Mouse/ mice in my 2013 Tundra

I have seen signs of a mouse/ mice in the cab of my 2013. While it is parked in my driveway, I don't leave the door(s) open for extended periods of time. Are there other pathways for a mouse to enter the cab?

 

They typically get in through the air inlet under the wiper cowling. The opening is located on the passanger side, you can see it if you look through the cowling grills in the light or use a flashlight. Remove the wipers and cowling and install hardware cloth or something similar over the inlet, I used screws for mine but some type of glue would likely work fine. That fixed my mouse problem.
You should pull the cab fan as well, should be signs of a nest there.

There is another thread about this somewhere, searching mice should find it.

 

Here's mine. There's another hole the size of softball on the drivers side. I modified a puller to get the wiper arms off.

 

This seems like a must do for preventative maintenance. Thanks for the pics

 

Tha ks for your suggestions. Tundra in for routine maintenance today. Passed suggestions onto mechanic.

 

Also check engine compartment. Where there’s smoke...

They like to chew the wires. I’ve found mouse damage to air cleaner element. I’ve also removed the decorative engine cover, as it provides a cozy nesting place between it and the engine.

Greg

 

Once you have them you're never not going to have them. They pee and crap on everything including stuff they eat and sleep. My 1st gen got some and I gutted the interior cleaning everything yet they still came back in less than a month. After that I just kept putting out mouse traps all around the truck. I killed families worth of them before things got better. I found that they don't like to cross open ground. So in a garage, tall grass, etc any where they can be protected from becoming food. I even had one chew through one of the plastic guards around the timing belt to make a nest. They didn't last long once the engine started but it did jump a tooth on one of the cams.

 

Bastages!

Check out this thread to see what others have done about blocking rodent entry via the vent inlet. And make sure there's no food in the cabin that might attract them.

 

Always, Always set your air to RECIRC to close the fresh air inlet. Major way they get in.
Also, mice aren’t very bright, so simple mousetrap with peanut butter or whatever should
get them pretty quick. Rats are more of a problem. I’m going to be pulling the heater
assembly out of my ‘07 for replacement and will put screen over inlet. To stop them
Galvanized metal screen with 1/4” or smaller. Anything bigger than 1/4” and they squeeze
through.

 

Thanks for advice on setting air to recirculate. My mechanic and another automotive tech recommends Irish Spring soap as a deterrant in the engine compartment. Has anyone had any success with Irish Spring soap?

 

Irish Spring and BOUNCE dryer sheets. Apparently they can’t stand the smell of either.

Ironically, yesterday I used 16 shells of 12 ga #6 shot on two rat nests ( rural property )
under garden shed and back porch. There were no survivors. At least a dozen, 3 of which were
mature breeding females with 1-3 generations of little rats. They were under concrete slabs,
they dig faster than I do, but not faster than shot shells.
Do not shoot rats/mice inside your truck - this will void the warranty.

 

I did this last fall, seems to have prevented any further entry to the cab on my truck. For piece of mind, I also stuffed stainless steel wool into the openings on each side of the wiper cowell where the mice get under.

I recently moved to a different, although wooded area. I was finding turds, pee, and grease stains on my engine cover... turns out I had roof rat issues. I tried peppermint, traps, etc, nothing seems to work except one of these ultrasonic units. I 3M taped it inside the engine bay off to the side where it doesnt get hot. Been about 3 weeks and no more findings ... fingers crossed

$51 Loraffe Under Hood Animal Repeller Battery Operated Rodent Repellent Ultrasonic Rat Deterrent Keep Mice Away from Car with Ultrasounds and LED Strobe Lights Rodent Defense Vehicle Pest Control, 2 Pack

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08CV2Q15G

 

I've seen a lot of RV'ers on Youtube mention that they like using http://www.antiratpro.com/ to keep the rodents from chewing the wires on their vehicles while they're out camping...i haven't used it personally, so do your research first, but i hear that it's really good stuff. it's got capsaicin in it, which is the stuff that makes hot peppers hot. might not keep them from trying to nest, but hopefully at least they won't chew your wires all to crap.

 

Well I have them now also. I first thought they/it were located in the engine compartment only. Nope, not true! Found signs in the cab.
I'm turning to the experts since my trapping, baiting and deterrent methods are not working.

My first question: Is access into the cab, only limited through the various holes located under the wiper cowling?
Second: If this is true (if), is the only access to inside the wiper cowling on either side of the engine hood? I guess you could call them where the hood
hinges are located?

