Ideas to prevent rodents from eating our wiring

[03_4x4Runner]

I found this on an agricultural site. Repelling Wire-Eatin... | Maintenance & repair | Agriculture I have used the fabric softener sheets with some success when I visit my some in the country in the Arizona desert. I have never heard of the rodent repellants talked about in the article.

 

[doberman_baby]

I have tried peppermint oil. Sprayed it in the corners of the engine compartment.

 

[redkat]

I've pulled countless mice n rats out of my Prius....I find that leaving the hood open at night keeps em out of the engine compartment, of course weather conditions will dictate if that's possible. Rodents need overhead cover from predators. When its the season (spring/summer), I'll leave baited traps by the inside of the tires at night. I catch something just about every night.

 

[DesertCanyons]

Rodents in your engine compartment

The article has a few good tips. It's mostly about farm equipment that's more open. There have been a number of posts here about rodents getting into the ventilation system. In the California Sierra Mountains there are marmots, about cat-sized animals, that damage radiator hoses. It disables the vehicle to the point where you can't drive out for repairs. They keep chicken wire handy and wrap the underside of the engine compartment.
Rodent control in outside areas is mostly natural. Remove ivy and other ground cover around structures. Keep animal feed, dog food or bird food in closed buckets or barrels. Pick fruit from trees as soon as it's ripe and pick up all ground fruit. Remove any water sources (easier in dry So Cal than if you live in a wetter climate with a creek in your yard). You get the idea.... keep the rodents from living around your property.

 

[trulli3300]

Your grandmother used it...

We have an MR2 Spyder that we store during the winters in a garage at our house on the lake. We won't see it or touch it for 3 or 4 months. The garage is a warm place for mice to find shelter in the winter. The first year, they got into the "Frunk" and reproduced. There were droppings and it smelled like urine. They chewed up a $300 backpack that I left in there. Thankfully, that's all they did.

Now when we store the car every year, I use mail envelopes to contain 5 to 6 MOTHBALLS. I get mothballs from Wal-mart(easy). I put an envelope at the bottom of every wheel(4). I put one envelope in the "Frunk". I put two envelopes in the engine compartment where every you may think would be an area where they would shelter. So that's seven. A box from WalMart will last you a lifetime. NOTE: Never keep mothballs inside the car. It will smell for months after. There's nothing to take out the smell, not even steam.

Anyway, because they are in a sealed envelope, the only thing that escapes is the camphor vapor(smell) and everything is kept clean. THE CAMPHOR IS WHAT KEEPS THEM AWAY. We had not found any indication of mice in or around the car since we started using mothballs. We just throw away the envelopes in the spring when we pick up the car.

If you use the car daily and you get mice, you might want to put up traps.

 

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There you go:

 

[2003-4x4runner]

I had the same issue with rats that ate some wiring in the engine compartment. The damage was minor and I put out some traps and caught two rats. Next time I'm thinking about getting one of these Rid-A-Rat strobe lights. I hear they work pretty good.


http://www.amazon.com/Packrat-Rodent-Deterrent-Device-RC-2/dp/B00D2AQYI2

 

[NoDak]

or live in an area where temps are below 32F for 4-6 months solves your problems

 

[Rotorgeek]

Mothballs. I had the wiring harness eaten by squirrels... Twice! This happened in a previous vehicle. I put a small cloth sack with a few mothballs in the engine compartment. Never had any other problems. The only time I smelled it was when I opened the hood when the engine was hot. That only lasted a few months.

 

[rob5182]

Mothballs. I had the wiring harness eaten by squirrels... Twice! This happened in a previous vehicle. I put a small cloth sack with a few mothballs in the engine compartment. Never had any other problems. The only time I smelled it was when I opened the hood when the engine was hot. That only lasted a few months.

X2 ... I've used Mothballs and it seems to work. We also have a cat!

 

[ty.goins]

Red fox urine works great I work for a Toyota dealership in pecan country and it solved our squirrel issue. Just wear a rubber glove put a little on a q-tip and apply on wires.

 

[geo]

I just installed the rid-a-rat flasher in the engine compartment, after my 4R wires were chewed. My first rid-a-rat flasher was successful in keeping packrats from nesting in a shed, but someone I know used the rid-a-rat flasher for several years before it failed her. One advantage is that the flasher doesn't wear out like odorants. When I'm in packrat territory, I add in Critter Ridder, a pepper-based odorant that comes as liquid spray and solid granules.

