Is there a problem with mice in Model S (in rural locations)

Andyw2100 · Nov 22, 2014

I live in the country, in the woods. I occasionally see mice in my garage. Once in a while we have found evidence of mice nesting or other mice activity in or around our ICE vehicles. The air filters were a popular location to find things--their bedding or acorns, etc.

I am concerned about this kind of thing happening with the Model S both because of the value of the Model S, and because I fear the Tesla may be orders of magnitude more attractive to the mice because it will be warmer much longer, since it will be plugged in and warming the battery. While the ICE vehicles would come in hot and quickly cool down, the Tesla is likely to stay at a temperature that I fear the mice may find quite appealing.

Is this a problem? If so, what have others done to solve it?

I know this probably sounds like a funny problem, and that I should expect answers like "get a cat", but I am really concerned about this. In the past the mice have done some not insignificant damage to the ICE vehicles, and I'd really like to avoid that. Trying to keep them permanently out of the garage if the Tesla is, in fact, attractive to them is probably not a viable option. Mice can be pretty resourceful.

Thanks for any suggestions.

mibaro2 · Nov 22, 2014

I am in a rural location, and haven't had any problem with mice in my tesla yet.
But you are right, they are very resourceful.

AlMc · Nov 22, 2014

My Tundra has been home to mice twice. As you indicated, in the air filtration system. I have had my S for about 18 months...no issues to date. Hope I am not jinxing myself. BTW: The Tundra is the only vehicles I have ever had that had a 'mice problem'.

EarlyAdopter · Nov 22, 2014

One person reported catching a mouse in his frunk over here: Mouse in Frunk - Warning: Graphic Picture

Of course, YMMV.

(Your Mice May Vary)

tga · Nov 22, 2014

Mice are terrible. I'm (slowly) cleaning up/restoring an early 80's Porsche 944 that I rescued out of a barn. It came with a couple of mice (I put traps in the car to catch them). There is lots of electrical issues to sort through (chewed wires, a fuse box shorted out/corroded with mouse droppings and pee, etc).

Common boat and car storage tricks -

A pile of mothballs in the car/boat
A pile of mothballs under the car/boat
A ring of glue traps around the car/boat
Multiple Bounce-type drier sheets scattered through out the car/boat (supposedly they don't like the smell)
Plugin ultrasonic repellers (reviews on this one vary)
Traps and/or bait/poison (Decon/Tomcat)
Barn cats

Obviously, the last two are mutually exclusive. I can't emphasize this one enough: DON'T use poisons if cats/dogs/other pets/young kids can get into it!!! I wouldn't use them if I had a cat that could get the poisoned mouse. A friend used to bring her dog to work periodically. It got into some Decon pellets the landlord put in the kitchen, and the results weren't pleasant. The dog lived, but it was touch and go (with some steep vet bills).

Personally, when I store my boat and summer car over the winter, I throw multiple dryer sheets around the inside of the car and the cockpit of the boat. I make trays out of 1 qt milk bottles, cut in half lengthwise, top to bottom. I put a handful of mothballs in each tray, and put them in the boat's engine and storage compartments, ski locker, and a couple in the cockpit. I don't use mothballs in the car, since it would stink for weeks afterwards (the boat airs out after the first use).

I have a couple of the plug in ultrasonic repellers in the garage as well (couldn't hurt, and they're cheap).

I also throw a couple of Tomcat bait blocks (1" square) into the corners of the garage. I prefer them to traps, as they don't need to be continually emptied, re-baited, and reset. I like them over pellets that scatter and make a mess. My dogs aren't allowed into the garage, ever.

I'd avoid using traps in the car, if possible. Sometimes the kill isn't clean (bluntly-the mice bleed or loose bowel/bladder control), and leave you a mess to clean up as a parting gift. You really don't want that in your frunk carpet and floor mats. When I trapped the mice in the 944, I used snap traps, and put the baited trap inside a big 20oz disposable plastic cup. This way any mess was somewhat contained. Putting the trap on a piece of cardboard can help, but the trap and mouse often moves (I don't know if it's from the trap "popping" or the mouse dragging it).

