This is a deer mouse. - How To Identify Deer Mice and Stop Them Damaging Your Car.
Deer mice cause millions of pounds worth of property damage every year in the USA. In this article we will talk about how to identify deer mice and how to stop them damaging your car. Deer mice are also known as field mice in the USA; these are not the same as the field mice in the UK.
They have a brown or reddish-gray back, white belly and white feet. They have distinctive tails which are dark on top and light underneath. Deer mice have distinctively larger eyes and ears than house mice and their droppings are usually dark and pointed at both ends. Their eyes are beady, they are usually 3 to 4 inches long and have a tail of a similar length.
Deer mice are often found in woodland and farmland when it is warm but may enter homes and garages when it is cold, leading to damage. Here is a post with more information on how to stop deer mice damaging your car.
How To Identify Deer Mice
Deer mice have very strong, sharp teeth. These continue to grow throughout their lives at the astonishing rate of almost half a millimetre a day. As a result of eating soft human food they find in dustbins and on the floor deer mice need to regularly grind their teeth down. As a result, they often chew the hard steel wires and plastic components of your car, potentially causing thousands of pounds worth of damage. If they do not continue to grind their teeth they will soon grow too long for them to be able to eat.
Tips on how to Stop Deer Mice Damaging Your Car
1) Remove all traces of food. Any food or used food packaging will attract rodents. Their sense of smell is acute and they will travel to find something to eat. This is particularly true in remote areas where there are fewer food sources available. If your neighbours are a long way away you may have some particularly tenacious rodents to deal with. It is easier to encourage rodents to leave if there is a tasty trashcan full of food next door.
2) Seal up all entry points. Make sure that you seal up all holes and other entry points into your garage or warehouse. Mice can fit through even tiny openings. Use cement or other unchewable material such as metal sheeting. Drainpipes are a coomon access point for rodents. Covers are available online. Remember to check along the edge of the roof as there are often openings under the eaves and along the edge of corrugated sheeting.
3) Use rodent repellent. There are many rodent repellents available without license. Check out our post on this for reviews and recommendations. You can also make your own using essential oils such as peppermint. Rodents also don't like the smell and taste of chilli so you can use chilli sauce or powder. Although some people find these effective, the effects can wear off after a while and the repellent may need reapplying. As well as this, rodents are neophobic which means that they are scared of new things. This gives them time to work out whether it is a threat to them or not. If, after a while, they realise that the repellent is not harmful they will start to ignore it. Rotating different repellents may counteract this.
4) RatMat. This is an ideal solution when everything else has failed. In situations with high levels of rodent activity and extensive damage the RatMat system is ideal. Humans have always made vertical electric fences, RatMat is the world’s only horizontal electric fence making it ideal to stop deer mice damaging your car. It consists of tiles which are electrified so that deer mice will not cross but you can drive across or walk across wearing shoes. They never get used to it so the effect doesn't wear off after time, unlike with conventional rodent repellents. It lasts for many years making it an ideal solution in most situations. Click on ‘Buy Now’ to find your nearest distributor.
Dr Toby Bateson for Hammer Technologies