fairly common number and sometimes many more.

Dick Dasterdly

He loves a good thunderstorm as well, straight outside and into hunting mode knowing that the heavy rain brings the vermin to the surface.
He was half way up an orange tree after a rat which surfaced in a storm last year.
Now he usually has to settle for lizards, follows me around when I hose the plants as that usually brings them out.
Good rabbiter as well, even grabbed one while I was walking him on the lead one day, but his biggest mistake was to follow one into a tiny hole under a giant cactus when he was running loose.
Buggers for going underground and getting lost or stuck as well.

I was reading up on the history of them.
It was said that the Romans discovered them living underground or in shallow holes in the North of England never having seen them before and the name terrier actually came from terra or earth dog as they first described them.

Fracman

We had the same problem at our Finca, our car, tractor and digger wiring looms were badly eaten by rodents, I tried baited spring traps but failed miserably, then I discovered "IBY STOP" at our local ferretaria, look out for a bright red box with a picture of a yellow mouse on it, inside the box is a red tube of extremely sticky clear solution, get a large ceramic floor tile, place some breafast cereal in the middle and squeeze the sticky glue in circles all around the cereal right up to the edges of the tile, slide under your car and leave to catch the vermin, when you have caught a rat or mouse and its still alive place the tile in a bucket of water to drown it, then remove the body wearing disposalable gloves and then re use the sticky tile, over a period of 12 days we caught a variety of 18 rats and mice, it worked well for us and we have not had any vermin for some 3 months.
One concern I have is that your pet dog or cat needs to be kept away from it as it is so sticky you may catch your beloved pet.
Good luck.

Dick Dasterdly

It's definitely good stuff, in fact maybe too good.
I put some down quite a few years ago and a bit of it accidently got spread onto a shelf.
It's still there,....can't get rid of the stuff.
I've also used it to trap insects climbing up into fruit trees by putting it on a piece of cord and tying it around the tree trunk.

Rosemary

do a search on here. A member called Spain was looking after a holiday let for someone and found a problem so asked on here. Several people told her about things that mice and rats do not like so would deter them.

rosemary

HBG

Thank you for that, I’m off to the fereteria to buy some. I didn’t realise how much of a problem I’ve got – when I checked under the bonnet this morning, having totally cleaned it out yesterday, all the stuff was back again, mandarin peelings and tiny little snail shells, God knows where they’ve come from.

I’m sending the wife out with her special cleaning brush before I hose it down again, it will cost me lunch later.

zygiman

Good tips here! In Cyprus they use so much poison, lot's of pets die, which is such a shame.

JulianWard

Some years ago when I was in UK I called a pest control guy and asked about the electronic gadgets. He said they (I think it was Rentokill) used to test anything which came onto the market. He said they found that the gadgets only worked for a short time as the pests became used to them. I didn't bother to try after that.

adra04778

I used to put posion in empty water bottles and wedge them against the side of walls, that way the dogs, cats etc can't get in them, but the rats and mice can, they eat the posion and hopefully die, hope you get them before they get your car electrics Lol !

megmet

You should borrow my cat, she catches a least one mouse every day in the olive orchard, the trouble is she always brings them into the house as a present for us.