I live out in the country and have a problem with rats or squirrels, not sure which. They get under the hood of my car and chew the wires or cables. Does anyone have suggestions on what I can do to prevent them from doing this. The car is kept under an open carport. I would appreciate any helpful information.
I have had good luck with minced garlic getting them out of my attic soffits. I also painted the screens with clear pepper juice. You can make this: putt peppers in a hot glass jar, pour hot vinegar in to fill the jar, put the lid on and leave for 3 weeks. After handling peppers do not touch your face and be sure to wash your hands.) A small bottle of pepper sauce costs about $3. You could also sprinkle cayenne pepper powder over your engine wires. --Stone in OKC
My mom had problems with mice in the car engine...so she placed a trap in there each time she came back home. They were enjoying the warm engine. She caught quite a few. Each time she used the vehicle she would pop the hood and remove the trap before driving away. Do you have any traps?
Another suggestion...buy some rat poison...place it under the hood on a shallow aluminum plate and remove each time you want to drive the vehicle. This would be a pain to do each time...but you only have to catch/poison the one or two mice, rats or squirrels that are causing the problem.
I sprinkled red (cayenne) pepper on the wires - that stopped the squirrels from chewing and nesting under the hood of my car.
All the suggestions are great, but I do have one caution-- I too, live in a fairly rural area, and I have noticed that young feral cats have been gnawing away at my husbands car. He believed it to be rodents, but I sat outside for almost an hour every day for about a week when he would get home, and the only thing I ever saw were those cats. It wasn't until he started the car (unknowingly) with one left inside that I realized that they were the culprits. So before placing poison, be sure that it's not a wayward kitty first!
Moth balls work for us to drive unwanted critters away without harming them. Put some in some old nylons or socks and tie or place the bags where the critters have been doing their mischief.
TAKE AN OLD NYLON STOCKING AND PUT MOTH BALLS IN IT. PLACE THEM AROUND YOUR CAR AND IN YOUR YARD. RODENTS HATE THE SMELL OF MOTH BALLS AND WILL STAY AWAY. MOTH BALLS CAN ALSO BE BAD FOR YOUR RESPIRATORY SYSTEM.
If you poison rats outside you may be also killing a hawk, eagle, owl or your or a neighbors cat. The rat poison will also kill these wonderful birds and pet cats. Please use traps on rats or some other method. There is a rat poison that will not harm birds but it will still kill pets like cats or small dogs. If the bird or pet eat the dead rat the poison will go to the bird or pet and kill them as well.
I just had a $600 bill on a new car last week. The mechanic said he even found rat droppings in the car, and most of the wiring was chewed up. The warranty didn't cover the cost either. The mechanic suggested that I wrap the wiring with steel wool. We'll see what happens next.
New product out called Rats Hate http://www.Rataway.com
It stops rats, squirrels, dogs,cats,puppys horses, raccoons
and is nonpoisonous. go to web site for more information.
it you have a squirrel or rat rodent problem contact me
Rick Suddes @ aol . com
or Rataway
. com
I have had several calls from the fire area of southern California. Rats and mice etc are nesting in the home & car. Rataway has been a proven spray to stop rats, mice, raccoons, etc from nesting & chewing.
How about a rabbit? The technician found a rabbit in our engine compartment sitting on top of the engine. The menace chewed my car wires first (major damage)with the estimated cost of over $2,000.00. I couldn't figure out how it could have such big teeth mark in my car. My car is still in the shop waiting for a wire harness.
And then this week got in my husband's car and cost $252.44 to repair the minor damage. The rabbit traveled 16 miles to our first stop and 22 miles to the shop. He now has a new place of residence and I hope it doesn't find it way back to us. We had moth balls in the engine compartment and pepper chaser. I like the steel wool idea.
And if any of you have it happen to you call your car insurance to see if you are covered under comprehensive. Our damages are covered 100%.
Anyone for rabbit stew?
myjoy2go@ gmail.com just remove the space
again try Rataway, from www. Rataway. com
it is not messy and easy to use. RickSuddes AT aol.com
rats chew 2% a day that is 29 minutes a day everyday on natural or man made things like your car.Rats teeth grow up to 4 INCHES a year. For the rat it is Chew or die!