EarlyAdopter · Nov 22, 2014

I've not tried these traps, but they would seem to contain any mess and get good reviews. And being high voltage, only fitting to use in a Tesla.

Amazon.com : Victor Electronic Mouse Trap M2524 : Rodent Traps : Patio, Lawn Garden

yobigd20 · Nov 22, 2014

EarlyAdopter said:
I've not tried these traps, but they would seem to contain any mess and get good reviews. And being high voltage, only fitting to use in a Tesla.

Amazon.com : Victor Electronic Mouse Trap M2524 : Rodent Traps : Patio, Lawn Garden

I have this exact trap out in my garage and I've killed dozen's of mice with it. I also have this one which works great too. Amazon.com : Raticator Max Infrared Sensing Zapper, Humanely Exterminates Mice and Rats- Made in USA : Home Pest Control Traps : Patio, Lawn Garden Mice don't seem to care which trap to scurry into.

Andyw2100 · Nov 22, 2014

Thanks for all the advice.

I hadn't wanted to kill the mice, but I may be left with no other choice, in which case I will probably opt for one or more of the zapper type traps. I may try some of the electronic sound devices to see if that encourages them to leave the garage first, provided there are some that won't annoy my dog too. (I haven't researched these yet.) I'm actually wondering if the Tesla's electronics when charging might somehow be discouraging to the mice, based on the fact that it sounds like other than the frunk issues, people haven't generally had issues with mice in the innards of Teslas.

Years ago, at a different location I did use moth balls, and they did seem to work. The issue with that is my dog spends a lot of time with access to a different part of the garage, and while she could not get at the area where the mothballs would be, she'd be breathing the same air, so I don't think I'd want to use moth balls and expose her to that. I may consider peppermint oil, but what I've read seems to indicate that the effects really don't last long, and probably won't work to rid resident mice, but rather may serve as a deterrent to new mice moving in, if strategically placed. Another concern I have along those lines is that the mice would move from where they are now to the ICE vehicles and subsequently to the Tesla. If I'm going to displace them, they need to be displaced out of the garage.

Thanks for the ideas and the information.

Genedr · Nov 22, 2014

Hi AndyW2100
The Tesla forums had a thread on this too. mice nesting in our frunk | Forums | Tesla Motors

Some years back on the recommendation of the boatyard manager we used moth balls on a winterized, shrink-wrapped cabin cruiser in the Northeast and never had a problem, but that's an unscientific sample of 1.

I hope the anti-Mouse program hits The Spot!!

BlueTan85 · Nov 22, 2014

EarlyAdopter said:
I've not tried these traps, but they would seem to contain any mess and get good reviews. And being high voltage, only fitting to use in a Tesla.

Amazon.com : Victor Electronic Mouse Trap M2524 : Rodent Traps : Patio, Lawn Garden

I'm suddenly reminded of Scotty using the high voltage of the Galileo shuttlecraft's batteries to ward off the big monster creatures on that Star Trek planet... might be a nice security feature for the car; activate via phone app, and anything coming within a inch of the car gets a mighty shock

. Then again, might have some safety drawbacks...

EarlyAdopter · Nov 22, 2014

BlueTan85 said:
I'm suddenly reminded of Scotty using the high voltage of the Galileo shuttlecraft's batteries to ward off the big monster creatures on that Star Trek planet... might be a nice security feature for the car; activate via phone app, and anything coming within a inch of the car gets a mighty shock . Then again, might have some safety drawbacks...

Yeah. I so want this:

Thumper · Nov 22, 2014

I found a super cute Disney worthy mouse mom with several newborns in my frunk last spring. How she got in I don't know. There was no evidence of damage to the seals at all. My guess is she crawled through a hole outside the seals and dropped in from a hole in the middle of the frunk. After chasing her away and removing the babies, I placed a plastic containment trap in the frunk secured in the cargo net. It rode there for a couple of months and I never caught anything I finally removed it and have had no more trouble. Mice definitely can get into the frunk. If I was really concerned, I might put a little Great Stuff in the potential entry holes.

