Interesting thread--Rats eating wiring

[Optimistic Paranoid]

Here's an interesting thread for those of you currently camped in the desert . . . about Rats eating wiring

http://americanadventurist.com/forum/threads/critters-and-wiring-harness.3481/

Regards
John

 

[Sabatical]

I have been told that in order to avoid pack rats in the engine compartment we should leave the hood propped open a bit. Critters like the dark and an opening will discourage them from setting up shop in an area important to us.

 

[rvpopeye]

They definitely don't like lights.

An ex girlfriend had a Maine Coon Cat that would have loved to remove your rat invasion , he spent every day indulging his life's passion.
Mice , Weasels , Chipmunks , Birds . Rabbits , Snakes , even another Cat once (it looked just like him and we were getting ready to bury him when he showed up , much to our surprise) The local dogs would cross the street to avoid him !

His name was Coco but it should have been Shaft.......

 

[WheelEstate USA]

Yup, the open hood trick can sure help.

 

[akrvbob]

This thread is about rats eating your wiring.
Bob

 

[gcal]

This thread is about rats eating your wiring.
Bob

The one we had last summer certainly had a go at our wiring. It also chewed thru the intake hose. If it had not dragged one of the dog's chew toys off into its lair, who knows what else it would have destroyed. Maybe everyone should keep a rubber squeaky toy or two around to distract the varmints from the wiring.

 

[Canine]

Re-wired 2 vehicles in the last few years due to mice.One wasn't so bad,only took an hour or so.The other one required a full day.Nothing worked for us until I put the green cubes of poison all around the motor.Some of the cubes have been gnawed on, but no more wires.When me and Vic were elk hunting in the Belts a few years back,she woke up in the middle of the night with a packrat sitting on her chest.Things got interesting fast.

 

[Belinda2]

Yes. I have seen a house 50% destroyed by mice doing this.
I have also seen mice do this in the trunk of a Camry and short out a turn signal.
Mice will go any where they can to get warm this time of year.
I had one in the engine compartment directly on the hood of my mnivan this summer staying out of the heat under the firewall material. As a girl, I didn't like seeing him!!!. I put the hood down and sure hoped he'd go away, and he did!
Belinda2

 

[gcal]

Yes. I have seen a house 50% destroyed by mice doing this.
I have also seen mice do this in the trunk of a Camry and short out a turn signal.
Mice will go any where they can to get warm this time of year.
I had one in the engine compartment directly on the hood of my mnivan this summer staying out of the heat under the firewall material. As a girl, I didn't like seeing him!!!. I put the hood down and sure hoped he'd go away, and he did!
Belinda2

We just found a new entry point in our unit - the air intake. There is a straight shot into the inside, behind dashboard and front panels which have to be dismantled to expose the problem. No sign at all of a screen or a filter. What were the designers thinking? I am going to start leaving reviews on consumer sites.

 

[Nomad]

porcupines are another one that chew on electrical wire and tires lots more critters like gnawing on wires too only fix I know is small mesh screen all around your vehicle is one way to fix the problem other is setup an electric fence mesh around your vehicle other than that pay someone with a 410 shotgun to guard the vehicle....

 

[Tinman74]

A few years ago I had something chew most all of the insulation off the wiring on my utility trailer. I had to totally rewire it. Some one told me that some of the new wire coating are made from a vegetable product thus attracting the rodents. Don't know if that is true or not, would maybe make sense.

Another Bob

 

[digitaldervish]

Since we're talking about rats, thought I'd share my recent rat experience. It may help anyone thinking of car dwelling in a Prius. I took my car in for service and they told me they found rat droppings in the air filter. The service guy asked if I lived in the hills, since that's a common problem they see. I don't, but I live in the high desert, so a rat isn't beyond the realm of possibility. However the car is garaged so don't know how it would have got in. 

For whatever reason I couldn't do anything about it that night. I happened to have picked up a pack of mentos and it must have fallen out of my the bag onto the floor of the front seat. When I got in my car the next morning, if I had any doubt there was a rat, it was gone because the pack of mentos had been gnawed too shreds. 

The posters talking about creep factor are right! I wanted that thing dead and gone and my morning commute I was trying not to think about it possibly living in the car and making the commute with me just a few feet away from me. 

That night after work, I wasn't messing around. Picked up 3 different kinds of traps, placed five total around the garage, a glue trap near the tire I'm assuming it used to scramble into the engine compartment, and one trap on the passenger seat floor. 

I did some milling around the house and garage, checking the traps somewhat obsessively. I don't know when rats are active but I wasn't really expecting to catch anything until morning. However, around 8pm, when i checked the trap inside my car, it was flipped over and had the bottom half of a rat sticking I out of it including a long, leathery rat tail at least as long as it's body. 

I put on some thick chemical gloves and picked the trap up as gingerly as I could and tried not to look at the damn thing while I threw it in the trash. But I caught a look at its black, beady eye, lifeless, but staring at me all the same. 

Bleh! Man, I do not want to repeat that experience! I'd never heard of rats getting into cars before this experience, but yeah I guess it makes sense. Rats seek the warmth of the engineer winter. I don't know if car manufacturers take precautions against this or if it's preventable at all... But FYI form Prius dwellers, this may be something you want to watch out for.