Sincerely appreciate your input. Thank you.

 

Pretty sure that's the only way they can get in. You can pull off the entire windshield cowl and use some wire mesh to cover the cutouts, or you can just make some to cover the area near the hinges like I decided to try first. So far, its worked out well. Don't forget the check your cabin filter, they love to nest in there. Good luck.

 

I found a photo of the "nest" shortly before @Cruiserpilot introduced lead into the gang's diet.

 

Haha!!!

 

Got him on camera. Try again tonight.

 

Ok. For now I stuffed those areas with steel wool. Going to try again tonight. Thank you for your help.

 

Well i have not had any luck catching that mouse (s). I've been seeing how far I can get taking the windshield cowl off but it's a real pain. I thought if I was able to remove it, it would be as much of a pain to replace.
That steel wool I used will have to come out. It is already rusting. I'll try to fashion something like you did. How did you fasten it or secure it? Or is it just wedged in there?
I was thinking even if I removed the cowl and covered those openings under there to prevent them from going into the cab, they could still get under the cowl and nest. I need to do what you did also. Thanks.

 

I used Chore Boy on the ends,which is copper. My wife had mice in her VW Bug. Insurance paid to replace the head liner. Nasty buggers.

 

Wow ok!!! Great. I had no idea about those. No rust. Yeah the steel wool has to come out. This may be easier to fill all the little gaps on the ends.

Thank you very much for your input.

 

Sorry to resurrect, but I just stumbled upon a mouse nest myself. I just got a 2012 form my father-in-law and it had been sitting for several years. He would drive it about once a week just to take it into town on an errand, but that was it. Some of the dirt had been sitting on t for so long that it appears to have etched the glass along the edge of the windows in some spots. I have been feverishly trying to clean it up as much as I can before winter. I noticed a lot of dirt and grime that went under the wiper cowl, so I decided to remove it to clean things really good. I am so glad I did. You could almost hide a body in all the space under there, and mine was full of stuff. No dead bodies though.

I was searching for information on the cowl and stumbled upon this thread. So while I have it open, i would like to do something to try and prevent mice from getting in this way. But, on my truck, doing what 81 Toy shows a picture of above would not work. I can post a picture later, but there are openings on both ends, driver side and passenger side, where mice could easily get back to that area. I would need to do what he did, but to the other rectangular opening that you can see behind his if you look. About 2 or 3 inches behind the initial opening.

Someone mentioned another opening on the driver's side and I need to look more at that. I saw a round hole. It was not as big as a softball. On my truck it is probably smaller than a baseball even but not by much. My guess is that it is similar in that there is another opening behind that and that is the one that would really need to be sealed.

I am going to try and get some good pictures and maybe a video by sticking my phone in there and looking around. It is cold today and I really don't want to be doing this but I think the warm days might be gone. Hard to believe it was in the 70s yesterday and now it is 30 degrees colder.

The other thing that I thought was strange was the little piece of metal screening that was on my cowl. It only covered a couple of the middle openings but not ones on the sides. It looks like they placed it and then applied heat to melt the plastic to it. I carefully pulled it off because there was a lot of debris stuck in it. I guess it was an attempt to prevent larger road debris from getting sucked into the ventilation, but it seems like they should have just spent the extra pennies and put it on the entire thing. Debating on leaving it off or even sourcing a larger piece of screen and cutting it to fit the whole area. I have a roll of screen door screening that might work.

 

I leave the air curculation on 'RECIRC' that should seal it from outside access. I do that to my trucks since they sit for
weeks at a time. I have rats, much worse than mice. If it's stored inside, leave the hood open 12" or so. Then they don't set
up shop and nest on the aircleaner or back of the motor.

 

This is the link I used to help de-rodentize my truck.

 

Park outside - get a cat. Inside, I use D-Con mouse baits. After having wiring damaged, daughter installed a ultrasonic device, hooks to car battery on her Expedition, no more problems - FWIW

 

I have been wanting to get some barn cats for my pole barn and have just been putting it off because of other projects. This might be what gets me to pull the trigger. My son loves cats too, so he will definitely be onboard.

 

Great post. People need to read the entire thing before trying to remove the cowl. I noticed the OP did not mention the clips along the front of the cowl (towards the engine). You can't see them but can fell them if you run your finger along the bottom edge. I broke one because I read a few posts that initially made it sound like you just remove the wiper arms and the single plastic fastener on either side and it just pops right off.