There is a good deal of discussion about protecting your home or business from a rat or mouse infestation. There is much less information provided about what you can do to protect your vehicle from rats and mice. We present to you some useful tips to keep your vehicle safe from rats and mice.
The Very Real Dangers of Rats and Mice in Your Vehicle
Besides being positively disgusting, having rats or mice in your vehicle raise two other very real concerns. (We are intentionally using the plural form of the names of the two types of rodents. The reality is that even if you initially have an issue with a solitary rat or mouse in your vehicle, the count will shoot upward in little to no time.)
The two primary issues you face when you have a rat or mouse issue with your vehicle are:
- Significant damage
- Risk of serious disease
Thoroughly Clean Your Vehicle – and Keep It Clean
If your vehicle is like a good many people, it may not be in as tidy a condition as possible. You may eat in your vehicle, which results in an accumulation of crumbs over time. You may even have left “empty” food packages and bags in your car, which can contain remnants of your prior eats.
You will want to thoroughly vacuum the interior and scrub any surfaces in your vehicle. Depending on the state of the interior of your vehicle, you may want to consider having the carpet cleaned.
Although you certainly can undertake the cleaning of your vehicle on your own, you might want to consider obtaining the assistance of a professional cleaning or detailing service. These companies have the experience, equipment, and other resources needed to ensure that a vehicle is thoroughly cleaned.
Once you get your vehicle in tip-top shape, you definitely will want to keep it in that condition. Thus, make sure that regular cleanings of your vehicle’s interior.
Eliminate Junk From Your Vehicle
If you are also like a notable percentage of vehicle owners, your ride may be something of a storage unit on wheels. You may stow away a variety of items in the trunk. Indeed, the backseat area and even the passenger seat may be used as a place where all manner of “stuff” is placed, stored, or dumped.
As part of your effort to protect against rats and mice, eliminate any junk and other items that you’ve stowed in the vehicle. When you take on eliminating junk in your car, don’t merely take it out of your vehicle and dump it in your garage. Accumulating junk in your garage will create an attraction for rats and mice, a situation that can create a launchpad for these rodents to invade your vehicle.
As is the case with cleaning the interior of your vehicle, ongoing maintenance is crucial. In other words, once you get the junk eliminated, make sure you keep it out.
Clean the Engine
When it comes to protecting your vehicle from rats and mice, you most definitely must not overlook your engine. You will want to give your engine a thorough cleaning. In the cleaning process, you need to make sure that there is no evidence of rats or mice in the engine area. Signs associated with rodent infestation follow next.
Regularly Inspect for Signs of an Infestation
There are some telltale signs that mice or rats have taken up residence in your vehicle. These signs include:
- Visual sighting of a rat or mice
- Rodent droppings
- Urine odor
- Scurrying sounds
- Scratching sounds
- Squeals
A wise practice is to give your vehicle a once over weekly inspection to make sure all elements of it appear to be in working order and good condition. As part of the more general cleaning process, you can also see if any of the common signs of a rodent infestation are present.
Eliminate an Infestation Immediately
If you do detect evidence of the presence of rodents in your vehicle, you need to take immediate steps to eliminate rats or mice from your vehicle. For many people, hiring a professional exterminator is the best course of action to take.
In addition to getting rid of rats or mice from your vehicle, if you’ve experienced an infestation, you also need to clean up any rodent droppings as well as other waste that may be found in the vehicle. Because rodent droppings can contain pathogens that can threaten the health and wellbeing of people, you will want to consider seriously retaining a rodent dropping cleaning specialist to assist you in the process.
Until the situation with rats or mice in your vehicle is eliminated, you need to take important safety precautions. These include keeping people out and away from the vehicle. The vehicle should be deemed undrivable until the rodent droppings are eliminated.