I thought I would be immune from repair expenses by leasing ... Think again. The "service engine soon" light was illuminated on my 2008 335xi. No worry; I'll just drop it off at the dealer and check out a loaner 330 sedan for a day or two. The diagnosis: a fuel system vent hose had been chewed through by a mouse. Needless to say, that's not a covered defect. Bummer ... So now both my BMW's are out of the garage, and the cat has been sent inside to try to collect $250 from a mouse with expensive tastes in German rubber.
That is awful! A little rat poison goes a long way! Kick the cat out of the garage and let D-Con do its job! That is what I use to keep mice out of my bimmers that are in winter storage. GR
It's an aside, but - although cats have a hunting instinct, they may not necessarily automatically hunt & catch prey; that's something they might learn from their mother, if the mother was a hunter and the kitten was left in it's mother's care long enough. You might find your cat coming up empty and just wondering why it's been locked in the garage. Once, two of my cats just looked and sniffed at a live mouse, and quickly lost interest, walking away - they'd never seen one before and I doubt they had any idea it was something they might kill and eat. Sorry to hear the mouse got your hose tho - better than the wiring, I suppose!
Believe it or not, my dog hunts for mice and actually kills them! EDIT: I reread your post and saw the price. Sorry for asking...
Hey, thanks for all the replies ... This is a fairly common problem. My issues are nothing compared to the poor guy on the internet with an Audi TT who incurred $18,000 worth of under hood damage (that's not a typo ...). Some car policies will cover this damage - thankfully my repair bill was less than my insurance deductible. (Most, apparently, do not.) Poison is OK by me, but you don't want the mouse to eat it, then retire to his nest in the car and expire there! (Major stinky!) My cat is a great mouser, but she came up empty this time ... I had the car parked at the airport for 5 days before the "service engine" light came on - maybe the mouse caught a flight to the Caribbean (it's getting cold here in Missouri). I had a mouse deposit an acorn (I think) deep inside my 850 last year. It was inside a cross beam that I could not access - it rolled across the full width of the car with every corner (VERY annoying!). I finally had to rock it over to one side and spray some foam inside the cross beam to trap the thing. Pretty cheap solution for an expensive car (I love that!) I have decided to use a "zone denial" solution (to use military terminology). No, not land mines ... I have bought a 50' roll of 6 inch aluminum flashing. I will take a long piece of that and make a big U shape to sit on the garage floor around the front and sides of the car. I'll cut a shorter piece to go behind it and just clamp it upright to the larger piece when I park the car. As long as it sits with its edge flat on the floor it should work (I'll need to repair some cracks in the garage floor - wife will be happy). I'll call it "Mousey Tung's Great Wall" and hope it will keep the hairy little barbarians out of Germany.
Have I got a deal for you. We have two major passions in our household, one is obviously cars but the other is pets, namely our cats and dogs. Well, we lost our last beloved English setter a few years ago and now have two lazy, good for nothing, hairball filled cats in the house that basically rule our lives... Oh but outside... and in and around the Farmstead, and on duty 24/7 is an elite force of feline killers that have been keeping our and our customers European cars safe from rodents for years. Mr. Garrison is right that not all cats are mousers but ours have been highly trained by the best feline hunters in the Midwest United States. Not only do they kill every mouse, shrew and farm rat that may happen to wander on our 160 acres they also will never jump up on a European car or even scratch on a tire. In fact though, we immediately find them on top of anyones domestic car or truck just as soon as it has been parked, sort of a "what the hell is this thing doing here" innuendo. My wife Martha is a director of an animal shelter in Iowa so we have had a great choice of cats that just couldn't seem to get along with others and many wandering toms that try to make the team. We also try to keep only the best of breeding stock and have the others spay and /or neutered. However at this time we find ourselves with an excess of feline enforcement. 27 cats at last count. So, I have a business proposition. With every major EuroWerkz purchase (a car) we are prepared to include one Feline Fighter individually trained to protect your purchase. In fact with enough advance notice we can even have one color-to-sample matched to your interior. ( Most BMW colors available) We even have several Modena kittens in stock and ready to go today!!! Act now while there is still a good selection.
Yes finding a dead mouse in the car is not pleasant, but it is a whole lot better than a live mouse family living in your spare tire well or dash area (chewing on your wires). The are kind enough to take the poison home and share it with the mouse family. So it is very effective and once you get them, they generally don't come back till next season when a fresh batch find your garage. Good luck with your Mousey Tung's Great Wall. GR
oh man... r -- o -- f -- l! yes... those extremely rare breeds, the felis avusblau... the felis dakar... among others.. lol!
"claymores" Had to look that one up ... Scarry! (I presume you are refering to the anti-personnel device, and not the ancient sword) Looks like it would take out the garage along with the mouse. (It might come to that!)
Oh, lord. . . "Mousey Tung"?! My friend John Fouse used to have cats with great names: Yassir Aracat and Meowmar Cataffi. But then, he worked in the Middle East. . . . Sometime today I've GOT to get to work. . .
