Pack rats in engine compartment...solutions?

[Stargazer]

They will sometimes get into the air filter. Check there. You must remove as much of the nesting material as you can as their scent attracts others. First chance you get, stop at a car wash and power spray under the hood. Their urine is difficult to remove -- do your best to get it cleaned off.

Leaving will probably get rid of it. I'm so sorry you're having to fight his war. Grrrr is right! Good luck!

 

[Wabbit]

This guy was running around on the inside of the vehicle on the dash. I would go to corral him out and he\she? would run for the hole near the gas peddle. Finally took the inner hood off the engine(van has engine hood inside). I checked the air filter and cleaned it(one of those million mile k&n ones), also replaced pcv valve while I was dicking around with it. He finally left and then we made a run for New Mexico. I did a steady 65-70 here, so I think we lost him. Bought some moth balls and a couple small containers with lids and am going to put those under the engine of both vehicles. Pretty sure its a prob here also, see two other campers with there hoods up.

 

[Wabbit]

So we are now in New Mexico @Joe Skeens Campground. The rodent that was just ON MY G'DAM LAP! was not the same one from Red Rock area. I **** you not, I felt a lil tickle under my arm and figured it was a moth(they get in from open windows), I "twitched" it away but also looked and it wasn't a moth. It was a mouse. I am not kidding this van is lit up with lights(drinking night dontcha know) and a mouse felt comfortable enough to crawl up in my lap and when I twitched and looked he just strolled off. My confused codependent doesn't believe me because I didn't scream. I was to confused to scream. We were gonna hang here for a few days, but f that. These guys are getting BOLDER! We are headed to Colorado tomm and I'm going to enjoy the "recreational" till I forget about rodents!

When we parked I put mothballs in a container in my engine compartment and under her engine. 2 separate spots to see if placement made a difference. I guess the mothball smell is deterring them from engine compartment and encouraging them inside.

I get this seems improbable(rodent on my lap), but, it just happened.

 

[abnorm]

Get a CAT......................

 

[Stargazer]

Aw geeze!  This sucks!, Wabbit!  I never had them inside and crawling on me would be The End.  I hate to say this but I doubt the moth balls will work either.  Did you clean under the hood?  They are being attracted by the urine/poop of previous inhabitants.  Don't just "spray" with cleaner. Get in there with a power washer.  Close up as many holes into the cab as you can with steel wool.  All food in sealed containers that can't be chewed through.  Set traps, poison the little boogers, too.  Maybe some kind of fumigant bomb?

I also used a product I found at an Ace Hardware (Rid-A-Rat?, something like that) that came in granule form in a jug and another liquid product that had pepper stuff in it, both claimed to repel them.  It stank to high hell.  I then moved to a concrete parking lot, in the middle of same with no place nearby for them to run and hide (no bushes etc) sprinkled and sprayed that stinky stuff all around on the ground, on the tires, sprayed and sprinkled under the hood, anyplace I could reach.

Mine was a single pack rat.  It took a combination of things and I relocated from 8,000 feet to almost sea level in a long day driving in the dead of summer and during that two weeks before leaving I had power washed three times, the last time as I was pulling out of that beautiful mountain place to get rid of the smell of the stuff I had used.  Even then the first few hours I drove with all windows down and cursed a lot.

This is WAR!!  All means and methods are fair!  Truly, I'm wishing you good luck.

 

[Wabbit]

I think its a new rat\mouse. Behavior is different(its bolder?). As to power washing an engine, that's OK? Sounds like a moron question prob lol, but I had a mustang that whenever it rained would either stall out or not start. Water was getting somewhere, been awhile, maybe distributor cap? Poison not an option, but traps are. Nursing a hangover today, going to get a few traps tomm. That kinda sucks, they are rodenty, but kinda cute.

 

[CautionToTheWind]

You can't make this sh!t up, huh? lol Better than morning coffee... Anyway, mouse trap with peanut butter gets 'em every time! (p.s. sorry to laugh on your account... )

 

[Stargazer]

Lol with the hangover.  Hey!  Maybe leave a bowl of gin out for the mice?  It'll at least slow them down?

