M I C E ?!?!? What the Fu.......??????

[Dampcamper]

[WLD*WSTY]

My wife and I were asleep in the Westy one night when we were awakened by "mouse sounds". I flipped on the light to see the little SOB standing there just short of the shift lever. The wife reached over the edge of the bed, grabbed a hiking boot off the floor and killed him on the spot with one throw!

She REALLY hates it when her sleep is interrupted.
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'82 SyncroWesty, the first ever conversion.'06 Subaru 2.5L

[Abscate]

For those of us who work in Biology and see the strength of the life force,....it's amazing you have done as good job as you've done keeping them out.

There are lots of little rubber washers that a critter will munch then gain access to examine.
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.ssS!

[AZ Landshaper]

That my thought exactly. Here we have "packrats" and they have no issue eating there way thru rubber grommets and Greatstuff foam and even stucco. I was fighting them under my 67 bug for a while till I decided to park it close to where the dog sleeps. Whalah no more packrats. Did the same w my van.
With two other cars here we just might have to move be the dog instead.
Winter was always a bitch in VT where we had to share all our bagged goods w field mice. Wifes don't like that. Nope. Wifes and mice don't mix.
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Support Small Business.

-------------------------------------------------------
85 Weekender w/ EJ22
Previously
64, 71, 72, 73, 76, 81, 84, 85 & 87 Campmobiles and Westfalias
and a 67 bug.

[dobryan]

Dave,

Back before my summer trip in 2015 I had done what I thought was a thorough job of plugging all the mouse holes as you had, and had no mice on that trip, until I spent the night on the Colorado outside Moab. The river bank was riddled with small mouse den holes. At night dozens of mice came out to do their business. They were very tiny and kind of cute.... until one or more of the b@stards figured out a way to get inside. I was awakened by a mouse munching on my bag of chips! I tried traps to no avail. They never set up home in the bus and were either gone by morning each day or they hunkered out of sight. Never saw them in the bus after I left that area.

When I got home I looked at the bottom of the bus and realized that the A, B, and C pillars all were possible entry points and that the holes in the frame rails also gave mice access to those pillars. I used some pool noodle material I had in the garage to make plugs for ALL the holes in the frame I could find. The acid test was last May after Syncro Solstice when my mom and I camped in the same area along the Colorado. Not one mouse got inside even though we spent three nights along the Colorado.

I hope you get the b@stards.
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Dave O
'87 Westy w/ 2002 Subaru EJ25 and Peloquin TBD

"To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive." Robert Louis Stevenson

MD>Canada>AK>WA>OR>CA>AZ>UT>WY>SD
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=620646

Building a bus for travel in Europe (euroBus)
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=695371

The Western Syncro build
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=746794

[Abscate]

Dave - foam pool noodle will work short term, but if you are in a mice area, they will munch that out like popcorn..

Glad you made it work for the trip though - thats what counts.

If only every Van came with a Tuna....
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.ssS!

[JudoJeff]

Dave, you’ve done prevention, plugging access.
You’ve done deterrence, with outside devices.
Move onto death sentencing, with poison left in old nesting sites, sticky traps left in van, etc

You really can’t keep them out, so try to bump them off before they ruin wires, etc

Nothing is left in my van that helps them, I.e. paper towels. Everything is in plastic, sealed packages.

Good luck, it’s a losing battle of attrition....
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________________________________________
1989 Vanagon GL Westfalia Camper, Burned up on 7/31/16.
1987 Vanagon GL Westfalia Camper, Bostig & Rebuilt, sold
1986 Vanagon GL Westfalia Camper, Bostig Sold May 10, 2021
1999 Ford GTRV Westfalia camper (30% bigger Westy layout)

[dobryan]

[gene l]

When my van is parked in the garage it is always plugged in for my battery maintainer, also at camp grounds with power. I plug in a night lite type rodent noise maker from Home Depot. No mice problem.

[WLD*WSTY]

[elizer]

Not a huge fan of outdoor cats that my neighbors let roam around but I do see it underneath my van all the time which might be helpful.

I also have had success with

https://www.amazon.com/Old-Cobblers-Farnam-Just-16...rat+poison

I knew it worked because half the small bar was consumed in one day took care all the mice in the garage. If you use it outside use a bait box so those stray and outdoor cats dont get into it.

[djkeev]

Well, I'm in the process of finding this varmit!

Not in the rear cabinetry, not under the jump seat, not under the passenger seat or snuggled in with the battery......
I popped the top, no nests, looked under the bed cushions too.

I still need to clean out under the rear seat and examine under the drivers seat (a task because of my pile of spares)

The only option then is in the dash!

EDIT:
Nope and Nope

Except for the chewed paper towels and poop, not a sign of a mouse inside the Van. For this I am happy.........
Popped the front grill, screen is over the air intake and wire grommets are in place.

I've got a pile of glue traps smeared with peanut butter out on the floor in travel paths.
See what the morning brings.

Dave
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Stop Dead Photo Links how to post photos

Ghia
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=392473

Vanagon
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6315537#6315537

Beetle
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=482968&highlight=74+super+vert

[heidi85ho]

Great video of a mouse exploring a van and how it entered.
https://youtu.be/bdgTZKyqMkI
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85 westy-1.9-standard trans, FAS GenV 2.0

[WestyBob]

[bobbyblack]

Dave,

have a look above the rear passenger tire. Sometimes that rear washer jug or pump, etc. leak and give you a nice hole.

Also, can't recall from your build, but did you tare off the table/panel and look to see there are no holes in the floor under that gap? Yours is not the usual kitchen rust magnet in that area, but its possible, so the vermin might get up in the frame rail somehow then in a hole as such inside those side panels.

Worst part of course is that once a mouse has made its smell in your Van (really whatever thing it might be, like engine on lawn mower, etc.), unless you completely strip every single part off it, bleach wash those parts, and sand blast the body, you have yourself a mouse magnet, forever.

I've come to understand that mice can get through a hole the size of a dime. I've seen them easily get through a hole the size of a nickle.

Hope you find the hole(s). Iv'e had some success with a vacuum cleaner and something that makes smoke... like incense. Use vacuum on suspect areas, go around the van and see where smoke gets drawn in. Optionally, take a whole ton of incense sticks, put in van and watch were smoke comes out.

-bobby
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'87 Westy 'Flossie','86 Westy 'R1','86 tintop GL - Subi2.2 'J2','83.5 stock tintop L 'ZoomBus','74 Karmann Ghia, '63 Notch

[ron3865]

With some thin black thread tie a small piece of raw bacon a spring trap and set one to to inside of the tires and one in each compartment inside. Check trap line daily and empty and reset as necessary. One little piece of bacon is good for a long time as the critters can't steal it.

[candyman]

[Wolfram]

Made in New Zealand, used everywhere.

Kills 24 with no need to re-set.

The Goodnature A24.
https://www.automatictrap.com/shop/a24/
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88 Westy, '07 EJ25 Vanaru.
Either van-less on Waiheke Island in New Zealand where we spend the Southern summer, or Wolfram is in Seattle/Olympia in storage.

[Abscate]

They are much bigger problems on Bays before 1975.
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.ssS!

[dobryan]