Ok, maybe beneath the bonnet isn't the best place for this, but that's were this cridder is !! The dealer recently replaced all the foam material that goes beneath the windshield, in the corners by the vendors, just under the hood. I have 3 different types of the traditional style rat traps deployed in the garage. 2 different kinds of rat poison. 2 sonic devices that are supposed too cause the critter to find shelter elsewhere. I even put rat poison packets in the space left open by the critter eating all the factory foam.
On Saturday I lit 4 rat killing smoke bombs that I got from Home Depot, put the car in the garage and closed the door.
I have tried leaving the car outside for 3 days, and I left the car in the garage without driving the last 2 days. This morning I lifted the bonnet and the damn thing has eaten it's way through the rat poison, and I think it has taken up residence either in the fender or just under the windshield. Now my fan is making strange noises, possibly because all of the debri this thing created, or even worse, it may have found it's way in there !!!
A co-worker beleaves it may be a baby possum. At this point I don't care, I need it dead !!! So far he has only chewed up the foam and the wires leading the parking lights, but I need it dead or gone before he chews up something expensive.
Any ideas ? I am getting desperate !!!!

 

Holy Moly! This is the third or fourth thread about rodent damage in the last month or so.

You'll probably get a bunch of replies to this, but you should do a search too. The word "mice" might be a good one to search for.

And before anyone else beats me to it, I'll go ahead and say "Get a cat." :smile:

 

I've had good success with the rat zapper 2000. It uses battery power to shock the little pests. It will work with mice and rats, even really big rats, but don't know if a smallish 'possum would fit. Not an inexpensive item, but beats paying for (in my case) wiring harness repair.
good luck

 

Pick up a BB gun and wait for him. A hammer or shovel works too. Be aware of potential collateral damage. It might help listening to some metal music too, to aid in building additional aggression. I'll reccomend Slipknot, they're very angry.

Goodluck.

 

I wonder if Elmer Fudd does house calls...

 

I swear Mini is using "cheezie" components under the hood... no pun intended. wait, pun intended

wait, do rats like cheese or is it only mice?

Im going to bed.
Happy motoring

 

I can personally attest to the success of the Rat Zapper 2000.
Simply an amazing device that works and works.
I got 6 rats one night in the period of 40 minutes.
That ended my problem.
The neat thing is that it is totally quiet.
They don't get "trap shy"...after a kill, rebait it with Meow Mix and you're set to go again.

The best $50 I ever spent.

Marty

 

Thanks guys. Just ordered the Rat Zapper, I wish I had ordered it 3 weeks ago. The price is equal to what I have already spent without any success. I am still well below 1 hour of labor at MINI's going rate, so hopefully it will arrive before too much more damage is done.

 

how about keeping your car on tall jack stands for a week with moth *****
allover the garage and a few in your car?

are there that many holes in your garage that the rat can enter?
can you plug up all those holes with a foam sealant?

 

Get a snake

 

>>how about keeping your car on tall jack stands for a week with moth *****
>>allover the garage and a few in your car?
>>
>>are there that many holes in your garage that the rat can enter?
>>can you plug up all those holes with a foam sealant?

Unfourtunately the car is my daily driver. I tried leaving it outside and driving the wifes car for 2 days, it didn't help. The only way I can see the rat gets in and out of the garage is the seal at the bottom of the door. It has shrunk over the years and has about 3 inch gap on one end.

I used to keep the garbage in the garage until trash day. Between the fresh food supply and the toasty warm car, I am not sure it needs to leave to often. Maybe for a pack of smokes, or a fourty, but that's about it.


The blower for the heater has aparently sucked in some debri and is making strange noises. My dash has bits of some unknown material littered across it. It would apear that maybe the rat chewed up the filter for outside air in a attempt to gain entry to the car.

I checked with the dealer to see about removing the fan to clean out all the junk once I have a corpse. 6 hours labor to remove the dash and gain access to fan, 6 hours to put the dash back together. 12 hours labor at $99 a hour. Sounds like a homeowners claim maybe in my future.
My dash and A-pillar area has been making alot of noise for months. It will be interesting when this is all over to see how much is related to my rodent problem and how much is just poor engineering and poor material selection.

Oh, I like both the snake and cat idea. However it was 13 f this morning and like 9 f a few nights ago so I don't think that would work right now. I will put moth ***** in the vendor by the washer bottles when I can pick some up.

 

Since I was the first to start this recent rash of Rat/mouse/squirrle/damned creature threads, I would just like to give an update. I have turned my garage and shed into an EPA supersite with ratpoison, and my Jack Russell terrier nailed a MONSTER rat making it's way towards the garage. Since the implementation of the sniper dog, and the poison, my Nology's have been safe.

 

Sounds like you have a monster on your hands. Here is my 2 cents worth.

Mouse/rat trap, use chocolate as bait. Hersey bar will do fine. Put it right at the front of your car and hope this monster does not eat the entire trap!

I killed 4 mice within 3 days with this tasty treat. After they ate $3 worth of mice poison for a snack.

good luck.

 

Another 2 cents: make sure your traditional traps are the large sized ones made for rats (the traps are about 10 inches long), not the little ones made for mice (about 4 inches long). In my experience (unfortunately quite extensive!) the mice traps will kill juvenile rats but definitely not the adults. And BTW, I would use traditional traps in addition to the Rat Zapper. Good luck!

 

Yess, yess, we can lead them tricksy ratses to her (snake) and she will do the job, she will hunt them in the bonnet and kill specially the fat one.... then we can get the precious...

