This morning’s show (December 24, 2011) a person called in about a squirrel chewing up the wires in the engine compartment. I had a similar problem and my mechanic suggested I buy a small plastic jar (I bought one used for spices), punch some holes in the sides and fill it with moth balls. I did so, hung it to one side in the engine compartment and haven’t had any problems since. I’ve also observed that there aren’t any moths in the engine compartment either! (;op
The main issue here is that various rodents have to periodically “chew” on various items in order to “wear-down” their teeth to get them from causing damage to themselves. If you park your car in an area that does not have tree’s or other items that they would normally chew, they will go looking for replacements. Since I live mostly in a rural area, I haven’t had to deal with that situation - YET. These rodents have absolutely no idea of what kind of damage that they are causing and from their point of view, they’ve just found another way to help keep their teeth from sliding up into their tiny little brain. A friend of mine that works in an office in a nearby city and parks his car in a nearby parking garage has been plagued with this idea and we’ve found that the following idea has been working for him for the past couple years. I suggested that he gather a few twigs and branches (no larger than an inch in diameter) from his home and take them to work with him. After parking his car, he would then spread a few of these “munchies” underneath his car - especially under the engine area. To date, he’s had no problems. Either the squirrels would rather munch on these goodies or maybe they all died laughing to death - WHO KNOWS…
We see a lot of this in our shop in the foothills of Denver. Honda sent us a service news about a product they made aval. Through there dealer parts dept. It is a rodent repellent tape to wrap wires, hoses ext… It looks like thick electrical taps with a small picture of a crossed out rat. Any Honda dealer parts dept can order it if they don’t know about it ask them to search for a service news article on there isis system.
There is a condiment labeled “Red Hot Sauce” that squirrels and mice seem to avoid. Smearing the liquid on the pole that supports a bird feeder seems to keep all the rodents frustrated.
Paint the wires with “Tobasco” sauce and they will be left alone…I use moth balls for 6 month storage with 100% success…But some people simply can not tolerate the para-benzine, the active ingredient in moth balls…Tiny amounts sends them gasping for air…
Keep food crumbs out of the car’s interior.
You can buy a critter repellant in a spray application bottle at the big-box hardware store. I just bought some.
As Bob alluded to, rhodents chew continuously. Rats are even known to chew brick. Rhodents’ teeth grow constantly throughout their lives, and if they don’t keep them worn down they can actually grow long enough to interfere with their ability to eat, resulting in death.