Rataway stops:puppies, woodpeckers, squirrels, rabbits, raccoons, dogs, cats, horses, from chewing NONPOISONOUS Green Product
Now Rataway will protect plastic water lines. A rat bit a water line in a house in California, the damage was $100,000 dollars.
After shelling out $350, and learning the news from the auto mechanic, about a rat chewing the harness wires under the hood of my car, we kept thinking a rat was the culprit. My cat came up with a couple of rats so I was sure rats were doing the damage. The third time it happened, (go out to start your car and nothing, after just driving it that morning) I got out raised the hood and caught glipse of a fuzzy squirrels tail escaping down the backside of the engine. I hate to kill the little guy because I'm afraid it's the one my 8 year old daughter has named "Chatter Box." He is ruining my car. Everyone at work thought I was crazy when I told them about it. I think I'll try the moth balls.
We've had about $450 in damage to our truck wiring so far. Our feed and seed store recommended solid rodent poison bars, "Just One Bite II," with Bromadiolone. They're designed with a hole through the center so as to wire them down so as the rodents don't just carry the bars off to their nest only to be eaten later. I.e., this encourages them to eat it in place. Also. she sold me crystallized bobcat urine to sprinkle around vehicles - do so lightly every seven days as it does have an unpleasent order like cat urine. My wife cleared out all overgrowth along the fence. And we filled an old sock with moth balls placed under the hood. The poison seemed to do the trick as it appears to have been chewed on and there has been no sign of our very expensive rodent this week. We also moved the truck to another location while we were treating the area - it's now parked back under our carport, hopefully, so far with no problem.
Trust me it is usually squirrels...spread Cayanne pepper over the engine and wires and you will solve the problem!
Cayanne pepper will fix the issue!
I have the same problem, a squirrel ate most of my wiring in my 2005 explorer. it also built a giant nest under the hood. It caused 3000 worth of damage. Does anyone know if this is covered under car insurance or homeowners insurance.
Yes contact your insurance company. I just had a squirrels chew my wires in my fuse box and my insurance company GEICO paid for all the damages.
I started my car this morning and heard some crawling noise coming from the engine. I got out of the car and saw a raccoon running out from under the car. It was responsible for doing about $800 in damage a few weeks ago. The raccoon chewed up the insulation insulating the hood from the engine and also a hose. Hopefully sprinkling cayanne under the hood will fix the problem. I live in a wooded area where there are a lot of wildlife.
Same Problem here. Not sure if its groundhogs, rats, rabbits or all of the above. I have moth balls under my hood and have even used LOTS of powerful animal repellent AND traps. It is not stopping them. What am I supposed to do!
Try putting moth balls under your hood.
I'm in the same situation. Little critters cost over $800 damage to my wires to my 2008 Nissan Altima (Geico covered 100%! less my deductible). Now, our brand new 2008 minivan is experiencing electrical issues. Was towed to the dealer who found chewed nuts under the hood.
A squirrel completely shredded my engine harness, hoses, brakes, oxygen sensors etc. $3700 I paid the $1000 deductible and Geico did the rest. Over a month in the shop. 4 months later he came back! The bastard did it again! another month and another $1000 deductible. These critters are certainly determined. 2 yrs ago they chewed a hole near my a/c and came in the house! I tried fox urine powder, mothballs. I think I really need a cheap effective alternative like sticky paper surprises.
Squirrels do not like the smell of irish spring soap (MUST BE THE GREEN BAR..THE ORIGINAL) .You can grate it with potato peeler or just place bars around area . Don't know if ya can use it under the hood but maybe. They don't like it. Repeat as necessary . Especially good in attic.
Cathy from MA
I found rat droppings under my car and a chewed wire casing. I got the cayenne pepper and sprinkled it on every wire I could see. The salesperson I went to for help in the local hardware store phoned a pest control person who instructed me to put two rat traps under my car near the inside of the two front tires. He then told me to by a mini fan and pop the hood each night and stick the fan inside to make it unbearably cold under the hood. After reading your posts, I wasn't taking any chances. I caught a rat in the trap the very next day. I moved the car and will be treating the area. Thanks for the cayannne pepper tip.
I solved a similar problem by using a mouse trap! The mouse was catch the next day. email me (enuj_silos AT yahoo.com) if you need a picture of the mouse trap that I used.
