What happens when several big manly mechanics open the hood of a car and a live rat jumps out? The owner of my daughter’s auto service company tells me they scream REALLY LOUD.
My daughter lives in a rural area of California. On a recent visit to the auto mechanic she learned that rodents had chewed through leads to the injection system, causing her car to run on 4 cylinders instead of 6. They also chewed through one or more leads to her headlights. Several hundred dollars later the leads are fixed, but she now faces the challenge of keeping the critters out of her engine. There is no enclosed garage on her property; the car is parked out in the open on a gravelled driveway. Poison bait is out of the question. “Snap” traps placed under the car could injure other curious animals. Even if we did use bait and traps, there’s an endless supply of mice and rats out there in the country. Plenty of natural food for them to eat, why do they crave car parts? Any creative ideas for detering them from crawling into the nice warm engine compartment at night and dining on wiring? Don’t know if it makes any difference, but her car is a Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder.
Some breeds of dogs (terriers, I think) are known for hunting rodents. You could adopt one or three of these dogs and let them do their thing.
Why is poison out of the question? If you placed it under the hood, other animals would not be likely to get into it.
People I know who have had rodent problems with their vehicles set up one of these. Might be worth a shot.
Tester
dvsmith53, make sure you read the reviews for these products before you buy. The one that makes a sound has mixed reviews and one reviewer says it stopped working properly after it got rained on. One user of the other one with the rotating head says it didn’t do a thing to help with the squirrel problem.
I remember a long time ago they started making license plates out of soybeans or something and had to quit because the dogs kept eating them.
We have mice in our house for the first time this year and stopped by lowe’s to get a live trap, 5 bucks and it works, 9 mice so far. The first mouse was like the excitement of catching a fish, the ninth mouse the excitement of taking out the garbage.
Point to the story the guy who showed me the live trap also pointed out some small units, about the size of a silver dollar operated by a watch battery I imagine that you stick on anywhere. He said you will be tired of this after a while and be back for these, I know because I have been there and they really work (they emit some high pitched sound you can’t hear but drives the vermin crazy and they can’t srand to be near it). I say lowes because my friend tried some others in his shed and they did nothing. I can check the brand if you have no Lowes, Good luck. ( am now going to set live trap again)
when releasing the trapped rodents make sure you go at least a mile away or they will return.
Decon Rat Poison. The kind sold at farm stores not supermarkets. Put some trays under the hood. Adopt a cat or two. Don’t feed them very much and keep them outside most of the time. Paint the wires with Tobasco Sauce. It wont hurt the wires but vermin wont like the flavor. If they are in her car, they are in her house. Take corrective action.
In arizona they have this problem a lot. Some things that help. Leaving the hood open, when the car is parked. Rodents like the dark. Moth balls, but keep them out of the passenger compartment. Ground Jalapeno and Habenero peppers sprinkled around in the car. Gets on their paws and they don’t like it. A cat.
We thought a block was good, Wifey " Oh It looked so much like ratatoui from disney, it was so cute!:, I think they are all different and have thought of marking them, a mile for sure?