# Fluid Film to deter mice & bugs from machines?



## tdipaul (Jul 11, 2015)

Bought some FF last week and sprayed it on another blower setting in the barn 

I noticed that after a few days the FF is still very wet and slimy. I guess it never dries?

So is it conceivable that mice and bugs will avoid crawling and nesting on a machine coated with it?

Can anyone confirm this? 

(but I guess I will find out soon enough)


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## jrcjr (Sep 23, 2017)

Treat bug/rodent issues like putting out a fire.

A fire needs three things to survive:
- Air
- Fuel
- Heat


In the same way, pests require:
- Air
- Food
- Water

Air would be almost impossible to deny them without making life extremely difficult for yourself, so skip that one.
Water is probably the second hardest to deny, since most bugs and some rodents can get by drinking dew once a day during the early morning hours.
So all that's really left is food.


Things I recommend:

Keep trash secured.

Relocate bird feeders far away from the house and any outbuildings such as detached garages and barns.

Keep any animal feed tightly secured in metal bins with tight fitting lids. Make sure not to overfeed animals at feeding stations the pests can also access.

Keep brush, grass, and weeds trimmed within a wide area around houses and outbuildings. (Make it easy for natural predators to spot a mouse on the move.)

If your barn or outbuildings are fairly tightly constructed (i.e. not turn of the century plank wood barns that let a breeze right through), then you might look for any cracks or crevices around the perimeter as far as six feet high and stuff them with steel wool. Keep in mind that cracks and crevices that'll allow a Q-tip to pass will also allow most mice to pass. If in doubt, or if you have bigger holes around utility entrances (pipes, etc, extending through the skin of the building) then stuff the larger openings with steel wool and sprayfoam the steel wool in place.

Outdoor debris piles, such as stacked brick, or even steel scrap (angle iron stacked corner up is like tents for rodents) can provide great breeding grounds for mice and rats. In the case of angle iron, orient the pieces so they don't provide spaces for rodents to take shelter. In the case of brick, orient all the holes the same direction so the wind blows through them and orient the holes into the prevailing wind to keep rodents from taking up shelter there.

Invest in some predators. Back when I was in my early teens, I spent some time teaching my Grandmother's cats to hunt grasshoppers and crickets as a supplemental food source and to sharpen their skills. After that, they were less often hanging around the back door and food dish waiting, and more often seen afield taking a swipe at anything that moved. Don't like cats, or don't want the mouths to feed. Set up some bat boxes. Or find out what it might take to get owls to move into your area (housing, etc). Just make sure if you start encouraging large birds of prey to move in not to ever leave any small pets unattended. I live in the suburbs of a large city, and we have a hawk that frequents our neighborhood and I'm fairly certain that some of the missing pet cases are due to the hawk's predation. Any animals 20lbs or less should never be let outside alone.
(Indirectly witnessed the hawk making a kill one day. Stepped outside my garage and suddenly a whole bunch of grey feathers started wafting down around me. The hawk had apparently snatched a mourning dove in mid-air. No sound, just feathers.)

If your bug problem is mostly spiders and moths, take a couple days off from tinkering every month or two and bug-bomb your barn or other outbuildings with a fogger. Just make sure no friendlies (cats/dogs, etc.) are able to access the area during, or shortly after the bombing.

Don't like bats or bug-bombing? Locate a couple of bug-zappers at the edges of your property away from buildings. Bug zappers target mainly mosquitos, small moths, beetles, and flies by their opening size, and the wavelength of the light. Larger bugs can't get in (butterflies), and most beneficial bugs (bees) aren't drawn to the wavelength of light. Less spider-food near the buildings means less spiders.

