So... a few weeks back we had a ruckus at home with the washing machine spewing water all over the place. Turned out a RAT with a penchant for rubber had eaten the top half of about 12 inches of water hose.

While showing some friends under the bonnet of our MCC, I discovered that the rat fancies MINIs as well...

Needless to say the rat traps in the garage have doubled!

- Nick

 

My problem was with Red Squirrels in my Mazda 323 GTX, hence my nickname. Long story.....

 

FYI there have been multiple threads about this topic, including ways to deal with it. If you're looking for some possible solutions searching NAM would be worth your time.

My two cents: My Aunt had a lot of the brake lines on her van eaten by porcupines. Then her roommate shot a couple of them. The end.

 

Seriously?!? It never even crossed my mind that it was "common" enough.

 

Yeah, it happens fairly often apparently. Squirrels, mice, rats, spiders, etc. Lots of animals like to live in warm, dry, edible (?) cars.

 

Looks like a damn good excuse to buy new plug wires and other things for under the hood...

 

Sort of on topic here...

A number of years back, I bought a 1973 Porsche 914 that had been sitting in a garage for about 10 years. After tinkering with it for a few weeks and cleaning things up, I finally tried to start it. After a bit of a struggle, it finally turned over and made a "poof" sound, and then shot a cottony substance all over the driveway. Turns out that a family of mice must have had a pretty elaborate nest/home in there somewhere made out of some kind of shredded material. Not sure if I killed any, or if they were long gone beforehand, but it was quite a sight!

 

I guess there are other little MINIacs out there besides us humans.... Little boogers......:smile:

Chow!

Donna

 

If they keep chewing on the ignition coils you won't have to worry about trapping them. BBQ rat anyone?

 

Already there... those old plug wires "had" to be replaced by some Magnecors.

 

Man that stinks. What I wonder though is, what about the rubber parts you can't see so well??? I guess that's what shop lights and ramps are for. And, Red Rider BB guns for Christmas.

 

Believe me, this could easily ruin your day.
My beautifully restored '73 911S had a rodent visitor once and it almost got really expensive. Because I rarely drove the car, a mouse once went looking for a nice warm place to spend the winter, crawled up inside the muffler and nested....'til I drove the car next. Thank goodness he didn't go any further. Now I have traps, poison, and moth ***** spread throughout the garage.

 

I had a little nibbler (rodent)visit my MCS. It only nibbled the top of a plug boot like yours. I went to the pet store and picked up some Bitter Apple Spray Chew Deterrent. Seems to have worked or it hasn't come back.
Protect those new wires,
http://www.critter-repellent.com/rat...ource=GoogleAW

 

Excellent idea! I think we even have some of this from training our dog.

 

While on vacation last spring a group of squirrels decided to use the hoodliner of my mini for nesting material. They pulled it off the hood in chunks and had it wedged into every little corner of the engine compartment. I installed a new hood liner and used a concentrated bob cat urine that I purchased at a local Agway(I asked the clerk how they got the bobcat to pee in the little bottle - she had no sense of humor) in little plastic bottles with cotton wicks around where I park the car. Have had no problems since then.