WHOOAAAaaaa,never seen that before,course I`m one of them towney cityslicker types a dudes.

 

Haven't read all the responses yet, but likely people have responded with "ride the machine more often"

I had the little b@stards nearly ruin an expensive zero-turn lawn mower over the winter. Took me hours of cleaning and parts removal to get rid of the nasty stench of burning mouse ****. It's awful.

My suggestion for keeping this from happening again is to cover (nail down) the inside of your shed in galvanized wire mesh about 1/8" squares. Go over the entire interior (entire, as in everything....every square inch of the interior). The door must be completely sealed, which is important. Mice can get through very small openings. You need to "mouse-proof" the shed. It takes some work, but it will be worth it for you equipment. Never again will I leave expensive machines "outdoors" (covered or not). Mice are the worst. Can't really blame the little sons-of bitches for finding your airbox. It's pretty smart that they find such a perfect place to make a temp. home.

You can pick up the mesh from Tractor Supply for pretty cheap. Likely it comes from China, but everything does anyway. Especially in that store.

 

My sister was telling Me that a mouse can squeeze through a opening as thin as 1/8th inch,their skulls are cartlidge and can be squeezed down that far and the rest of the body follows through,might want to keep that in mind while mouseproofing them sheds.
Mine sis lives on a farm and She is very smart about animal behavior and survival so I do not doubt what She is telling Me about them meeces.

 

My budy had an artic cat that wouldnt move when hr tried to ride it, the clutch cover had about 5 pounds of dog food in it, at least the mice were well fed

 

Only time mice have given us issues with outdoor equipment is them making a nest in a Warrior's airbox (which, conveniently for the mice, had a hole along the side of the airbox that we didn't know about). Cleaned out the box, replaced the air filter, back running.

It probably helps that our ATVs aren't in a shed or garage. They have hung out on the mowing deck of our lawnmower that is in the shed (I've seen them jumping off as I pull out of the shed). After a year or two, they learned to leave that alone.

I was told to use mothballs to repel the mice. I don't know how well that worked since the scent didn't last very long. At least they made the shed smell like lavender for a couple months.

 

I've seen this on several atvs in the past especially on one farmer's Honda that had it happen all the time,we tie strapped heavy mesh screen wire on the air box intake and that solved the issue

 

If you put mesh over the intake, that won't affect performance, will it?

 

You do not want to use screen door mesh as that is quite tight but a 1/4" or 5/16ths mesh should be good.

 

Thanks!

 

our local shop recommended to us a mouse blocker for this same problem, mice nesting in the airbox. We have not had mice since and it has been over a year now, may be worth a try. They warned us that we cannot use baited traps around the mouse blocker to keep it effective and so far it has been working great.