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Animal/Pest Problems

50 messages,  Last post on May 27, 2009 at 9:10 AM

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#1 of 50 SQUIRREL PESTS by spudman Oct 19, 1999 (11:31 pm)
I have been having ongoing problems with animals eating wires and hoses in my cars, even nesting in one of them. Most of the problems have been from squirrels. In the past month a squirrel or squirrels have been feasting on my '98 Mystique. It or they ate the spark plug wires which had to be replaced and several hoses. One hose wasn't in stock because according to the dealer it is rarely replaced. We borrowed a cage from the local animal control and have caught one squirrel so far. Don't think we can be lucky enough to have caught the culprit. Have put moth balls in various recesses in the engine compartment and will spray wires and hoses with pepper spray. Has anyone else had problems with animals in their cars? Any suggestions? Replies to this message: durango3 (Apr 22, 2006 12:05 pm) spontaneous_00 (Apr 02, 2007 8:51 am) okko1 (May 16, 2007 5:52 pm) jipster (May 16, 2007 6:38 pm)
#2 of 50 by bobs5 Oct 20, 1999 (11:18 am)
Holy cow they must be bionic squirrels. Have had mice chew on some stuff before and make nests, but only if the vehicle sits around for a time. The pepper spray sounds like a good idea, unless they are cajun squirrels. A friend has had problems with squirrels in his attic. Moth balls don't do the trick. Saw a show on tv, which recommended using after shave lotion to keep squirrels away. Haven't tried that though. Squirrels are creatures of habit and will return again and again. To get rid of the problem, ya gotta get rid of the culprit.
#3 of 50 by rea98d Oct 20, 1999 (2:49 pm)
Left an old Mercury sitting in a barn for a couple of years, and upon ressurection, I found that a mouse/mice built a nest on my distrubitor with fuzz they pulled down from the inside of the hood. Well, the tranny cratered on the Mercury, and she's barn-bound again. This time, however, there are boxes of rat poision waiting on the distributor, inside on the floorboard, in the trunk, and under the car. Those little devils aren't getting my vehicle.
#4 of 50 by dhoff Oct 20, 1999 (3:13 pm)
My dad used to store his "winter car", a Mazda 4WD Protege, in a garage at his hunting cabin. In this garage he also kept bags of shelled corn to feed the deer and turkeys. One fall when he went to take it out of storage it wouldn't run right. It would start and idle, but barely had enough power to move the car. It also sounded funny, kind of muffled. We couldn't figure out what the problem was, so he had to have it taken into a Mazda dealer. That was about 60 miles away, and it had to be flatbedded because it's 4WD. Well it turned out that mice had decided to find a storage place for some of that corn. The place they chose was the exhaust system. Not just the muffler, but the whole thing. It was ALL completely packed with corn! They ended up having to replace the whole exhaust system, and as I remember it cost nearly $1000 because it wasn't a very common system. There's a lot of rodent poison in that garage now. Dave
#5 of 50 squirrel pests 2 by spudman Oct 24, 1999 (7:59 pm)
Thanks for your comments. The squirrel(s) continue the attack on my Mystique. Have only caught the one squirrel. I saw one squirrel chatter at the trap and get very animated for over half an hour but never actually approached it. More wires have been chewed on but nothing seriously. I read that squirrels don't like the smell of peppermint so I have added oil of peppermint to my arsenal along with moth balls and cayenne pepper. My dentist's office is across the street in a medical complex and he said I could start parking the car there for a while. Maybe a change of scenery will distrupt the squirrels' habits and confuse them. It's worth a shot.
#6 of 50 This might sound stupid.... by btroy Oct 26, 1999 (7:15 pm)
... but I wonder if you can scare the squirrels off by putting out a fake owl or hawk or something they fear like that. Another idea is to get a small motion sensing alarm at your home builder's warehouse store. There are some that are battery powered and maybe you could set it under your car in a way that it would make noise when the squirrels come. 3 things I have learned about squirrels from feeding birds: they are unbelievably smart, the laws of physics do not apply to them, and they never give up.
#7 of 50 Tough heater core job! by isellhondas Oct 28, 1999 (10:35 pm)
Last summer one of our technicians had a very nasty job! A heater core in a Prelude is bad enough to do anyway. The stinking dead rat that had somehow chewed it's way into the heater box made his job REALLY fun!
#8 of 50 Electronic squirrel repeller by btroy Nov 01, 1999 (8:33 pm)
I was surfing and ran across this unique device to keep squirrels away...  http://www.imall.com/stores/comtrad/squirrel.html
#9 of 50 Squirrel Wars by spudman Nov 01, 1999 (11:43 pm)
No new damage on any of the cars this week. Sprayed all wires and hoses with a product called Ropel. It is foul smelling and is supposed to have a nasty taste. I hope one of those sky walkers gets a taste and tells all his or her friends. Caught another squirrel today in a live trap. The ultrasonic repeller looks interesting though pricey. Thanks for the suggestion. It's something to consider if my present efforts prove futile.
#10 of 50 Here's a pesty little animal.. by wilcox Nov 10, 1999 (3:33 pm)
They like to crawl up underneath the inside and snooze. Sometimes near a moving part.  Also they love to climb on to your paint and walk from bumper to bumper with a few little side trips. The paw prints really bother me. The scratches too. If you leave your windows down, then these curious creatures like to venture inside and walk around usually leaving a few hairs and oils. They also will rub their butt on the passengers head rest and other places...but many of you will never know. I've seriously thought about placing a mouse trap, or even a rat trap for those slow learners, on top of the car to teach them to stop. The best defense is to park in the garage and close the door (if you're lucky enough to have one). Don't take it wrong, I like cats, especially the one's that go to the Animal Pound.

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