Posted on 01/09/2020 6:16:00 PM PST by nickcarraway
A Colorado man said squirrels have squeezed into the inner workings of his vehicle three times and caused about $700 worth of damage.
Gary Seago of Windsor said the trouble began in late November, when his Jeep was making unusual noises and mechanics discovered an animal, likely a squirrel, had chewed a fuel injector plug in half.
Mechanics said squirrels and other animals are sometimes drawn to the engine compartments of vehicles because they consider the soy-based tubes and wires to be a food source.
Seago said repairs were made, but the same part was again destroyed by a suspected squirrel the next day.
He said the squirrels returned for a third time a few weeks later and destroyed another, more expensive part in the engine compartment.
Seago said he is now trying to keep the squirrels away with deterrents including moth balls, strobe lights and high-pitched noises.
A Pittsburgh woman encountered a different sort of squirrel-related car trouble in October when one of the animals stashed grass and more than 200 walnuts under her hood. Holly Persic said the squirrel had apparently been using her vehicle as walnut storage for weeks.
I love this website.
I came into the thread with a few minutes to go before hitting the sack, and scrolled at random to the middle and stopped right on this post...
Get to go to bed with a grin...:)
Tried that for house mice. Didn’t catch a one. Then I bought an electric mouse killer. Killed two or three that way,but after that, they stayed away from it. I know peppermint oil works, but my husband’s allergic to it. We took in a stray kitten. She hasn’t caught any mice, but I haven’t seen any signs of them since we got her. Must have scared them off.
Bromethalin, like in JT Eaton 750 is potent (one time feeding) but some will not eat it, unless you grind it up and mix with peanut butter.
That seems (pray God) to have work with mice in the basement in this city, despite filling many holes. Mice were so smart they would not step in sticky traps, and even flipped a spring trap over to get the food without getting caught. The ate the Diphacinone based poison like candy.
See table of different poisons here: http://npic.orst.edu/factsheets/rodenticides.html
Sounds like it’s time to take up tennis. You’ll enjoy it.
In the past, I’ve caught several mice on sticky traps. Thanks for reminding me. I need a supply, cause we’re in for some cold nights.
Tree Rats... Hate ‘em.
Tree Rat versus suppressed .22lr. Guess who’s gonna win... Hint: It ain’t the Tree Rat.
“...You eat a Jeep made of Chinese parts, an hour later you’re hungry again....”
You know, that was REALLY funny...
OK listen up. I had a Jeep with eaten wires and figured out a wy to keep them out. Mount a little ozone machine under he hood and plug it in at night.
We have used ozone machines to kill mice and bugs in buildings. I bought some little ones $18. and keep one under the hood on the jeep and pickup both. Just plug it in at night like you would an engine heater.
I also keep one in the tornado shelter, tree house and shop bathroom. Bathroom used to smell like mice. Never see a mouse or dropping in any of theee places.
Squirrels totally messed up my Elantra. Hubby fixed it (pretty much) and to deter them he made a spray of the hottest hot sauce we own (which is basically too hot for human consumption) and sprayed it all over the engine compartment.
While researching what to do about this situation we stumbled on to some Canadian Ag School site, or something like that, that basically advised you to provide a safe haven for the squirrels! We were like, NO, not that.
We were overrun by squirrels about a decade ago. They were eating all my fruit from many fruit trees. The worst thing is they would take it a few days before tree-ripened perfection, take a SINGLE BITE, an leave the fruit carcass on my fence posts to taunt me.
I had the last laugh, however. I “got rid of” 77 squirrels one summer and was able to enjoy fresh fruit thereafter.
I sure hope the rats don’t develop a taste for our car wiring!
I had a squirrel do $1200.00 damage to my Oldsmobile.
Never left it outside again.
Wow. All these posts and no one mentioned...
Pack Rats. Nasty things.
This one little b@stard chews walnuts on my deck, right in front of my door, taunting me.
He’ll slip up one day, let his guard down and it’ll be all over.
Now I’m going to be wide awake wincing until 3 AM.
This is real. Has happened three times to my wifes new Nissan. Total is now over 8k in repairs. Nissan will not cover the damage under warranty.
Here’s something I found on the web to keep rodents out of the engine. Irish Spring soap flakes ( the original bar ). Just shave some off of the bar every 4 to six months all around the engine.
“I was advised to get this very strong peppermint spray”
Where did you get the spray from?
Our most recent incident was a fuel line chewed thru on my wife’s Jeep Renegade. The fuel tank had to be dropped to access it. The critter caused a sizable hit to my wallet on that one.
Precisely.
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