2026, animals, Food, Mysteries, Nature

Critter Conundrum?

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I can’t decide if I’m losing my mind or not.

Backstory.  For many years, I have kept dog treats in my car – a box in the backseat and usually two or three in the little well in the drivers side door.  Most of these go to dogs at the hardware store – there are two official hardware store dogs but there are also often shoppers who bring their dogs in.  Occasionally if someone asking for money on a street corner has a dog, I will stop and talk to them a bit.  Dollar or so if I have it and a couple of treats for the dog.  I haven’t changed the type of dog treat – ever. 

This summer, I went to grab a treat from the little well and there were none there.  No big deal, I must have used them the last time I was at the hardware store.  I went to get a few from the box and the box was empty.  It’s completely within the realm of possibility that I took the last few treats out the box the last time I filled up the well, but I couldn’t grab a memory of doing that.  I bought another box, opened it and put a few in the window well.  A couple weeks later I noticed the well was empty, so went back to the box.  It was open and tipped over in the storage box where it sits.  Hmmmm.  This is where it gets tricky.  I am not 100% certain that I put any treats in the well at that point but the next week when I wanted one, the well was empty.

There is absolutely no evidence that critters are the culprits of all this.  No crumbs, no droppings, no scratch marks, no odor, no damage to anything else in the car.  Even in summer, I never leave the car windows open.  I could do a more scientific investigation (other than relying on my perhaps faulty memory) by taking a photo and jotting down the date and time to compare it later if I find the well empty.  Same with the box – picture and date of it closed.  So far, I’ve been too lazy to do that, although truly, how long would it take to snap a photo with my phone as I’m getting out of the car? 

It’s hard to imagine a squirrel getting into the car and it’s harder to imagine mice getting in and traipsing off with whole dog treats without leaving some kind of trail.  

Any thoughts?

29 thoughts on “Critter Conundrum?”

  1. I forget, what was the question? Oh, about losing your memory or was it squirrels?
    Don’t leave food out in your car. Put it all in a sturdy plastic box. And get rid of those slippers.
    Clyde

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      2. Chipmunks more likely. They can get through small holes. Lack of crumbs is puzzling. Mice will chew on your engine wires. My daughter had her car disabled twice that way. But food in your car draws all sorts of small animals.

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  7. I think it is mice or another rodent. The problem with this that once rodents are in your car, you do not know if they will come out while you are driving. My brother-in-law had one climb up his leg while driving.

    For your own safety get the food far away from the car and get the car pest free. Really.

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  10. If you can stand the smell, put those mothball packs in the car to deter the rodents. I put them in the tractors that I don’t drive much in winter. It’s not a terrible smell, but it just depends on you. But yeah, it can seriously be a problem. Pop your hood and make sure they’re not nesting in there somewhere. I mean, you’d see it right on top or something obvious.

    My candy dish for the college kids went empty a few years ago. 6 months later, I found all the wrappers under a shelf unit. Ah- that’s where they all went.
    Yes, now I keep them in heavy sealed containers.

    I had a mouse come up my pant leg in a tractor once. It was pretty exciting for a minute or two… 🙂

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  11. i had a honda and the heat didnt blow in on drivers side or on windshield. turns out mice shared my sunflower seeds but ate in the dashboard vents
    current car delivers and has extra bags and reciepts in the trunk. i coeaned it out earlier this week snd found they had shredded paper nest making under my paper stash
    i live in my car amd it looks like it but i need to make it less homey for the critters
    right now
    im guessing your critters appreciate the treats and leave no crumbs because crumbs taste good to. someone told me ince if theres one mouse theres 50. i believe that to be true

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  13. Well, the experiment has started. The box of treats in the car was still almost full, but I have now transferred it into a metal cookie tin that has a pretty tight lid. I put one treat into the little well and I took a picture so I can remember when I put it in.

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    1. Squirrels chew right through the heaviest plastic. We keep all our bird seed and dog food in metal garbage cans for this reason.

      PS the squirrels in Minneapolis have learned to chew through the heavy plastic compost barrels as a source of food. The squirrels in my son’s neighborhood are fat and fluffy in the middle of January because of this food source and their willingness to chew. I have seen both the squirrels and the chewed up compost barrels.

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    2. Oh, good idea about the little tin for the well. As always, Linda, you are brilliant!!

      AND.. I had a little tin in my craft stash, so I just went in and laminated some doggy design paper and cut it to fit the top of the tin and added couple of cute doggy decals. This kind of silliness makes me very happy.

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      2. The solution of putting any and all treats left in the car in metal containers is a good one. However, it doesn’t eliminate the possibility that you may, in fact, have critters living in your car. I hate to mention it as I don’t want to feed any anxiety around this, but I’d sure make an effort to determine whether or not that’s the case. Good luck VS.

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