Squirrels stash more than 200 walnuts under hood of car

UPI ^ | Oct. 9, 2019 / 1:33 PM | By Ben Hooper

[Red Badger]

Oct. 9 (UPI) -- A Pittsburgh woman who detected a burning odor and heard a strange noise while driving her car looked under the hood and discovered a squirrel had stashed grass and more than 200 walnuts on top of her engine.

Holly Persic said she hadn't looked under the hood of her car since an inspection about a month before she discovered the squirrel's winter stash Monday.

"They were everywhere, under the battery, near the radiator fan," Persic's husband, Chris, told CNN. "The walnuts on the engine block were black and smelt like they were definitely roasting."

The Persics said they had earlier noticed there weren't many walnuts in their yard, despite the nuts starting to fall from trees a few weeks ago, but they were shocked to find out where the missing objects had ended up.

The couple removed the grass and walnuts from the top of the engine and took the car to a mechanic, who removed the protective plate from under the vehicle, allowing dozens more walnuts to rain down.

"Long story short, if you park outside, do yourself a favor and check under the hood every once in awhile," Chris Persic wrote on Facebook.

[nuconvert]

That’s funny. Of course it isn’t MY car.

[VietVet876]

A .177 cal. lead hollow point pellet is a whole lot less likely to ricochet than a copper BB.

[advertising guy]

True story

I took out a red squirrel with a slingshot and a rock when I was 9 years old

[Southside_Chicago_Republican]

Walnuts roasting on my engine block....

[real saxophonist]

Squirrel Nut Zippers

[Yardstick]

Had a squirrel storing dog food nuggets around my engine once. Definitely some weird smells with that one.

[sheana]

We had a dryer that was in the garage break down. Hubby pulled it out to fix it and it was full of dog food pellets. Field mice. Checked under the car hoods and there were dog food pellets under the hood of his truck.

[woodbutcher1963]

I had the same thing happen with acorns in a snowmobile once.
I took it to get tuned up and ready for winter in October.
I brought it home and waited for that first snow which we got over Thanksgiving weekend. I pulled the cover off and glad I opened the cowl(hood). It was full of acorns, including in the fan housing. If I had started it, many would have been sucked into the and the fan and engine block area. It would have been even worse of a mess.

I sucked them all out with the shop vac. From then on, any other time I always put moth balls inside a sleeve of old ladies nylons. I do this with my lawn tractor too under the hood. It keeps the mice out too.

[chrisser]

Early (2013+) Ford Escapes have an air door right in the middle of the firewall. It has a light spring to keep it shut. Chipmunks and mice can push it open to get in, but then they can't get out. Oh the hillarity that ensues. The nuts make a lovely sound when they get caught in the blower fan (and there's a good reason it's called a squirrel cage). We used glue traps to catch them some place where they were easier to dispose of when they died and stunk up the car, only to find that mice are little cannibals when the need arises. I eventually fabricated a wire mesh screen to keep the little suckers out after laying on my back for two hours to get the blower assembly out (you're supposed to remove the entire dash first, but a few mirrors, magnets and extensions can get around that) There's nothing quite like having dead rodents, nuts and bedding rain down on your head.

The little devils also chewed the wiring harness for the rear differential in multiple places, disabling 4wd, traction control, and ABS. I had to splice in a foot of wire to fix it because there were so many chew marks.

[Red Badger]

Here in FL we have a problem with little green tree frogs getting stuck in the AC Vents and dying, then the car smells horrid for a month..................

[Pilgrim's Progress]

>>>Poor fellas did all that work for nothing<<<

If you feel that bad about a squirrel, I bet you go into hysterics over poor spiders that spend the whole night building a house only to have it swept down by a broom.

:)

Jes’ kiddin’

[MomwithHope]

We had a whole bunch of dried whole corn in our air filter on the car one year. Probably mice.

[Texas resident]

A man brought in his Isuzu pickup for an oil change. The tech guys opened the hood and were greeted by a hissing possum. Truck has been sitting up for a while.

[dp0622]

I HATE spiders!!

Only felt bad about the squirrel for as long as it took to type :)

[usual suspect]

I started my snowmobile a few years back. Took more pulls than usual. It started and ran rough and I soon smelled the odor of roasting nuts. I pulled the head and sitting on top of the pistons were walnuts. The chipmunks crawled up the tailpipe and made a nest in the engine.

[Yardstick]

Hm, maybe this was a field mouse then. I never saw the perp...

[Pilgrim's Progress]

My dog hates tree rats also. He is so proud of himself for making everyone of them run up trees in utter terror of his ferociousness. He thinks he’s the baddest chihuahua on the block.

[dp0622]

LOL

It’s easy to like squirrels and deer and anything else when you live in a city and they are no bother to you.

I would imagine in some areas they can be a nuisance

[SamAdams76]

I always found it amusing that girls think squirrels are "cute" but will scream and get up on a chair if they see a rat or a mouse.

It's their bushy tails!

Without the bushy tail, a squirrel looks no different than a rat.

[Red Badger]

Tree Rats......................