Sorry, just saw Lord of the Rings...

Like I said in previous posts, I would combine it with the following: bitter apple or lime spray on all the parts the ratses chew, a sticky rat trap with a very smelly cheese (handle the trap and cheese with gloves, otherwise ratses will smell you)
and finally...

The Jack Russell Terrier is as tenacious and ferocious vermin catcher (rent one if you don´t have one)

 

Hopefully the doggy doesn't have access to the rat poison!

 

Don't know about rats or opossums, but peanut butter has served me really well for mice traps.

 

How about getting a set of good ear plugs and a couple of them disposable air horns you see at ball games

Last summer I had a stuborn wierd bug hanging underneith my Mini. It was a constant screeeeeeeeeeching noise that drove me fnnn crazy. I took the Mini out of the garage and warmed her up then proceeded to burn outs on my driveway. It did the job

 

edited 01/23/04 8:20p CST
<content of post no longer relevant now that "LeftCoastCoopers" has been shown the door>

 

Rodents seem to like coconut, so use that as bait. Better yet, get a hungry cat!

 

Thanks again guys for all the great suggestions. I have been leaving the car outside since discovering the last round of damage. I am unsure were the rat is at this time. I am pretty sure he has gone for a ride in the car at least once. It is sooo cold outside now I haven't been able to spend too much time looking for all the possible hiding spots. It ate the foam material above the water bottles completely on both sides. It would appear that once in their, it could be simply riding in the fender. The area below the windshield has lots of debri from the rat poison packs and the foam in it. I am not sure the rat can get into this area, but if it can there would appear to be no end to the hiding spots.
If the rat poison or the frigid temps do him in, and he is in this area, it may be tough too know for sure, until spring that is.

The rat zapper is scheduled to arrive Tuesday. I think use the peanut butter, the chocolate and coconut just to be sure. The traps I have know are in fact the large RAT models. They are baitless, proffesional models, and so far useless. I will go out there tonight and move them since there current locations have proved fruitless.
Again, I love the snake, cat and dog ideas. I just don't think any of them would have survived very long in this mornings 5 degrees farenheit temps. These temps are most likely why this thing is so determined to be in/on my car. The smoke bombs and the noise makers probably would have caused the critter to seek shelter elsewhere otherwise.

 

>>The rat zapper is scheduled to arrive Tuesday. I think use the peanut butter, the chocolate and coconut just to be sure. <<.

Those are all great ideas, but please, follow the directions that come with the Rat Zapper. This thing has been tested and tested and it really works. If you use any kind of sticky or gummey bait like some are suggesting, you'll end up with a mess inside the Zapper on the "kill" plates---and not the way the Zapper works best.

You'll have to trust me on this one, but stick with the dry "Meow Mix" cat food that comes with the Zapper. It's easy to lay out your bait trail, the rats love this stuff, and there is no mess at all.

I wasn't exagerating when I said we got six rats in about 40 minutes. I had put the thing on top of the closet over-head access panel and when the optional remote LED light (hanging down on a wire) started blinking I reached up and took the trap down---Zap! Another rat was cleanly dead in the blue box. You don't even have to touch the rat. Just dump the rat out of the blue Zapper into a small trash bag, then put in some more Meow Mix, re-set the power switch and you are ready to go again. The rest of the rats we got that night (six total) must have been watching me re-bait the Zapper, but since it makes no noise and the rat that gets zapped dies so fast he doesn't make any noise, the rats don't fear the trap. They just wait for their turn at the meal---their last meal.

BTW, you may find it's not just one rat. We though we only head a couple scratching around up there---like I said, there were six!!

It is very important to follow the directions that come with the unit, AND make sure to get the heavy duty batteries. I live in Florida where there are roof rats year-round. So I got the Radio Shack size AA 1500 milliamp rechargable NiMh batteries. They really pack a whallop and will last a month or so, or about a couple of dozen kills.

By the way, when you finally get him (them), he will die with his eyes wide open---that's how fast he gets hit. Way more humane I think than a partial kill with a spring trap and all the ugliness that can lead to.

Good luck and please let us know how you and Mini make out.

Marty
PS (I have no affiliation with the Rat Zapper company. I'm just an extremely happy customer that hopes more folks find out about this amazingly clean solution to the rat problem. . .)

 

Got a Rat Zapper yesterday and set it outside beside the MCS. Today I noticed the "you've got mail" light on the Zapper was flashing.

This week it's been below freezing here in MD and today Voila !!! INSTANT MOUSESICKLE The carcass was frozen with the tail straight as an arrow.

In the past I had problem with Mickie and Minnie gnawing on the MCS's spark plug wires. They also ate the headliner of the hood on the Audi A6 and built a nest in the air conditioner of my wife's PT cruiser. I'm hoping that the Zapper will solve the problem.

Tom

 

I think I'll have to get a Rat Zapper or two...

From, of course, Cooper Seeds.

http://www.cooperseeds.com/pestprodu...prod=ratzapper

--
Scott

 

One other thing I've remembered about dealing with rat infestations; may not apply during freezing weather (don't get that where I live). Rats pee and poop where ever they're hanging out.
Even after you've disposed of your current rat population, more will eventually be attracted to the lingering smell. Head to your local pet store and get some stain and odor remover designed to clean up pet messes, I think the enzyme based type work best. Spray down the areas under the bonnet where it looks like there might be rat pee. You want to eliminate any residual rat odor. Don't soak any electrical parts. If you've had rodents once, you can never drop your guard, unless maybe you move to a rodent-less area, if such a place exsists.