The smell of a decomposing mouse somewhere forward of the firewall

Jonathan Goodish wrote:

I never had mice in my airplane (knock on wood). However, I have had
them in the walls of my house. After about a week, we couldn't stand it
any longer and I had to start cutting drywall. I must have done this a
half-dozen times before I was finally able to stop them (hopefully) from
entering the house, though I still catch them in the garage. Needless
to say, I am now fairly skilled at repairing and replacing drywall.

Ah, you need a couple of cats in your house. That will solve the mouse
problem.

One night a few years ago a mole accidentally found its way into our home.
Our two cats, which normally sleep with my wife and me, never came to our
bedroom that night. We found them in the dining room the next morning
batting around a dead mole.

If only I could find a cat that was happy to live year-round in the
t-hangar. That is the answer.

If you don't smell it in the cabin, I would probably de-cowl the
airplane and go searching with a flashlight and a mirror.

The Bonanza V35, unlike Cessna or Piper single-engine aircraft, cannot be
fully "de-cowled." Either side opens up via top-mounted hinges, but doing
so only exposes the top half of the engine. The bottom half of the cowling
is not removable, save for removable baffle louvers. Here is a picture
that gives you an idea of what I am attempting to describe:

http://www.taturbo.com/louverson.jpg

Additionally, with all of the Tornado Alley turbo mods in my aircraft's
engine, there is very little room under the non-removable cowling to
maneuver or see.

--
Peter

In article ,
"Peter R." wrote:
Ah, you need a couple of cats in your house. That will solve the mouse
problem.

That's what I told my wife, but she won't go for it.

I did have a dead mouse in the hangar (on the floor) and it was very,
very obvious as soon as we opened the man door... unfortunately, a
familiar scent.



Additionally, with all of the Tornado Alley turbo mods in my aircraft's
engine, there is very little room under the non-removable cowling to
maneuver or see.

By "de-cowl," I obviously mean to the extent possible on your aircraft
without drilling out any rivets. However, with your mods, it sounds
like it will be much more difficult to poke around.



JKG

I know several owners that place those sticky pads completely around all
three tires of their planes. The theory being that the only way the mouse
can get inside is to crawl up the tire. They've caught a few that way. Plus
they say that because there is no bait, there is nothing to draw the mice
into the hanger other than curiosity or heat.

Jim

"Peter R." wrote in message
...
Man, this aircraft ownership thing really does present its share of tests.

The latest issue I am dealing with is a decomposing mouse somewhere
forward
of the firewall. My aircraft is a Bonanza V35 and I am flying at least
twice a week, but frequency (or lack thereof) of flight appears to be
unrelated to the probability of a mouse choosing the aircraft for its new
home.

This story began about a month ago as I was departing IFR out of Syracuse,
NY (Northeast US) in low ceilings and snow. During takeoff, small specks
that glistened in the light started blowing out of the windshield
defroster. I thought this may have been snow pulled in from the outside
and was struck by the beauty of the sight, but seconds later reality came
crashing back when large chunks of insulation joined the warm air blowing
out of the defroster and landing all over the glareshield, seats, and
pilot.

Very friggin' nice, I thought as I reached down and closed off all forced
air ducts while hand-flying the climb in IMC. Now I am sitting inside a
cloud of glass while flying through a cloud of snow, getting cold and
breathing these microscopic fragments of glass.

Earlier that previous week I had some avionics work done so when I landed
after this flight, I called the shop and asked if they could have
accidentally dropped any of the aircraft insulation into the ducts. The
avionics tech assured me that this didn't happen and suggested that a
mouse
may have attempted to build a nest with insulation inside one of the
ducts.
A mouse, you say? I felt another unique aircraft ownership experience
upon me.

When I returned home later that week, I immediately went shopping for some
D-CON mouse poison baits and placed them around the t-hangar. Oops, in
hindsight that was a poor idea. Mouse poison is not as fast acting as a
snap-trap and any mouse who eats the poison will most likely have time to
check into the aircraft hotel before expiring. A fitting Eff-You to the
human who placed the traps, no doubt.

Flash forward to last Thursday night. I returned from my weekly commute,
pushed the aircraft into the t-hangar, plugged in the Tanis heater and
covered the cowling with an insulated cover. I was about to slide on the
insulated prop covers when I suddenly caught a lung-full of rotting mouse
smell, emanating from somewhere inside the hot engine compartment.
Whoa...
who would have guessed that such as little creature could produce such a
large odor?

The next day I contacted my mechanic and we both spent an hour or so
poking
and prodding the engine compartment and various stack? hoses with beams of
light and mirrors-on-a-stick looking for the critter. No joy.

Given that the smell was not making its way into the cockpit and that the
dead carcass was obviously not anywhere that would interfere with engine
operation (or catch on fire) we agreed that he would do a more thorough
search and recovery during the annual that was coming up in a few weeks.