The power steering went out my "new" (I bought it three months ago tomorrow) 2007 Honda Accord Hybrid. Squirrels have chewed the wiring harness. $700 for the harness and $1200 labor. It's covered by insurance - less the deductible. Thanks for all the hints. Has anyone tried La Yu - the pepper oil that's used in Chinese cooking? Or tobasco sauce.
I've been doing some research and it says that once a rat or other rodent makes a nest in your car that it leaves behind feces and urine odors that never go away, even if you remove the nest. This odor attracts future rodent residents. I'm under the impression that it might be a good idea to have the entire engine compartment pressure cleaned to remove this attracting smell. I don't know if it is necessary to apply an anti urine product but spraying the engine with such a product might also stop the problem. I'm going to try it as I'm having the same problem in my car.
I had rats chewing wires in my car and a friend in Prescott had rabbits in the car. He saw the rabbit when he opened the cars hood. We both put Rid-a-Rats in our car and problem is happily gone. They say it will work on many animals.
Most of the hardware stores around here carry them. They chase the animals away they don't kill them. It has saved me a lot of money.
Please go to the site rid-a-rat.com and read what they say. The have 3 test labs that have tested 100s of hours different products before coming out with the rid-a-rat
The inventors are a retired aerospace engineer and an a Phd animal behaviorist. A lot of work went in to this new technology. They gave me a 100% money back guarantee too.They even talked to me on the phone before I got one over the internet because I had so many questions.480 488 6820. I would never again try anything else.Now many of my neighbors are happy because they have them and don't have to worry about all the damage they were getting by animals chewing wires in their cars.It works great for rabbits and for mice. My friend drove 12 miles with the rabbit in his car to the mechanic.They popped the hood and the rabbit ran for dear life!
This is a product that uses a brand new patent pending technology and is used across the US and in Canada.
Please do not use poison, it won't kill the rats most of the time and if they have eaten it they just get weak. In their weakened state they make a nice stack for hawks,owl,eagles,coyotes,and the cats such as mountain lions,and bobcats.
Havaheart traps are wonderful. Then you can choose what to do with your critter. Rid-a-Rat.com is also green and made in the US by Americans
I read the other answers, all saying to kill the squirrels. This is ridiculous and time consuming. Allstate Insurance advises spraying the wiring with bitter apple or other bitter unpalatable and unforgettable taste. Google this and you can get details.
The wires in Hondas are coated with soy and the squirrels love it. (according to the service dept at my dealership) They have chewed my engine harness twice. Insurance deductables were costly and they had to keep my car for awhile. We have had some success with moth balls. Will try Irish Spring bars too. Our neighborhood is filled with oak trees!
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
How can I prevent squirrels from chewing my car gas line/tube? You're suggesting using fox urine! But where doe one buy that? (We don't own a fox.)
I am having a problem, and this has been twice within 6 months. The squirrels are making a nest on top of my gas tank and chewing my fuel line wiring. Is there anything I can do to prevent this?
By Jill T.
I know it's mean but I would throw stones at the squirrels anytime I see them get near where they are not supposed to be. If you don't want to hurt them with stones, try paperwads. If they know that some kind of ammo is coming at them, they'll leave.
Newer cars have soy based wiring, had my Honda 2 weeks when they chewed my wires, check this: www.consumerreports.org/
Squirrels are chewing the wires on my car (battery, control systems, and plugs). It needs to stop. My car is in shop now, because of this! What can I do to stop this?
By Carl
Use half water and half ammonia. Works great, I use it every winter for my lawnmower, weedeater, etc. Put into a spray bottle and spray wherever needed.
Bonnie,
The Rid-A-Rat installed once by yourself will solve the problem. Perhaps with a major problem you might need 2. They ship their product all over.
Kyle
They have made a nest three times and ate wires in the motor of my SUV. Someone suggested using smelly drier sheets, at night when not using the car. It didn't work. We then had nice smelling nests. Any help will be greatly appreciated?
By Donna B.
Yes we just had this problem last week with the squirrels chewing the spark plug wires into. Go to hardware store and purchase "Tomcat". It works for squirrels, mice and rats. We have had no more problems.
