I took a look at the Subaru Impreza forum and saw this. Hi everyone! I can't believe I am about to ask this question, but.... I bought a new 2021 Impreza and I park it in the street, in Manhattan. Yesterday I found a rat, dead, on top of the engine. The cursed think was half baked in there. This morning, just out of curiosity, I opened the hood and found, oh boy, 1/2 croissant, other scraps of food, and all kinds of other crap. As we all know, the Imprezas are low to the ground and probably particularly easy to climb aboard. Have any of you had similar problems? Is there a solution you would suggest?
I've had 2 cars that were invaded by mice. An Mazda that I had to pull pieces out of the vents with tweezers. My current 17 Ford was invaded by mice but I din't know it until I turned on AC and got just noise. I put down regularly a cup of stuff that mice love but kills them.
My sister lives on a farm in S.GA. They have had mice invade their vehicles (including a motorhome that is barn-kept.) So the problem is not unique to NYC.
I read peppermint keeps them away, not tried it but camper site said it would. We were going to use it but sold RV and so far no real mice problems with van or truck. We did find a couple little mice in the van a few times over the last few decades. We put mouse trap in the van if we find one works great. We live in rural wooded area so field mice look for place for winter. Warm van motor attracts them I guess. I have peppermint oil for couple years need to try now that it's getting colder.
I moved here in 2010 and had rats under the hood of my truck for the first time this past summer/fall. This truck sits and is only driven maybe once a month, when I need to haul out my trash. I set a mouse trap inside each of the front tires, then one on top of the battery cover (where I saw the poop), and another on top of the air cleaner cover (where I saw the other poop.) The next day I got a rat in each trap behind the wheels, and the other two traps were sprung but captured nothing (there was no proper way to orient them on those wide-open flat surfaces.) So I went out and got glue traps and set them on the battery cover and the air cover and set fresh traps behind the tires, but never caught anything else. Things have been clean ever since. Glue traps can cause a very gruesome scene: Spoiler: Click for description The rats will chew off their own feet in a blind panic to get away. This leave a bloody mess, and they may still be stuck & frantic when you come upon the scene. I only did it out of desperation and because it was outside where I could hose things off, but I never caught anything in them. I can think of nothing that works better than the old Victor snap traps (not the newer ones with the broad yellow paddle.) If you choose poison, other critters might eat the poisoned rats or the rats may go off to die somewhere (behind the walls or somewhere in your car) and stink of decaying flesh until they fully decompose or you get used to the smell...and you'll never find them. Put the traps on the inside of all 4 tires, because the tires are their likely route of ascension. If you decide to put the traps in spots under the hood, make sure you prop the hood up a bit if required to give the spring room to swing. Depending on the environment (you want to kill what you've got, not attract a whole herd of them), you might also consider rigging up a bucket trap. Search "homemade rat trap bucket" for pics, videos and instructions. edit to add: I saw a similar post in the Mazda forum I frequent. I read that if you see points of entry to plug them with steel wool, because mice & rats cannot chew through it.