Rodent Protection

[MichiganBob]

Hi All,

 

I was wondering what you do to protect your bike from garage rodents in the  long winter months. I have a 2018 1200RT. Many thanks.

 

MB

[Stir]

My stuff in general, "Just One Bite" rat bait.  Works great.  I find the little carcasses all the time.

 

[TEWKS]

I thought it be fun for the little bastards to try their luck at this homemade peanut butter draped wheel of death  but, I’ve only managed to chub up a few squirrels.

Inside the garage I’d use D-Con  and a couple of snap traps. The no Poison approach would be to have a barn cat. They work but require maintenance.  

[Red]

We have an outdoor cat.  Works great.  The obvious second choice would be poison bait.  Some say that moth balls tucked into various places in your bike works. I've not tried nor do i personally know anyone who has tried moth balls.  I can't imagine how many moths you'd have to catch and castrate to get enough to do any good.  

[BamaJohn]

3 hours ago, TEWKS said:

I thought it be fun for the little bastards to try their luck at this homemade peanut butter draped wheel of death  but, I’ve only managed to chub up a few squirrels.

Inside the garage I’d use D-Con  and a couple of snap traps. The no Poison approach would be to have a barn cat. They work but require maintenance.  

I made up one of those contraptions and got the same results as Pat:  nearly worthless.  Roxanne (cat) hangs around outside and brings "gifts" of moles, mice, chipmunks, and all I do is feed her.  

[TEWKS]

My neighbor swears by these Ultrasonic mouse chasers :-)

He said before plugging this unit in he caught over a hundred mice in his garage (slight exaggeration ) in a years time. After, not a single one.

[dirtrider]

7 hours ago, MichiganBob said:

Hi All,

 

I was wondering what you do to protect your bike from garage rodents in the  long winter months. I have a 2018 1200RT. Many thanks.

 

MB

Morning  MichiganBob

 

Depends on the building I am protecting, for my main shop I have a big old friendly  shop cat, (pretty close to being my personal assistant).

 

For my out buildings I use a  few buckets (like TEWKS posted above) only I put the ramp so they have to jump to the spinning can at 90° not on the end. (that way the can spins & in-they-go when they try to jump back off).

 

I fill the bucket about 6" deep  with RV antifreeze (so it doesn't freeze) with a little oil poured on top of the antifreeze  to prevent evaporation.

 

The bucket/spinning can works great but I will caution you that a bucket full of rotting/pickled/mushy mice (I usually find about 6"-8" of mushy mice in each bucket in the spring) is not a pleasant thing to work with or empty without PPE on. 

 

As a back-up I use some DeCon boxes placed around inside the buildings as that tends to dry out the dead mice so they turn into big dust bunnies. 

 

On most of my motorcycles or equipment that are stored in my out-back barns & buildings I do plug off the intakes & mufflers so nothing can get in & have at times use mothballs under the covers  to  discourage mouse damage.  (the buckets with spinning cans seems to eliminate most of my mice issues but it takes more than one)

[TEWKS]

14 minutes ago, dirtrider said:

RV antifreeze (so it doesn't freeze) with a little oil poured on top of the antifreeze  to prevent evaporation

Ah ha! Evaporation who would of thunk!  I used a gallon of windshield washer fluid that has been slowly disappearing by the day. Now, I know.  If the little bastards actually took my bait and then the plunge, they’d be like oh look ma, a kiddie pool! 

[Rougarou]

Get some friends. I dont see them, but I know they are there. This is my basement garage. 

 

 

And this is the type of guy that visit's my basement garage

 

 

[dirtrider]

2 minutes ago, Rougarou said:

Get some friends. I dont see them, but I know they are there. This is my basement garage. 

IMG_1978.MOVUnavailable

 

Morning  Rougarou

 

I have some of those in my out-buildings (only mine are striped) but unfortunately living in a cold part of the country  those things don't seem to function in the cold of winter when the mice do the most damage.   

[TEWKS]

 

 

11 minutes ago, Rougarou said:

This is my basement garage

Think I’ll take the mice’s.  Although, we’ve got plenty of Garter Snakes up here. Basically harmless but I still don’t like ‘em.

[Rougarou]

14 minutes ago, dirtrider said:

Morning  Rougarou

 

I have some of those in my out-buildings (only mine are striped) but unfortunately living in a cold part of the country  those things don't seem to function in the cold of winter when the mice do the most damage.   

 

That's why you keep them in the house for the winter, where it's warm and they can do their job . I've never seen them out in the house, and I look for em whenever I'm down there, but we've not had any mice issues in a long time.

