Caution this article contains pictures that may not go well with breakfast!
2016 has started off as the greatest rodent infestation we’ve seen to date. The problem is so pronounced that we’ve tripled up on the common cabin air filters we stock. The other day Doug was looking for an anti-theft tool for the lug nuts so he could rotate the tires on a 2014 Toyota Rav-4. The anti- theft tool is usually located with the spare tire in the rear of the vehicle. As he opened the deck/lid covering to the spare tire in the rear of the vehicle he jumped back with a loud “holy #%$%^&*&*!! Now we shouldn’t have laughed as hard was we did but you have to understand, Doug is a big lad standing well into the 6ft range and is an avid outdoors man. He followed with, “Man you should have seen the size of that mouse!”
Inside the vehicle, on top of the spare tire was a very large mouse house. Seems the mouse was just as startled as Doug was, jumped out of the mouse house charging towards Doug, changing his/her mind and ran back into the vehicle under the assortment of vehicle owners’ stuff. In Doug’s mind that mouse was big enough to throw a saddle on and ride.
In any case the mouse house was vacuumed out. Inspection of the cabin filter found mouse droppings and the wrapper of a chocolate Hersey’s Kiss. Questioning of the customer found that one of her good coats had been chewed through. She had left the coat with the chocolate kisses in a pocket only to find a hole chewed in the coat pocket. The bottom line? Rodents are living in her car!
Let’s talk about Mickey’s ride
Not every day is a Hersey’s Kiss day for a mouse. Cars are a safe place for rodents to hang out or even live. Not many predators can make their way in, but in the event they do there are many great places to hide! Just ask Doug… Better yet, people eat in their cars and even leave food in them, which makes it even more attractive for housing.
Heaven it is not
Cars are virtually mouse house heaven on wheels. But, what is perceived as heaven to a mouse can have its hazards. A while back a customer came in complaining that her heater was making an odd noise and there was a vibration coming from the dash when she had the blower speed turned up. With the vehicle in the shop it was pretty easy to tell that something had made its way into the blower motor cage for the heater. Also, there was that smell in the car as well that seemed to be more pronounced with the blower turned on.
Hersey’s Kisses are not good training food
With the blower motor removed it was clear to see that Mickey had a bad day. In this cause Mickey found himself in the blower cage of a heater motor when the driver wanted some heat. Seems Mickey couldn’t run as fast as the blower cage/wheel could spin.
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