" I Hates Meeces To Pieces!!"

One of the delights in living in a more rural area is the amount of wild life we get. Hedgehogs, rabbits, hares, stoats, foxes and deer all pay vists from time to time, as do lots of varieties of garden birds, pheasants, occasional hawks and owls. None of them give any problems. We have mice as well. We don't have lots of them as other species keep them in check. We like to see them visiting the bird table late in the evening and, in fact, Doreen has always maintained that if their little bellies are full they don't cause damage. Well up until the last twelve months I've agreed but now it seems that we have a couple of rogues.
A parked up Dandy would seem an obvious target, you'd think. Something that would draw them to a warm and safe nesting place but, oh no, not these anti-social individuals. These are driven towards a worse crime, that of vehicle interference. For some reason their lives have spiralled out of control and they have allowed themselves to be drawn into a terrible addiction for controlled chemicals. In this case diesel. Several times in the last few months they have made nocturnal attacks on both our vehicles, getting into the engine and chewing through fuel pipes. Bathing in the resulting spillage of this precious liquid before making off to skulk in their oily little dens.
The situation has become so bad that we've taken to permanently keeping a length of fuel pipe in both vehicles. The repair is fairly easy, if fiddly, but the attempts to mop up the spilled fuel from various inaccessible pools across the engine is a nightmare and usually results in smoke and the stink of diesel pervading the vehicle for many miles of driving as the residue burns off.
It may be that these mice have discovered a way of making themselves unattractive to predators. After all would you like a meal that stank of diesel? Our problem is how do we stop the little devils. Is there anything that acts as a mouse repellant that can be daubed on fuel pipes? Has anyone else had a similar problem? Can mice be rehabilitated? We look forward to your responses, sensible or otherwise.

Steve

Now that's something i have never heard of before,havent got an answer though.

Leave them a container of diesel to swim,drink or bath in.

I was going to suggest something similar to Mike, it may sound silly and I know it's not the same but a friend of ours has a hotel in Greece and one day I got up early and went to help her prepare the breakfasts just as she was putting a chunk of bread with jam on the windowsill alongside a thick slice of ham. I asked why she had done that and she said it was for the wasps, the windows had to be left open because of the heat and this stopped them coming into the kitchen.

John has just suggested that you may can buy reinforced pipe that has a metal mesh type covering, it may be a bit expensive and you will need a hacksaw to cut the lengths but this should stop the little devils. Available in several sizes, its generally used for high pressure stuff and fuel lines, my brother is a car freak and he uses this stuff on his Subaru.

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Interested by this, Helen's suggestion of Goodridge type braided hose is a solution for the fuel line.
I'm intrigued by the mice though; Diesel is extremely toxic to humans, just a few drops swallowed if syphoning fuel and goodbye cruel world. The toxicity for rodents would interest me.
If you want to dissuade the four legged fiends, oil of camphor may be of use. I was researching moth insecticides, traps repellents etc. Found camphor and it is suggested it repels mice also. Don't know if it's anecdotal rather than firm evidence but might be worth a try.

If discouraging fails or if your looking for a more permanent solution traps would be a right pain, having to re set each night and remove in the morning. Try wiring into place or fixing with double sided tape the sticky pads mice get stuck to. Don't know if you have seen them but their a sort of industrial version of fly paper.
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there are humane traps available from places like B&Q a few years ago we had to use them in the garage, you put peanut butter in them the mouse goes in and it tips the trap closing a door at the rear then you take them in the trap and free them somewhere suitable such as a field.

Sorry no suggestion as to why they like the diesel, but a thought on the trap situation.

We has mice in the house last year,

We had a humane trap, which was definitely our preference, but they seemed to avoid it really well and started breeding in the house, again, so we really had no choice and got some traditional spring traps, these baited with peanut butter or chocolate spread worked really well. We chose these over the sticky things because they do a quick kill, the mouse knows nothing about it, which has got to be better than being stuck traumatised for ages.

I like the idea of giving them their own pool of diesel, fingers crossed you soon get it sorted.

We now have one of these in the garage, I know it won't help your problem with diesel loving mice but it works in garages and houses.

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Thanks to everyone for the suggestions. Once again the value of sharing a problem on the forum has shown its worth.
The idea of armoured piping is a good one but i'd hate to think that the little blighters would then turn their attention to something else thats nice and chewy, like wiring. At least the current fuel pipes are simple and cheap to repair. One of the vehicles has had grease liberally smeared on the fuel pipes, from which time they turned their attention to the other vehicle. (Not sure if grease will deteriorate the pipes) As a household we are somewhat averse to traps, at least as long as they don't want to take up residence with us, on the basis that they are always going to be around us.It seems that we need to come up with a deterrent rather than a 'final solution'. The ultra-sonic devices are worth considering. I wonder if there are any 12v ones? It might even be worth stringing 3 of them together and trying to protect both vehicles and the Dandy. Doreen was taken with Helen's suggestion of offering 'jam butties'. I had to counter the idea by suggesting that it might rot their teeth.

Steve

Next time you replace a pipe you could leave the old one laid near the vehicle to see if its the diesel they like or the pipe.

mike

The jam butties won't rot their teeth so long as you leave a tiny toothbrush and a note on oral hygiene.

How about one of these, we have an inverter to run off the leisure battery but haven't had the opportunity to use it yet perhaps you could use a pest repeller with one.

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Tried the electronic "sonic" type of mice deterrent myself. Don't know if I got less mice than I would have done or if the sound only works in direct line of sight rather than bathing the room, but the four legged friends didn't pack up and leave the garage.
Helen has had success so then maybe some brands work better than others. Anyone seen a comparative test in Which?
If I were looking for a deterrent, then the best form could also come with four legs and a tail. Cat's deter mice by their very presence, especially if it were semi feral from a litter from a local farm. If spending most of its time outside, the warmth of a freshly parked car often attracts the cat and keeps it's scent close.
Unfortunately for those of you bothered by the possible fate of the mice the acquisition of a cat could well decimate the local bird population. While a bell might seem to offer a solution for that I personally wont put a collar on a cat not even an elasticated one. I've heard said the best way to defend the birds is to offer food as the more birds in attendance the more the offer advanced warning.
So electronic gizmo, aromatic oils, cat, feeding of and feeding of birds, becoming dammed expensive these mice.

(was to be sent at this point but new messages in the meantime)

Next time you replace a pipe you could leave the old one laid near the vehicle to see if its the diesel they like or the pipe

Always thought it was dogs not mice that liked pipes. Especially St Bernards if I remember the old St Bruno ads correctly.

The jam butties won't rot their teeth so long as you leave a tiny toothbrush and a note on oral hygiene.

How about one of these, we have an inverter to run off the leisure battery but haven't had the opportunity to use it yet perhaps you could use a pest repeller with one.

Inverter

So electronic gizmo, aromatic oils, cat, feeding of, feeding of birds, inverter and jump start for the flat car battery in the morning.

I've yet to work out whether I'm just a brute or tight but I confess I would be spending £1 something with Amazon by now.

If you ran the inverter off the Dandy leisure battery you wouldn't need to jump start the car.