Haven’t used the gas blower yet this year, been using the electric one. This one had been left in the shed and I brought it into the garage to see if it would start up but wasn’t planning on getting to it for a day or two. Someone (not me!) left gas in it.
Well. I’m minding my own business putting up some shelves in the garage and I start hearing a noise. I’ve had issues with wildlife getting trapped in the garage when I close it for the night a couple times recently, so I start moving and tapping on things and muttering to myself about no nature being allowed in the garage without prior permission. Finally I figure out the sound is coming from the leaf blower, and also that it smells a little like mammal excrement.
Set it in the driveway for a little while and lo and behold a lil field mouse popped out of it. Wasn’t fast enough to get a pic of the perpetrator. It has subsequently gone back in when I wasn’t looking!
I’m taking a poll. Do I:
- put it straight back in the shed and ignore it for another year
- post it for free on Craigslist without backstory
- tear it down, clean it up, put it back into service
- just fire it up and let ‘er rip (I wouldn’t)
- leave it in the driveway for a few days and see if the problem conveniently solves itself
My fellow dull dudes, what do?
It was happening so often that I had to mount a hook to the wall so the blower was suspended and the mice couldn’t get in.
BATS
Bats don’t roost so low. They like being extremely high off the ground. I know because I also have a bat problem and installed a bat house so they’d stop using my porch (the roof of the porch is 30’ off the ground) .
Rats.
Rats could make the jump but they wouldn’t stay long in a vertical tube.
I permanently fixed the mouse problem by installing a metal door seal on my shed door that was called the Rattestoppen.