Best Laid Plans Keep The Mice Away

Mice, rats and chipmunks will view your car, home, shed, lawn mower, boat, and many other enclosed locations as a place to build a nest and to stay warm over the winter. Wherever they are active, they are causing damage! In your vehicles, they may build a nest in the air filter, air conditioner and heater blower motor, or basically anywhere that suits them. The damage they cause to your vehicle can be in the thousands of dollars. It is not uncommon for rodents to chew through wires, causing the engine to malfunction or even stall out completely. Moreover, nests in the cabin of your car are quite smelly and extremely unhealthy for you to breathe.

Rodents rely on their very keen sense of smell to feel safe. Therefore, an effective approach is to overwhelm their sense of smell with Peppermint, Cinnamon, Clove, Chives and other safe essential oils and basically make the area unpleasant for them to stay. 

Essex Co-Op has many repellent options to choose from. A few examples include organic Mouse Magic and Rat Magic packets from Bonide that can be placed in strategic compartment areas of your vehicle. Also, other products like Rodent Sheriff, and Grandpa Gus's Rodent Repellent Spray can be periodically sprayed on the outside of your vehicle (ground level) including wheel wells. These products are not unpleasant for us to smell but for the little critters the strong sweet aroma is more than their noses can handle and they will look elsewhere for shelter

It is recommended that these products be used in all their special hiding places, vehicle or otherwise, to keep them from settling in and causing damage leading to expensive repairs.