Mouse problem outdoors

Have a house in southern Colorado on a heavily wooded 35 acre lot that we are now going to live in during the summer months. Last week our AC went out. No AC, heat or blower. Had to wait for a $175 service call to find that mice had chewed through the exposed wires on the outdoor compressor. I've since used chrome, automotive trim tape to wrap the exposed wires. I found that they have also chewed on the foam inulsation around the 12' coolant line which also contains wiring. I've wrapped it with Gorilla tape which was difficult since it's against the house.

My big concern is: We, for the first time, will be spending October thru April in Arizona. If the little bastards chew through the Gorilla tape, foam insulation and into the electrical line again there will be no heat to the house while we are gone for the winter. We've spent a week or so at this house in the winter, shut the water off and set the thermostat at 55 degrees and not had a problem. But without a furnace there will be problems with freezing. It's going to be difficult to drain and blow out the water lines without extensive plumbing modifications.

Solutions to protect the outdoor wiring?

feral cats

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Originally Posted by cstone

feral cats

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Seems like a cat would be a simple solution to a mouse problem. It's either that or cover your place with some sort of snakes. [Coffee]

Of course if you're only looking to keep the stuff protected from damage then I would say running it in metal conduit should work.

Even if the wires are exposed outside if there's no call for cooling it should trip the fuse blow the transformer etc. it's on two different sides.

Feral cats was my first thought. Or build some type of protective cover over the spaces you need protected. Or what about that metal shroud stuff that goes over wiring?

Wrap items in steel wool. That they do not chew through. We used sw for an opening that a piece of paper couldn't fit through, damn mice did. stuffed with sw, no more meeses .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIvHd76EdQ4#t=59

Thanks for all the replies. If the power is on two different sides, I'll turn off the breakers to the AC when we leave and not worry about it until I have to splice wires nex spring.

As sniper7 said in another thread, "Napalm. No sense taking chances."

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=D47P1TgZ7ZE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6dDCgX4R5o

crazy what they are capable of!

get one of these!











https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxScAQG_ZRE

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Originally Posted by rondog

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=D47P1TgZ7ZE

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I have a bucket trap like that in the RV barn and have caught dozens in it. I pour about 4" of antifreeze in the bottom which eliminates odor from the little bastards.

I just found they invaded my garage and ate some of my camo! The war has begun! 2 with mouse traps and actually made one of the bucket traps I remembered from my old trapping forums just today! Didn't have a 5 gallon bucket I wanted to use so used a smaller one! If it doesn't work I'll go buy a new bucket! But I have seen lots of pictures! They work very well! Coat hangers work better than that big piece of whatever he used! More rotation! It's just like Christmas morning! Can't wait to see how many I have in the morning! I heard more after I caught the 2... Tis the season! But it 3 years I never had to worry about them! Kind of interesting! Crazy how much damage a little critter can do! Hoping I stop it at my camo! Haven't checked everything!

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Originally Posted by hunterhawk

I just found they invaded my garage and ate some of my camo! The war has begun! 2 with mouse traps and actually made one of the bucket traps I remembered from my old trapping forums just today! Didn't have a 5 gallon bucket I wanted to use so used a smaller one! If it doesn't work I'll go buy a new bucket! But I have seen lots of pictures! They work very well! Coat hangers work better than that big piece of whatever he used! More rotation! It's just like Christmas morning! Can't wait to see how many I have in the morning! I heard more after I caught the 2... Tis the season! But it 3 years I never had to worry about them! Kind of interesting! Crazy how much damage a little critter can do! Hoping I stop it at my camo! Haven't checked everything!

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Can you explain how that bucket trap works? I guess I'm not entirely sure of what I am looking at nor does the design make sense...

Mice climb up the wood and jump onto the can to get the food. The can rotates and they fall into the bucket which has water or antifreeze in it which drowns them.

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Originally Posted by newracer

Mice climb up the wood and jump onto the can to get the food. The can rotates and they fall into the bucket which has water or antifreeze in it which drowns them.

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Ah gotcha I see it now. Thank you for the clarification.

Ya thinking I have to use a 5 gallon bucket... I think these acrobats are jumping back and forth just fast enough to hang on and crawl out because the can had moved but no bobbers! Had another in a mouse trap though! I'm up to 3 now!

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Originally Posted by hunterhawk

Ya thinking I have to use a 5 gallon bucket... I think these acrobats are jumping back and forth just fast enough to hang on and crawl out because the can had moved but no bobbers! Had another in a mouse trap though! I'm up to 3 now!

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Be careful, now ... don't want to exceed your daily bag limit

[Coffee]