Update on mice in a farm truck

Thank to all that responded to my post about a problem with mice getting in a farm truck I have. Well the truck I took the seat and rubber mat out, cleaned them with soap and water. Then cleaned the inside, seat and mat again with hydrogen peroxide hospital disinfectant. That worked very well to get most of the smell out. I install new door weatherstrips. Then I took piece of screen wire that I cut bigger than the hole, made a small hole in the center, put it down to right above the transmission and secured with a worn gear clamp on the shift lever. Then attached the top under the shifter boot with enough extra left for movement of the shifter. I bought some Fresh Cab packs and put in the cab, don't know if it will help to keep mice away but it makes the cab smell better. Then I cleaned up all the scrap wood, debris and cut down all tall grass in the area. The last thing I have done is put out some boxes with rat poison inside around the area. So far I haven't had any problems with any mice getting back in it, hopefully it will stay that way. I cleaned the truck up really good inside and out. I'm using it more now that it doesn't smell like rat pee and no droppings on the inside. Thanks to all for taking time to give suggestions for this problem, Rick

As probably said before , a couple of cats fed near the truck will work wonders - not too much feed, but regular. ;^)

just had to do that to my 1980 model chevy, but you got to skip the part where your hound dog smells the mouse and decided the best way to get at it is to dig literally thru the seat vertically!

That would make things a lot worse!

I had a similar problem in a 98 Chevy. They kept coming back over and over until I finally pulled out all the interior and scrubbed and cleaned everything really good. I put dryer sheets all through the truck and have kept it parked on the gravel since That was about three years ago and so far they have not come back.

Keeping a clear perimeter around the building is a good practice.

Had an exterminator tell me that. Rodents don't like exposure. If they have to cross bare ground to get into the building, they are exposed to all types of predators.

He suggested concrete, gravel, bare dirt, the wider the better. And keep the building sealed as best as possible.

peppermint extract seems to keep the dirty little buggers out, and smell ok too.

I've had good results with moth balls in vehicles for mice and chipmunks.

this reminds me of one of the family stories that would get told at the holidays when my dad and his brother were still around. My Grandparents ran a garbage collection company (it was later bought out by Waste Management). By city ordinance they had to rent a barn at the landfill from the city to keep their trucks in and the had problems with rodents in the shop. My Uncle David would say how in the morning when you got in your truck you could hear the mice scurrying out of the truck. One of the trucks started stinking something awful, Dad and Uncle David cleaned it out, scrubbed the mats, put mothballs and air fresheners and it still stunk. For some reason Dad and Uncle David were working together on a route one day and Dad was getting into the right side of the truck just as Uncle David was plopping down on the seat on the left. Dad said he got a whiff of something particularly foul. They jumped back out and tipped the bottom cushion of the seat up and found it full of dead headless rats and maggots. Seems the rats were getting up in the seat and when someone sat down for the first time in the morning the rats that had their heads between the coil springs in the seat got their heads cut off. Dad and Uncle David pulled the seat out of the truck on the spot and threw it in the back of the truck and brought it in without a seat. Once back at the shed they informed Grandpa where the seat was and if he wanted it back they'd dump the truck out on the apron and he could pick it out and clean it. They ordered a new seat from International got a little more proactive about rodent control after that. They ran a fleet of International Trucks, they had one that kept losing it's brake lights and it was always the switch on the master cylinder was bad, this was back in the 50's and the trucks had the master cylinder under the floor board and only ONE truck needed a new switch every 2-3 months. One day one of my Uncles was out helping the driver and had jumped up on the running board to go to the next stop and the driver told him "hold on I'm taking a leak" my Uncle looks in the truck and the driver is peeing through the hole in the floor board (above the master cylinder). When they got back in that day my Uncle told Grandpa they'd probably have to change a lot fewer brake switches if he told the driver to stop peeing all over the master cylinder.