Rats eating wires

[carol]

Can anyone give me a tip on keeping out rats while the car is not being used apart from poison as that may fall and kill the dogs... is there a smell they will avoid ?????

[Spitfire]

As an option to poison, you can buy something called "K-Rat" I think, not expensive, it's in a small green tin and you should be able to buy it at most Thai convenience stores. You get a black plastic disc with it and you just smear it all over the disc and then put something enticing in the middle as a lure. The stuff inside the tin is super sticky and will catch them. This stuff is also good for catching flies when it is wrapped round a small stick.

Thing is of course Carol that if you catch a rat then you'll have to decide what to do with it when you go check as it'll still be alive and trying to escape.

[carol]

thing is the cars is left for months

[poosmate]

I would suggest if rats are a problem it is where you are parking is a factor.
Is it near a food source? I wouldn't think rats are attracted to the car but using it as a home close to food.

[hhfarang]

Rats will eat anything and everything. They ate a hole in a metal light fixture in the ceiling of my house. They've eaten both the Cable TV cable and my internet cable under the house and I posted photos on another thread where they actually ate hard plastic parts of my car engine.

I used those sticky things that Spitfire recommended in the garage, and poison in the ceiling and underneath the house. I still see the occasional on and the dogs get one now and again but haven't had any more damage lately... knock wood!

[poosmate]

I do not think rats EAT everything. Is it that they gnaw constantly? I seem to remember from somewhere they have to keep their teeth from growing too long?

[hhfarang]

Ok, I should have said they chew up everything... maybe they don't spit and don't swallow...

[STEVE G]

They chew wiring insulation and that sort of thing to make nests; I had them chew the sound proofing from under the bonnet to build a nest in the ventilation fan housing.
Someone told me that camphor moth balls deters them, so I tried it and it seems to have done the trick so far as it hasn't happened again.
You can buy a bag of them in small plastic balls that I attached to points under the bonnet with small cable ties.
I had to put some in the back of the washing machine as well as that got some wiring chewed up as well.

[Nereus]

Bit of a read here, maybe worth bearing in mind:

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/technical ... ts-25.html

[STEVE G]

Yes, I don't know if it's harmful, but seeing as they're under the bonnet of the car, I wont worry too much about that.
They're the same ones that are sold for household use.

[usual suspect]

Steve G wrote about using moth balls..
..years ago before the City Beach night-market started I used to park my truck alongside the temple wall
day & night. Sure enuf I got rats under the bonnet.
It took a chef from the restaurant I used at the time to explain about getting 2 or 3 of my old socks, popping
the moth balls inside, then knot the socks onto injector pipes etc.
The old man was serious about this, so I did it..seemed to work..stunk vile once engine was hot mind..:-)

[margaretcarnes]

Are you seriously suggesting it was the moth balls that worked US?....

[usual suspect]

Well at the time I lavishly adorned the engine-bay with socks knotted to my injector-pipes with MBs
I was lifting my bonnet each coupla days to check the oil/water before starting, & the engine was
littered with plastic bags, bits of rope..anything to make a nest..!!
The final straw.(.ideally their best nest-fodder..ha-ha) was when a big T-bone from a steak was
sitting in the recess for the injectors..a rat had hauled it all the way in there!
So yes darlin'..I have faith in the humble MBs.
(At least for 2 months till I got a house at back 0 T'Grand Hotel)

[hhfarang]

I have faith in the humble MBs.

Careful the socks don't lay against something hot for long enough to spontaneously combust... and I think Mags was suggesting that it may be the dirty socks that are the deterrent, and not the moth balls.

[carol]

Thanks: moths balls simple cheap and do the trick I will spread the word as many of my Thai locals have the same problem