 

8 minutes ago, TEWKS said:

 

 

Think I’ll take the mice’s.  Although, we’ve got plenty of Garter Snakes up here. Basically harmless but I still don’t like ‘em.

 

 

Nope I don't do snakes very well, but I'd take a harmless black snake over stinky mice any day.  You see below who is near the snake and who is behind the camera.

 

[Skywagon]

I used a common household cure in my airplane hangar for years.  First to keep them off your bike, you need to treat where they have access...that's around the wheels and kickstand.  Unlikely they can get in the bike any other way.  Peppermint oil on cotton balls placed around the wheels works great.  They don't like it and it's toxic to them.  I'm not sure the picture below would be feasible on a bike, but it works if you can.  They can't climb up the steel.  Easily made.

 

[Rougarou]

14 minutes ago, Skywagon said:

I used a common household cure in my airplane hangar for years.  First to keep them off your bike, you need to treat where they have access...that's around the wheels and kickstand.  Unlikely they can get in the bike any other way.  Peppermint oil on cotton balls placed around the wheels works great.  They don't like it and it's toxic to them.  I'm not sure the picture below would be feasible on a bike, but it works if you can.  They can't climb up the steel.  Easily made.

 

 

I do the peppermint for "soft goods" that I have stored......hence, if you buy something from me, you may have a peppermint smell to it if I've stored it where "undesirables" could access it.

[taylor1]

We have a camp in Titioute PA. Alleghany national forest .  Don't visit it like we used to , but when we did , we would find mice crap on the beds. Someone told us to put dryer sheets on them. We did , and it worked like a charm.

[scout6]

We have all sorts of rodents as we have a lot of trees.  The squirrels seem to like eating through anything.  In our newer pole barn we use the electronic (dual lights and sounds) along with peppermint oil.  So far so good.  Of course the little bastards decided to eat part of the wiring harness on the truck parked outdoors.  They also really like the felt cover around the battery, and the sound matt on the bottom of the hood.  I have added the sound and light deterrent to the truck, as well as a nice spray of peppermint every few weeks.  so far, so good on that as well.

[MichiganBob]

Thanks for all the ideas. The folks on this forum always come through. I'm going to get some peppermint spray for the undercarriage of the bike and under the seat, seal off the air vents and exhaust, and go with one of the electronic devices (after reading up on them and the reviews). A good device that can protect the entire garage which would be useful.

 

Last year, the mice chewed up my pickup truck fuel line. This was not in the engine compartment but underneath. I have to keep the truck outside and live out in the sticks. My mechanic said that the flexible part of the line is soy based and therefore mighty tasty. 

 

MichiganBob

[Paul De]

I typically use re-loadable mouse bait stations, like Tomcat or Decon.  The trick that I learned is to not place them inside the building at all but along the outer perimeter near suspected points of entrance.  Placing any poison bait inside will attack the rodents inside to get to the "food".  The last place you want them, right? I have found the outside perimeter placement has reduced the dead bodies inside to one or two in a winter and they appear to have crawled in during their death throws as they are near the access point and not some surprise nest well inside building

 

Actually the only time I had a problem was some years ago when my wife stored bird seed in a Rubbermaid plastic storage bin in our heated attached garage.  That bin attracted rodents like It was like an Old Country Buffet at 5PM because they easily chewed through the bottom of the bin and could literally go for a swim in the Sunflower seeds.   When I realized where the food source was, I banished her bird seed to a galvanized garbage can kept outside and put out plenty of poison bait and thought all was well until I went to fire up my '99RT the next spring.  Left jug was dead and after pulling the Tupperwear I found a few seed husks by the fuel injector and the left fuel injector wires chewed.  Grrr.

[John Ranalletta]

Mice nest inside and eat outside unless homeowner provides food source.  They range outdoors at night foraging for bugs, etc.  Wary of night predators (owls, cats, et al) they hew close to the foundation.  So, place your bait boxes along the foundation in such a way the mice must walk around the entrance to the bait box.  Most bait box poisons are not poisons but dehydrators.  After mice eat the bait, they need water and go outside to get it in the form of bugs or standing water if available.  Eventually, they die outside, not inside.

[Scott9999]

5 hours ago, Paul De said:

I typically use re-loadable mouse bait stations, like Tomcat or Decon.  The trick that I learned is to not place them inside the building at all but along the outer perimeter near suspected points of entrance.  Placing any poison bait inside will attack the rodents inside to get to the "food".  The last place you want them, right? I have found the outside perimeter placement has reduced the dead bodies inside to one or two in a winter and they appear to have crawled in during their death throws as they are near the access point and not some surprise nest well inside building

 

Actually the only time I had a problem was some years ago when my wife stored bird seed in a Rubbermaid plastic storage bin in our heated attached garage.  That bin attracted rodents like It was like an Old Country Buffet at 5PM because they easily chewed through the bottom of the bin and could literally go for a swim in the Sunflower seeds.   When I realized where the food source was, I banished her bird seed to a galvanized garbage can kept outside and put out plenty of poison bait and thought all was well until I went to fire up my '99RT the next spring.  Left jug was dead and after pulling the Tupperwear I found a few seed husks by the fuel injector and the left fuel injector wires chewed.  Grrr.

