[Shop-talk] Mice infestation

[Todd Walke]

	I had a rash of Norway Rat-bastards getting in the engine compartments
of both my TDI (car is outside) and the GTI (car is in garage).

	What eventually ended my infestation was some bait stations and Contrac
poison from Do Your Own Pest Control (www.doyourownpestcontrol.com).  I
dislike having to empty traps, I prefer poison so they can go off and
die somewhere without me having to deal with the dead bodies.

	My secondary method was to get some "place packs" like these from
D-Con: www.d-conproducts.com/baits/place-packs.html
	My car, like most newer cars, has a plastic engine cover.  The rats
would set up a dinner table on the cover and in the morning I'd find
remnants of their meal plus pellets and urine trails.
	I took one of the place packs, put a 2" square piece of double stick
tape on it and taped it to the top of my engine cover.  This way they'd
mosey on in and find a nice, tasty (albeit deadly) snack already
waiting for them.  Once stuffed with food/poison, they head back home
to die and don't stick around the engine compartment chewing on
insulation and setting up housekeeping.
	I checked under the hood every morning.  If the place pack had been
chewed, I removed it and replaced it with a new one.  If it wasn't
touched, I just left it and drove around with it in place (hence the
double-stick tape).
	The bait stations showed activity for a week or two.  I had two place
packs eaten during that time.  After two weeks, no activity at all.  I
kept a place pack on the engine for another several weeks just to be
sure.  Bait stations are still in place, checked periodically.

Todd
Seattle,WA
'86 GTI, Red of course. (exciting racey car) 270,000 miles
'01 Golf TDI, silver.   (new work car)       233,000 miles
'87 Golf, Polar Silver. (retired work car)   654,000 miles