Re: Help - Rats in my pick-up truck

On Wed, 21 Dec 2005 03:58:48 GMT, <maxh@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>Hi folks,
>just got my pick-up truck back from my mechanic.
>Some sneaky rats got into it and ate some wires near the carburetor.
>It disabled my truck and I had to get it towed.
>It cost me $400 just to repair the damage!
>What a waste of money, would have bought a lot of Christmas presents.
>Question: Any idea how I can keep the rats from eating the wires on my
>pick-up truck?
>My mechanic suggested a "Dove" soap bar,. placed under the hood, might keep
>them from eating the wires. The rats seem to prefer eating that bar of soap
>rather than wires.
>Another suggestion was, spraying Mexican Chili powder/mixed with water, all
>over the engine compartment. Rats seem not to like that smell.
>No offence intended to any Mexican readers :-))
>Someone else suggested to place "fabric softener sheets" (used in clothes
>dryer) around the engine compartment.
>I'm thinking of placing an old fashioned rat trap
>somewhere in the engine compartment instead, but there isn't all that much
>room for it.
>I would appreciate any other suggestion, that might keep those darned rats
>off my beloved pick-up truck.
>Btw, I do keep the hood up most of the time, that discourages the rats
>somewhat, but is not 100% fool proof, as you can see by my repair bill.
>I even had an occasional rabbit jump at me, when I opened the hood in the
>morning. Has that happened to anyone too out there in the boonies?
>Thanks, and have a Merry Christmas, all of you.
>
>
Are you sure that they are rats? I have had squirrels go after wires
in vehicles that I do not start up often. My day drivers so far have
been safe from the vermin. I had a field car that they ate the
sparkplug wires in. I have heard that a *** of the fabric softener
you put in your cloths drier will keep them away. You might try
gluing down some of the solid chunks of rat bait. I don't know what
they flavor that stuff with but pretty much anything with 4 legs and a
nose goes right for it. You have to stay on top of it, you can tell
you have achieved nirvana when it remains uneaten for a few days.
Keep the bait there even after the rodents are gone.

Now, if I could just find a nice way of keeping the robins and
woodpeckers from nesting in the exhaust manifolds of my old tractors?
The peckers are especially annoying as they will sit there for hours
on end pecking at the tin which sounds like a couple teenagers having
a fight with bb guns.

.