I finally got a daily driver and now will only be driving my firebird on the weekends. Maybe once every 1 or 2 weeks. I am storing the car in a pretty nice shed behind my grandparents house. It has some rats in it, because there hasn't been much in it for awhile. So I need suggestions on how to get all the rats out so they won't chew my car up while it is in the shed. I have heard that Bounce dryer sheets are a good idea, because rats don't like the smell. So what kills rats, keeps them out of your car, or just makes them go away? Please help. All suggestions are welcome.

 

I'd say try to get rid of the rats, traps or whatever. Never heard of the dryer sheets thing, but worth a shot.

 

Why don't you take control of the barn back from the rats and exterminate them. Avoid alot of future hassles if bounce dryer sheets don't work....

Matt

 

Try the yellow pages.

Not trying to be smart so don't take it that way, but seriously.. if it were that easy, would exterminators make any money?

I've heard of the dryer sheet thing, too, but don't know about it's legitimacy.

Is your grandparent's house close? I'd say adopt a cat and let it live out in the barn.

 

so far what has worked for me is buying a box of mothballs, and putting it into 5-6 ziplock baggies and putting one in the trunk/hatch one or 2 under the hood and a few in the passenger area (if you have a glove box in the front, you may want to put one there also) so far for the past 2 years it has worked great for me, and we have field mice, rats, etc. also I have a car in which I didn't put mothballs in and that thing was ate inside out by mice/rats. if you are driving it every 2-3 weeks, the smell is not that bad, and it will air out quickly when you drive down the highway, I let my F-bird sit 5 months with mothballs and nothing was touched by mice. The smell after 5 months is a little strong, but not as bad as some make it, if you have it in tha long, use some glade visor scents to help get rid of the smell. Hope this helps

p.s. Exterminators make money due to the high reproduction mainly of Termites, Beetles, roaches, etc. to think the make most income by mice is nuts, perfect solution is a good hunting cat (or dog, and yes, the one I have catched and kills mice also)

 

get a air pellet pistol from walmart and go for some taget practice...and get a cat lol...but if there are many rats the cat may be a fat *** when there all gone lol

 

one of the major things you need to do is stuff up your exhaust pipes with rags and some tape. that way a rat dosnt make a nest in your muffler, then when you start driving it again some terrible rotting smell is always coming from your car.

i guess it would be best to just keep the windows up, put a box of baking soda in there to soak up any moisture.

and then....i guess try the mothball thing, remember to put some in the engine bay too...

 

Got power in the shed? Then try this:

http://www.cybershopclub.com/pestcontrol.html

 

When I had a rat problem in my car, I noticed that if I made sure the air vents (like for heater/AC) were closed when I shut the car down, my problem was completely eliminated.
I guess the only way the little bastards could get into my car was to get past the broken screen on the air intake in front of the windshield, and squeeze through the foot vents.

 

Ummm..... park a Mustang next to it?

No, a Honda with some really stupid-looking front fascia that doesn't fit right and a 8" diameter fart pipe. That ought to do it.

 

A bowl of antifreeze. They're attracted to it and will drink it... then they will perish.

Last time I stored a car for a long period of time, I put it up on jackstands and put a circle of tar around the jackstands. Nothing could get near the car.

 

When I stored the '57 while overseas, my dad said I wouldn't have to worry about mice getting in it because the rats around the shed would keep them away.

Nothing got into it while stored for 3 years.

 

How did you get the tar off the floor?

Poison lots of Poison. Just make sure the family pooch doesn't get into it. Traps work good too, especially if you're going to be driving it every other weekend or so. BTW the coolant thing works good. Just try and get rid of as many as possible BEFORE you store the car. You don't want them dieing in the car.

Another idea is they make big storage "bubbles." It'll run you a couple grand or so, but keeps the car absolutely mint. I don't doubt that a cover will help some too.

 

Sprinkle some Tide powder on it, put a little water on it, and come back with a scrub brush. Comes off pretty easy if the floor's smooth. Mind you the car was stored for 8-9 months. In his situation, I'd probably put the tar directly on the jackstands. It was to keep insects out more than anything. Scorpions, ants, spiders, etc...

 

this honestly works...


Take those "Bounce" dryer sheets and put them all over inside the car, it will stink like hell for a week when you take it out of storage but it does work.

-Ben

 

I forgot to post this earlier. We stored a '72 Pinto from '84 to 2000 w/o moving. All we did was close the doors. No mice or anything in the interior. It was minus the engine, but there was nothing in the side pipes either(yeah I know, hey it was the 70s). Anyway, I also stored my bird in the same barn for the winter with no mishaps. All I did was cover it and tape off the air cleaner and exhaust with plastic bags.