As for the cute factor, yes they are. Little fury things with bright eyes.  An RV tech recently told me about a couple with a big Class A that rodents had damaged so badly, the insurance company totaled it, gave them a check, and they gave the RV to the repair shop to use for spare parts.  True story.

When I power washed under the hood, I had asked the mechanic if that would be ok.  The same mechanic who wouldn't work on the van inside his shop for fear of introducing rodents there.  They did the work outside in their parking lot!  I had him remove the battery and the nest and check for any other nests I couldn't see. He said it would be okay to use the car wash sprayer.

I never thought I would even consider poison for all the obvious reasons.  But after being nice and PC about it and failing miserably and it was MY VAN for crying out loud and the rat was winning! I declared war!  I don't carry nor even own a gun, I'm an old hippie, peace and love and worship Mother Nature and all that.  But that rat threatened everything I loved so my ethics were flushed down the drain at the car wash and to this day all is fair in that war.  Do what you will to me but touch my van and you're gonna die.

Hang in there.

 

[Stargazer]

ROFL!  Yes, it is funny that such a cute little thing can get me so riled up.  Me, so laid back, lemonade maker extraordinaire, laissez faire to the nth degree.

But...but...but...IT'S MY VAN!!

LMAO!

 

[ArtW]

OK new plan
Borrow shop vac
suck rat up in shop vac
find a hungry snake, you can tell they're hungry because they're mean (wouldn't you be mean if you were hungry and didn't have cash for food?
feed the rat to the snake
then have the snake poop and pee in the engine bay (he better be gratefull, you just brought him lunch) (for free)
the snake poop and pee should convince other rats to stay away
better yet, keep the snake in the engine bay
do NOT allow him in your living ' driving space, he should be happy he's warm and has a temp supply of rodents to eat

 

[rvpopeye]

Watch the movie "Snakes On A Van"

 

[ArtW]

lol

 

[Wabbit]

Put out 4 mouse traps with peanut butter. Hoping that gets 'em.

 

[ArtW]

If you find the PB gone and the trap not snapped, you'll have to switch to cheese, mice in my shop could apparently lick the PB off the trigger without setting it off

 

[Almost There]

I ended up using jam....  

The cheese kept falling off the bait thingie and the peanut butter wasn't their favorite apparently.

I had mice coming in by way of the little gap between the firewall and the gas/brake pedals. Not someplace I could seal up..s.igh!

The traps worked well right on the floor in front of the drivers' seat. They found the traps before they found my food pantry...
It was important, however, to remember that they were there BEFORE I jumped in the drivers' seat....

I got those plastic traps that you just squeeze the one end to set. I love them after years of arm-wrestling with the old wooden ones that you have to arm by putting part A under Part B. And they were easier to remove the dead bodies from as well...just squeeze the other end and out came that nights' catch.

 

[ArtW]

you can't just set the cheese on the trigger, you have to moosh it in place
but if jam worked, well
*adds jam to future list*

 

[rvpopeye]

If you really want to get serious you could try "glassing" them. I hear the Nkoreans have some very limited devices available that might be large enough to get the rats while leaving the rest of the rig unaffected............Be careful though , wouldn't want to create RATZILLA !

 

[Wabbit]

As to pack rats, ended up just using Victor mouse traps. Peanut butter bait they just licked off. Same with jelly. Velveeta cheese didn't seem to interest them. What worked for me was just a tiny bit of sausage meat crammed into the hole of the bait area. Didn't think that would do it, all the meat was pressed into the lil loop on the bait lever part. Worked great.

 

[Suanne]

Sure glad you found something that worked for you.

I had my first experience with critters in the engine compartment early this morning.  Not even banging around got them to stop chewing.  But, after I got out and opened the hood, they left.  Pretty sure it was a couple of marmots.  Tonight, the hood stays open. Fingers crossed they don't come back.  

I understand the next non-lethal course of action is wrapping the bottom of the car in a tarp ...  :s

 

[bullfrog]

Slightly melting cheese with a match on the brass trigger skims it over and increases the scent but once cooled is so hard they have to chew it off. Boiling traps removes human scent but I just buy new traps and always wear rubber gloves when handling traps or bait.