I live/work on a farm; I’m a shepherdess. Here’s my problem.
There are always pack rats, other rats, mice etc on any farm. They always get up into our engines and make nest, chew wires, etc. So this question is for all farmers everywhere.
What can we hang in our cars that will not be burned up by the heat of the engine, and dissuade those varmints from using our cars as a nesting site?
My family and I have thought of moth balls in a medicine bottle, but that might melt. I’ve thought of opening the radiator cap and letting them drink the anti-freeze, but then we forget to put the cap on and drive off. (Ooops!)
We would appreciate any thoughts you have toward helping our plight. Maybe you have listener/farmers that have a solution for these vandalizing varmints. We’d love to hear about them!
HELP!!!
Diana
I’ve heard Hot/Tabasco sauce can be a good deterrent. Splash a very small amount on your wires, fenders, etc and they should leave things alone
Farmers Supply Store, Rat Poison. Two or Three unfed, outside, “Barn Cats”. Paint underhood wires with Tobasco Sauce.
Moth balls do nothing inside a bottle…Sprinkle them around loose under the hood as long as you and yours can tolerate the smell…
how small are the smallest ones? Maybe a wire mesh over the openings between the engine compartment and the outside.
i have tried peperment smelly bags , ultra high freq noise machines,poisins
(i hate smell of moth ball tried them at summer camp) do not care for cats
but propable the best , smelly peperment bags did help some tried to plug up
ALL holes for pop up camper … good luck …i had none on that one
Thanks everyone for all your recommendations. I bought tons of rat poison that you nail or wire to equipment. The rats ate it all over and over again and just got fatter. I tried hot sauce. No good either. No way can I mesh the engine compartment, there’s way too much open space. So here’s my final, working solution.
I got 5 tom cats!!! And everything is disappearing! Squirrels, chipmunks, rats, mice, frogs, big grasshoppers. YEA!!! They chase and eat everything. Play with them a little bit first, then down the hatch.
Even my garden is reaping the benefits, no more mice eating my ripening tomatoes.
The dogs have had some adjustments to make. The cats taught them well. I guess I will always have outside farm cats.
Again, thanks everyone.
Diana
You may want to look into a product such as this http://www.outsidepride.com/repellents/critter-repellent/fox-urine.html.
I have friends who live in rural areas that had the same problem until they used this.
Tester