rats/mice in the air vents! eeeeek!

[archicarp]

After catching that mouse, I set a bunch more traps to make certain that I had gotten them all. After about 3-4 days with no signs of activity, I decided that I had caught the only culprit.

I was cleaning up the van and opened the glove box to put something in. This is what I found.

?

The first thing I noticed was the molted snake skin under the phone charger cord. Yikes. Then I took a look at the red bandana and realized that is where the mouse had taken up residence. I cleaned it all out, but I am left with a bunch of questions:

Where did the snake come from?
Is it still in the van?
How do I get a snake out of the van or confirm that it isn't in there?

I have never seen a snake in Seattle so I'm guessing that it got in while we were camping and was hunting the mouse.

Anybody have experience with a snake in the van?

[Sodo]

Snake skin? I bet someone is playing a joke on you.

I bought a "Pro-Ketch mousetrap at Harbor freight, (less than $15) and it worked great. One morning I had 2 mice in it. I used peanut butter for bait.

Its a humane trap, so then of course you have to think of something humane to do with this live mouse.

My preference is to prevent them from coming into my van in the first place. I'll try blocking the vents, and the peppermint sounds interesting, but to rely on that I'd need to see more proof.

There's the vent up front, and the battery box vents. Any other holes to plug? I have heard there are other holes. I'll start a new thread, with a new searchable title, hope this helps everyone.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=4839691#4839691
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'90 Westy EJ25, 2Peloquins, 3knobs, pressure-oiled GT mainshaft, filtered, cooled gearbox
'87 Tintop w 47k 53k, '12 SmallCar EJ25, cooled filtered gearbox
....KTMs, GasGas, SPOT mtb

[wasserbox]

[Sodo]

[Swellchaser]

Nothing like waking up and watching the little guy run around while you shine a red light on it... then the next day as you and your buds are driving back from your surf sesh, the mouse runs out by your feet and hangs out while you drive.

We pulled over and found him hiding under the seat, and eventually scared him out of the van. Then there were signs of another mouse the next night. So annoying!

Time for some traps and peppermint.

[DAIZEE]

Well you all know what I say about peppermint chasing mice out or keeping them out, perhaps it works for other rodents and reptiles. Today *I was reading that essence of peppermint oil and essence of lavender are excellent stress reducer, relaxants for human either straight or mixed. So now both you and your vans can benefit!!! Its all a for all.