Kandiru · Nov 22, 2014

These faithfully go into the attic every November then removed in March, an IP camera surveils the blinkers every night, I take care of about 50 mice a season, field mice mostly,
imagine the pink ban to follow after better half sticks hand inside roaming through the frunk:crying:

The little guys die instantly with eyes open, much better than the kids having to listen to squeals from the pelvic fractures in the Tom&Jerry traps all night.

PEANUT BUTTER is amazing.

Cottonwood · Nov 23, 2014

EarlyAdopter said:
One person reported catching a mouse in his frunk over here: Mouse in Frunk - Warning: Graphic Picture

Of course, YMMV.

(Your Mice May Vary)

That thread was started by me, and the only place in my MS that I have had problems was with the frunk, and that was when I left cat food and material that the mice could use for bedding. Make the mice comfortable and they will make themselves at home... A mouse can fit through a hole that their head will fit through.

Vger · Nov 24, 2014

WARNING! Mice can really damage your Model S!

We live on a small mountainside in the forest and mice as everywhere in the shadows.

There is only one repair to our Signature Model S that has NOT been covered by Tesla's amazing warranties and service, and it was caused by MICE!

After a few months of ownership two winters ago, we began to notice that the HVAC was not working quite right. We mentioned it to our Service Centre when we were in for other minor issues. The answer came back that mice had crawled into the electronics area behind the frunk and had chewed through control wires in the HVAC. Tesla spliced the wires back together and charged us just a half hour of labor for their trouble. We were good to go, but I shuddered for months imagining what horrors they could have wrought with more time to nest in there!

Now we keep armed traps in the house and in the garage, and bait traps in the garage and around the house perimeter 24/7/365.

tezco · Nov 24, 2014

I like the Pro-Ketch live traps that keep the mice inside a nice metal box--no stains to clean up.

tga · Nov 25, 2014

tezco said:
I like the Pro-Ketch live traps that keep the mice inside a nice metal box--no stains to clean up.

If you want live traps, the old school Havahart traps work well, too. Just be sure to check them (or any live traps) often - the mice don't seem to last long in them.

Andyw2100 · Nov 25, 2014

tga said:
If you want live traps, the old school Havahart traps work well, too. Just be sure to check them (or any live traps) often - the mice don't seem to last long in them.

I actually would prefer to live-trap. But I'm debating which would be more humane in the long-run: a supposedly quick and hopefully painless death with one of the electronic traps, or the constant suffering until I release them, probably at least occasionally mixed in with some slow, miserable deaths when I don't release them in time with the live traps, coupled with then being relocated into an environment where they have to fend for themselves, finding a new home, new food source, etc., and where they may very well perish anyway. It's not black and white.

ZBB · Jul 27, 2016

Vger said:
WARNING! Mice can really damage your Model S!

We live on a small mountainside in the forest and mice as everywhere in the shadows.

There is only one repair to our Signature Model S that has NOT been covered by Tesla's amazing warranties and service, and it was caused by MICE!

After a few months of ownership two winters ago, we began to notice that the HVAC was not working quite right. We mentioned it to our Service Centre when we were in for other minor issues. The answer came back that mice had crawled into the electronics area behind the frunk and had chewed through control wires in the HVAC. Tesla spliced the wires back together and charged us just a half hour of labor for their trouble. We were good to go, but I shuddered for months imagining what horrors they could have wrought with more time to nest in there!

Now we keep armed traps in the house and in the garage, and bait traps in the garage and around the house perimeter 24/7/365.

We're visiting family that live near Vger... My wife went out to get something out of the frunk this morning and found some mice in the frunk, and they scurried back into a cavity. They got in sometime between Monday evening when we arrived and this morning, so hopefully haven't done any damage to wires. She's set some traps and put some mothballs in the frunk and near the cavities. I'm actually not there, but will be checking the cavity under the plastic lining when I'm on island this weekend...

aesculus · Jul 27, 2016

I have not had much of a problem since we locked up the cat food but I still see mouse droppings everywhere in the garage. Last car I had need 4 heater fans replaced every few years or so because of mice climbing up into the vents. Then when the AC or heater was on - whap-whap-whap. They unusually got embedded into the fan (squirrel cage) and the dealer always had the newbies deal with the headless mice.

Is there a problem with mice in Model S (in rural locations)

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