Outdoor water features should likewise be controlled/policed as much as feasible. Larger features like ponds and streams you can't do anything about, but with smaller features, try to do what you can. Water should not be allowed to collect in areas that stick around for more than a few hours, or if you do have some sort of rain water collection going on, make sure it's tight and not rodent or bug accessible. Small fountains/reflecting ponds (the little bathtub sized ones) may need to be relocated away from structures.
If you have outdoor watering dishes for pets, empty them when you bring the pet in for the night, or make sure they're constructed so that only your pet can access them.


Things I DON'T recommend

Rat/mouse poison. (Too many chances for secondary-poisoning if you have cats/dogs who might eat a rodent who is dying of poison. Or even owls or hawks if the dying rodent makes it back outdoors.)

Sticky traps. (Also too many chances for unintended targets.)


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## 10953 (Sep 4, 2017)

jrcjr

all so correct, keep those dang bird feeders far away or mice will make something close a home. not only will one deal with mice BEARS also love bird feed. 

when i worked for VW, i had a customer tow in her 2 week old passat for a no start problem, what i found was a mouse had made it's way under the timing cover, when the car was parked for 3 days and built a nest between the block and cam belt,when she went start it, she got a loud pop from the belt breaking. when the mouse got stuck under the belt the pistons hit the valves, putting holes in them when they hit. ( interference fit motors on the twin cams) turned out she had a feeder 20 feet away

downside was she felt it should be a warranty issue, sorry mam mice are not a covered problem call your auto insurance company, since the bill will be $12.000 with labor for a new long block engine .insurance guy was shocked about 24 bent valves and 6 pistons with new holes. 

mice seem to love getting under the engine covers of machines, i doubt FF will help, maybe a few stickie traps on the frame


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## jrcjr (Sep 23, 2017)

You've heard of the mouse that roared? Well, that sounds more like the mouse that caused the engine not to roar. LOL

I liked the one video on youtube from years ago where the guy had a mouse storing seed in his muffler. He said everywhere he went in his car the air smelled like roasting corn. He finally figured it out and made the video of him stomping on the gas pedal while in neutral, shooting bird seed out the exhaust pipe.


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## 10953 (Sep 4, 2017)

that's normal for me. esp.since i now run a auto restoration shop . few weeks back we had a 64 ford gal500xl come in,that sat for 3 years, no start, sure enough a new set of points, clean the fuel system, started right up save for the cloud of mouse junk coming out of the pipes. yet even after the most blew out there was a stink of mouse barbeku in the parking lot


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## UNDERTAKER (Dec 30, 2013)

*You can also do this to get rid of those scurvy vermin!!!!!!!!!! 



 *


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## orangputeh (Nov 24, 2016)

POWERSHIFT93 said:


> *You can also do this to get rid of those scurvy vermin!!!!!!!!!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SIlYiiCGLI *


i bought one of these and have not caught a mouse yet. ol fashion mouse trap with the spring is working fine.


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## tdipaul (Jul 11, 2015)

LOL I bought this "walk the plank" type and in 2 weeks haven't caught any either.


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## YSHSfan (Jun 25, 2014)

orangputeh said:


> i bought one of these and have not caught a mouse yet.





tdipaul said:


> LOL I bought this "walk the plank" type and in 2 weeks haven't caught any either.


I have not tried either one of them but seem like good traps (incidentally a few times I had a bucket about half full of water in my garage for other purpose and after a few days was surprised to find a mouse or 2 dead inside, curiosity of them got them to the edges and slipped....???)
What has worked best for me is 'glue' traps and 'snap' traps. Lately I just use the 'snap' type, but I may give the 'bucket' trap a try...


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## 10953 (Sep 4, 2017)

maybe sticking a little peanut butter in the middle of the roller will help? 
not much,just a very light coating, when it spins they fall into the water.they do seem to love it when used in a spring trap.

i've personally been dealing with them and chipmunks for ages. peanut buttered traps of both sizes all over the shop area.


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## orangputeh (Nov 24, 2016)

i tried peanut butter and nothing for a week.

i'm importing some dancing mice from Thailand. Put a pole in the middle of the roller. That may be the ticket.


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