After landing today I noted that the smell was still just as putrid as it
was last Thursday night. How long does it take for a mouse body to
decompose past the point of the nasty odor?


--
Peter

Jim Burns wrote:

The theory being that the only way the mouse
can get inside is to crawl up the tire.

They certainly must be creative or have strong mouse feet, for I cannot see
how a small field mouse is able to climb up the tires. The little *******s
are probably dropping onto the aircraft by parachute from the ceiling.

--
Peter

"Peter R." wrote in message ...
Jim Burns wrote:

The theory being that the only way the mouse
can get inside is to crawl up the tire.

They certainly must be creative or have strong mouse feet, for I cannot see
how a small field mouse is able to climb up the tires. The little *******s
are probably dropping onto the aircraft by parachute from the ceiling.

--
Peter

Haven't you ever heard of flying mice? ;-)

In article ,
"Peter R." wrote:
The theory being that the only way the mouse
can get inside is to crawl up the tire.

They certainly must be creative or have strong mouse feet, for I cannot see
how a small field mouse is able to climb up the tires. The little *******s
are probably dropping onto the aircraft by parachute from the ceiling.

Rubber would be no problem. About the only thing they can't climb is
glass, or a similar slick surface. It would be no problem for them to
climb the tire and gear.

I'm no expert on mouse behavior, but my theory with the bait blocks is
that the mice will come to the hangar for the bait and NOT to explore my
aircraft. I believe that they will leave the hangar to look for water
after they consume the bait. The mice will enter the hangar even if you
don't have bait, as the hangar provides shelter.



JKG

"Peter R." wrote in message ...
snip

The next day I contacted my mechanic and we both spent an hour or so poking
and prodding the engine compartment and various stack? hoses with beams of
light and mirrors-on-a-stick looking for the critter. No joy.

snip

I'm not very familiar with Bo's, but on my Cherokee we found a mouse nest in the heat muff around the muffler once.
Take a look there if you haven't.



----== Posted via Newsfeeds.Com - Unlimited-Unrestricted-Secure Usenet News==----
http://www.newsfeeds.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! 120,000+ Newsgroups
----= East and West-Coast Server Farms - Total Privacy via Encryption =----

JJS jschneider@remove socks cebridge.net wrote:

I'm not very familiar with Bo's, but on my Cherokee we found a mouse nest
in the heat muff around the muffler once.
Take a look there if you haven't.

Thanks. That is the area we suspect is housing the mouse.

--
Peter

I just got rid of a mouse in my house after a 3-month battle. After trying
every trap available at the hardware store, I resorted using D-Con poison as
a last resort--damn the smell. I was very lucky in that the mouse decided to
use my foyer floor as a deathbed. Scared the hell out of my wife but it
allowed me to get rid of it right before it died. The poisons use an
anti-coagulant that makes them bleed internally so death is not instant.

My observations (both first-hand and through research):
- Mice can become trap-shy rendering the traps ineffective. The one in my
house got caught in a glue-trap the first day I set it but got loose. Every
subsequent trap application was ineffective for that particular mouse.
- Sealing a house is difficult and probably not feasible for a T-hangar.
- Females typically nest in preparation for birth. The smell could be
augmented by a bunch of little ones.

My only suggestion after you find the dead mouse is to keep a fresh supply
of poison around the walls of the T-hangar. Any new ones will hopefully find
them and become victim to them first before they find their way into the
airplane. The circle of glue traps around the wheels may help but unless you
have a big rodent population, the traps will probably get dirty before long
rendering them useless. I watched as the mouse ran over my "wall of glue
traps" one day so it would have to be a pretty significant "wall" around
your wheels not to mention another checklist item.

Good luck,

Marco

"Peter R." wrote in message
...
JJS jschneider@remove socks cebridge.net wrote:

I'm not very familiar with Bo's, but on my Cherokee we found a mouse
nest
in the heat muff around the muffler once.
Take a look there if you haven't.

Thanks. That is the area we suspect is housing the mouse.

--
Peter



Posted Via Usenet.com Premium Usenet Newsgroup Services
----------------------------------------------------------
** SPEED ** RETENTION ** COMPLETION ** ANONYMITY **
----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.usenet.com

Marco Leon mmleonyahoo.com wrote:

My only suggestion after you find the dead mouse is to keep a fresh supply
of poison around the walls of the T-hangar.

Thanks, Marco, for the suggestions. I had set two D-Con poison baits along
the back wall of the T-hangar and two days later one was completely empty
and the other one disappeared??? The next two fresh packs I set to
replace the empty one were still full a week later, so it appears that the
population may have been temporarily controlled.

One interesting point raised by my mechanic is that normally here in the
Northeast US, temperatures are typically cold enough that mice are in some
type of hibernation.

However, this year we are experiencing a much warmer than average winter
(much to the disappointment of power companies and their huge increase in
natural gas heating prices) and this is allowing the mice to remain active.

--
Peter