180 bucks later she's fixed. this is a constant battle with these dirty little buggers, deer and field mice. i get them in my bee shed where equipment is stored, for the most part, mice/rat poison (tomkat) takes care of them, and moth balls keeps them out and they do not like smoke from the smoker. the 4 wheel horse is housed in an unattached single car garage. we use tomkat bars on the floor of the garage and moth balls to keep them off and out of the 4 wheeler and lawn mowers, and also antifreeze in the winter, but they sure like the atv.
two weeks ago, went out to drive it to a field, she started right up, a mouse fell out from underneath, and there was a distinct smelly odor coming from behind the headlamp housing, and from the exhaust. polaris wasn't going anywhere, in any gear. i promptly whacked the mouse but..... FOOEY....i knew they had done something in the clutch. i pushed the thing out of the garage, took off the headlamp cover, to find a big nest and a dead one in there (for the umpteenth time). dang mice chewed some of the electronic wires, (again). i loaded it up and took it in for repair. wires replaced, they found a massive nest in the clutch and cover, 3 and 1/2 dead mice, and the belt had to be replaced. 1/2 a mouse....hmmm, happy i wasn't the guy to clean this out.....
1st time (mice like to nest in behind the headlamp cover)
massive nest in there, all the electronic wires chewed through, including the 4 wheel drive. we started removing the cover and placing moth balls in there...........it does work, but it's a PITA to take the headlamp cover off and put it back on every time we want to take it out.
2nd timeran out of moth balls, so shoved steel wool up and around anywhere the mice could get in behind the headlamp. mice chewed a hole through the cover near a handle bar and repeat of chewing all the wires. btw, smelly dryer sheets really don't work either, mice just use for nesting material.
3rd timewe learned NOT TO USE PELLET POISON. the pellets just get dragged and stored in the clutch housing so that when you start it up, you have green exhaust (being ground up in the clutch/belt) and blown out and your garage fills up with green smelly smoke and you wind up with green mice poison residue all over yourself ..........
4th timeparagraph two. besides taking the headlamp cover off, now am going to have to take the seat off as well, and place moth balls on the top of or in the clutch cover duct......that 4 wheeler only sat for 4 days without being driven, amazing the damage mice can do in a short period of time.
done with this! these are costly repairs!
we don't leave anything in that garage that can be used for nesting material, they bring it in. can't keep barn cats, my neighbors like to run them over. i get attached to them and don't like picking them up run over, all mangled and flattened on the roadway. it ain't pretty.
i went to fleet farm today, and purchased our fall/ winter supply of moth balls, more mice poison, and two new other products......'fresh cab' and 'mouse magic' to add to my arsenal. i am SOOOOO done with this! i don't use any traps anymore, we go through them like crazy, the mice are prolific and i am usually the one to deal with disposal. live traps; collect them, take them to the river, wade in and dump in and send them to a watery death, but there is always one or two or three that die in the trap, and not practical when it's cold. glue traps.....always some mouse flopping around on these.
anyone else, what do you use or do to keep them out of your tractors, four wheelers, snowmobiles, and lawn/field equipment?
