Date:         Wed, 26 Oct 2005 10:08:17 -0700
Reply-To:     Don Williams <williams@FIRE.BIOL.WWU.EDU>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Don Williams <williams@FIRE.BIOL.WWU.EDU>
Subject:      Mouse attacks
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed

I am hoping that others will contribute to this thread and provide some
hope that it is possible to keep mice from getting into a van.    The
archives will tell you that there is a screen under the grill that is
incompletely  attached over the fresh air intake.  I took care of that  and
I still get mice in the van (85 Westy).  The true test is a trailhead.  If
you can stay at a trailhead and not get mice during the night you have
solved the problem, and so far, I haven't.  At home in the city, with
relativley naive mice, who don't have directions burned into their brains
from previous successes, it isn't a problem.  Maybe it is simply impossible
to exclude mice from the van's interior---my mechanic, who rents vans to
customers, assures me that this is true and that i should just learn to
live with them.  But the fact is that they piss in the van and make it
smell horrible, and it is always unpleasant to have one run across you in
the night. And the final issue is that it is, legally, my van and not
theirs, and that I ought to have some say over their admittance.   There
must be some solution.
Don





Date: Tue, 25 Oct 2005 14:24:14 -0700
From: Michael Diehr <md03@XOCHI.COM>
Subject: Mouse Attack!
In addition having my van die completely, the camping itself was a
never-ending battle between us and the mice. Apparently, there are
ways for small mice to get inside a van even with the doors & windows
closed.
I found one possible entry hole -- a breather tube? that goes into
the main battery box under the passenger seat. From there they can
run to the driver's side battery box, and from there they have free
run of the cabinets and closet.
However, even after I blocked that off they kept finding a way in.
Any ideas for where to look for mouse-size entry points (85 westy).