 

[flyrv9]

Living out in the country in South Central Kansas, we get all sorts of critters. I have a tractor, riding mower and old truck I keep in a large building / workshop; along with our 4Runner and Tundra that we keep in the garage. There is a product sold in the Co-ops here called Bar Bait. It looks like a big bar of soap and can be broken up if desired. Mice, rats, etc nibble on this and then go to seek water. It's a poison and will kill whatever eats it; so if you have pets then it needs to be out of their reach. Never had a problem with wires being eaten though.

 

[Ohio_Steve]

I've used drier sheets with success in my MGA in the garage. Several folks in our British car club swear that cutting up bars of Irish Spring soap into 4-5 pieces and spreading them through the car does the trick.

 

[apollo]

I just installed the rid-a-rat flasher in the engine compartment, after my 4R wires were chewed. My first rid-a-rat flasher was successful in keeping packrats from nesting in a shed, but someone I know used the rid-a-rat flasher for several years before it failed her. One advantage is that the flasher doesn't wear out like odorants. When I'm in packrat territory, I add in Critter Ridder, a pepper-based odorant that comes as liquid spray and solid granules.

ok, derail, but tell us about your 'other vehicle' please!

edit: i will say that we've used dryer sheets before, and it seemed to work...i'm pretty vigilant about keeping no clutter in the garage now, which definitely helps

 

[AZTrail]

After a weekend in the mountains, I returned home. The next day the garage stank. Thinking it must be from some smelly mud I missed when I washed the truck, I hosed it down again. The smell remained even after multiple washings. I then took the 4Runner in for an oil change. When the technician took off the cover for accessing the oil drain, he was very surprised with what he saw.

The mouse must have been slow roasted. Mystery solved.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

 

[geo]

ok, derail, but tell us about your 'other vehicle' please!

One of my projects as a geologist is to study origin of rocks on Mars using NASA's Curiosity rover. More information about the rover and what it is doing on Mars is posted at:
Mars Science Laboratory

 

[Antman]

You could always get this...

CarCapsule Vehicle Storage System - Best Inflatable Car Bubble for Storing Cars, Trucks & SUVs

 

[NauticalWheeler]

Here are some ideas:

-Dryer sheets mentioned...yes great idea.

-Irish Spring soap deters mice and wasps. Cut up a couple of bars and spread around the area of the car.

-Fox Urine pellets. I use this around the house to deter chipmunks from digging around the foundation. Works great. Also keeps skunks away. Sprinkle on the ground. Kinda stinks so I wouldn't place them in the engine compartment.

-Human urine. Pee in a closed container, let it "ferment", then spread the stink around the perimeter of the car. Keeps varmints away for weeks.

-Place a 5 gallon bucket filled with water about 2/3 full a distance away from the car. Sprinkle unshelled sunflower seeds on top, enough to cover the water. Then place a wood board from ground to the bucket, sprinkle a few seeds on the ramp. Mice and chipmunks will walk up the ramp and jump into what they think is a bucket of seeds. They will fall through of course and drown. Throw their bodies in a certain spot and the birds of prey will eat them, and come back for more--birds of prey will keep rodent populations down. The problem with this approach are if you have raccoons they will help themselves to the seeds.

-Around the bucket you could also place traps. The idea is to lure them away from your car and kill them elsewhere. Again, put the dead mice in one spot for the birds to eat.

-I would avoid using rat/mice poison as birds of prey will eat the dead rodents. Then they become poisoned...which isn't a good idea because the mouse population will explode after the birds are gone (and who wants to kill Woody the Owl!).

 

[geo]

Rustproofing spray for rodent repellent?

I was searching for rodent-repellent recommendations online, and came across a comment that said:

"Light amber aerosol cans of rustproofing having kept rodents out of my car for over 40 years.

I've been using it on all of my cars since the earlier 1970's. A company called DURO used to make a self rustproofing kit that was sold in discount stores.

This stuff sells at your locall professional auto parts stores for under $15 a can.

Just two cans will cover the area in and under the engine compartment and the trunk-hatch area.

It appears that rodents are repelled by the petroleum smell and the waxy petroleum residue left on the wires.

The stuff has the added benefit of coating the metal connectors to inhibit corrosion. It also makes nut and bolt removal easier. In forty years of using this stuff, I've NEVER had a bolt that was frozen in place by rust and corrosion.

I have a 1998 vehicle that I "rustproofed" 15 years, ago. Rodents have got inside the hood and leave acorn residue on the strut tower tops, but they don't chew on anything. They just seem to hate the waxy petroleum based coating on the wires and everything else. My neighbors' cars have rodent chewed wires and hoses, I don't."

Does anyone know if it might cause problems to spray this stuff on the wires in the engine compartment of a 4Runner?