Sounds close to my experience 10 or 15 years ago.  I cleaned up my garage, and decided to put that paper sack of dog food always laying on the garage floor, into a plastic bin on a metal rack, for neatness and ease of access.  We suddenly had mice nesting in places in our finished garage for the first time, including near the ceiling in a wood stack (I'd rigged storage for lumber and 2x4's hanging from the ceiling.   I discovered that they had eaten through the top of the back of the bin, and were feasting.   Yeah, metal galvanized can OUTDOORS, along with the dog (though we let him stay in his dog house, not in a can, but that was a thought, too. 🤣🤣).  Who knew a rat could dig through plastic?  (Stupid city boy! 🙄)

 

They never got to the RT, but I thought I heard them in the walls an ceilings inside at times (though that may have been residual psychological fear).  I'm sure those bastards were all gone when we TENTED the house at sale in 2015! 🙃😁

[Cap]

D-Con and Tomcat make pet safe bait holders.  I use one with a clear window and replaceable bait, so I can see if the bait is getting munched.  That is your signal that mice are active.  And I use a product called “Mouse Magic” that comes in pouches or sachets of lavender seeds and peppermint.  I tuck the pouches in dark spots like the air intake for the air cleaner and the tailcone.  Removing your seat for the winter will discourage nesting under it.

 

Cap

[Paul De]

On 12/21/2021 at 8:05 AM, Cap said:

D-Con and Tomcat make pet safe bait holders.  I use one with a clear window and replaceable bait, so I can see if the bait is getting munched.  That is your signal that mice are active.  And I use a product called “Mouse Magic” that comes in pouches or sachets of lavender seeds and peppermint.  I tuck the pouches in dark spots like the air intake for the air cleaner and the tailcone.  Removing your seat for the winter will discourage nesting under it.

 

Cap

I use the same pet save feeding stations with the windows to see the bait through.  Works well and only had one puppy grab one which got him a scolding, but no inadvertent poisoning.  Drier static guard sheets also work to discourage nesting, the guy I have shrink wrap my pontoon boat for winter storage uses them.  I am storing my bikes in a new place this winter, so I went out and purchased  the cheapest rudest fragrance ones I could find. Seems to work, but now my bike smells like a cheap date!

[Paul De]

On 12/20/2021 at 10:20 AM, John Ranalletta said:

Mice nest inside and eat outside unless homeowner provides food source.  They range outdoors at night foraging for bugs, etc.  Wary of night predators (owls, cats, et al) they hew close to the foundation.  So, place your bait boxes along the foundation in such a way the mice must walk around the entrance to the bait box.  Most bait box poisons are not poisons but dehydrators.  After mice eat the bait, they need water and go outside to get it in the form of bugs or standing water if available.  Eventually, they die outside, not inside.

The new cement floor we poured in our steel pole barn garage seems to have really worked to keep mice out.  It won't be heated until next winter so with no heat and the now tight sealing steel garage door, and un-nawable steel siding it seems to have kept the mice out so far this winter.  There was one trail to one of the bates that I could trace in the snow and it was between the fire wood rack about 15 feet away from a feeding station near the corner of the garage door where mice would chew their way in. The little bastard tunneled under the snow to avoid predators, but after about 1/3 of the bait being consumed there have been no new tracks in the last fresh snow fall and the bait is no longer being eaten.  

[judgedelta]

This stuff really works. smells like wintergreen and cinnamon.

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=grandpa+gus+mouse+repellant&gclid=CjwKCAiAtouOBhA6EiwA2nLKH0LdW8B-UWq5Lge3pXXcLI7Sp5DS69sBYciKSjAX6S3vbl_yiCMYWxoC6UAQAvD_BwE&hvadid=410083504931&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9013927&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=6051626192890134269&hvtargid=kwd-781280682923&hydadcr=7466_11110449&tag=googhydr-20&ref=pd_sl_1903njq5k6_e

[duckhawk64]

I've used multiple victor snap traps, like a dozen,  with the yellow plastic tray along with dryer sheetes with great success. They have a firm on the left and  senstitive on the right setting.  Peanut butter seems to be the best. I caught a brown bat once, but nary a mouse in an airbox, or exhaust