engine air intake and pack rats

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engine air intake and pack rats

April 22, 2025, 03:38:17 pm

Yes, I have an oddly-specific question...

What is the anatomy of the engine air intake? I assume that the high-mounted rear grate that surrounds the rear camera is the intake. I would assume that this cavity is sealed and leads to the metal vertical pipe on the driver side that feeds into the filter box. Again, I assume that the removable port in the cabinet above the bed completes the inside wall of the air cavity.

If my assumptions are correct, then I could seal off the engine bay corner that leads to the top of the coach, on the passenger side, and the same opposite corner that houses the vertical air intake pipe.

I am fighting a pack rat. Step one was to thoroughly vacuum out the cavity behind the insulated removable port. Step two is to place a sock filled with cayenne pepper in the cavity. Third, if you guys approve, will be to shove some sort of barrier in the vertical cavities.

Thanks!

Re: engine air intake

Reply #1 – April 22, 2025, 03:51:30 pm

Have you tried the Rid A Rat spray seems to deter them I use both the aerosol and power spray,

Re: engine air intake

Reply #2 – April 22, 2025, 04:06:44 pm

Quote from: fatheeler – April 22, 2025, 03:51:30 pm

Have you tried the Rid A Rat spray seems to deter them I use both the aerosol and power spray,

I just did a quick search for Rid A Rat spray, and found nothing. I have tried the Rid A Rat flashing light. In fact, I have one of these under the coach, set to random color, pattern, and time. Oh, and the game camera shows several cats a night prowling through!

Party Lights, Disco Light Dj Disco Ball LED Sound Activated Stage Lights...

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Re: engine air intake

Reply #3 – April 22, 2025, 04:29:33 pm

Here is what we did and it has worked for quite some time. It is hard to believe that we installed those blocks over 11 years ago.
Busy squirrel

Mike

Re: engine air intake

Reply #4 – April 22, 2025, 05:44:00 pm

I did not think to search for "busy squirrel" or "devil's hole." Thanks for sharing the link!

Re: engine air intake

Reply #5 – April 22, 2025, 06:30:34 pm

Quote from: fatheeler – April 22, 2025, 03:51:30 pm

Have you tried the Rid A Rat spray seems to deter them I use both the aerosol and power spray,

Sorry it's TomCat spray I just put a little in these jars with a cotton ball, and put in the nooks and crannies around the coach

Re: engine air intake

Reply #6 – April 22, 2025, 07:41:47 pm

Blinking lights work great to keep them away...it disorients them and they turn around immediately. Seen it on gamecams. The mice/rats can also make their way up the cavity on the passenger side to wreak havoc. You've gotta get them to go somewhere else, preferably hell.

"Just One Bite" is the only poison I have ever found that will kill packrats within minutes...be sure to fasten it to metal with steel wire so they don't haul it off to make a nest with. They leave to find water just like warfarin, but it's way more effective. I have it hanging in the engine bay, wet bays and generator bay. Not one mouse/rat in 6 years. Not cheap but well worth it.
Amazon.com: Farnam Just One Bite II Rat & Mouse Bar 8pk 8lb : Farnam/VPL...

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Re: engine air intake

Reply #7 – April 22, 2025, 08:09:47 pm

Just make sure no family pets or beneficial predators (especially raptors like owls and hawks) can access the poisoned rodent. Secondary rodenticide poisoning is no joke and has decimated some predator populations.

Re: engine air intake

Reply #8 – April 23, 2025, 12:37:27 pm

I don't use poisons. We have two dogs. They might not eat a dead animal, but they would gnaw on it and play with it.

We do regularly have coyotes, snakes, large lizards, owls, hawks, javelinas in or near our yard. Bobcats and mountain lions spotted within a mile.

I left a liberal line of the cayenne around the coach yesterday, and got photos of the rat last night. I had forgotten, but I had the Tomcat Rodent Repellent in the shop. I shot a continuous line around the coach this morning, and reset the camera.

Re: engine air intake

Reply #9 – April 23, 2025, 01:38:14 pm

I am constantly at war with pack rats the size of footballs where I'm at here in Arizona. Not only can they be devastating, but they are smarter than your average mouse.

I too have dogs roaming the property so I can't use poisons and the best thing I have found is an electric rat trap like this Amazon.com : Victor M241B Indoor Electronic Mouse Trap, Humane Electric Rat...

So far, I am batting 100% with one of these after trying many alternatives

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Re: engine air intake

Reply #10 – April 23, 2025, 01:56:08 pm

Quote from: Elliott – April 23, 2025, 01:38:14 pm

I am constantly at war with pack rats the size of footballs where I'm at here in Arizona. Not only can they be devastating, but they are smarter than your average mouse.

I too have dogs roaming the property so I can't use poisons and the best thing I have found is an electric rat trap like this Amazon.com : Victor M241B Indoor Electronic Mouse Trap, Humane Electric Rat...

So far, I am batting 100% with one of these after trying many alternatives

We are around Tucson.

I tried one of those, but never got anything. To the best of my memory -
poison blocks (some time ago) - no evidence of a nibble
electronic trap - 0
snap trap - 2 (worked great on rats in Georgia)
platform on water bucket - 0
live trap, various baits - 0
glue trap, various baits - 12ish
.22 pistol with Colibri load - 1

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Re: engine air intake

Reply #11 – April 23, 2025, 02:05:58 pm

Check out,"Grandpa Gus" has all the stuff you need.

Re: engine air intake

Reply #12 – April 24, 2025, 06:46:00 am

I use these from Tractor Supply

Re: engine air intake and pack rats

Reply #13 – April 25, 2025, 06:48:54 pm

So...

For last night, I added a continuous stream of the TomCat spray all of the way around the coach, and sprayed beside the wheels, behind the wheels, between the wheels.

He apparently walked through the cayenne and the spray 27 times in his evening routine.

Re: engine air intake and pack rats

Reply #14 – April 25, 2025, 07:05:13 pm

Maybe he has a bad sense of smell, or use the spray in conjunction with the.22

Re: engine air intake and pack rats

Reply #15 – April 26, 2025, 09:19:42 am

I have actually considered spending the night on my belly with the .22 or an air rifle.

Two photos - first is my rat friend. before dark, I sprayed all around the coach again, plus behind the rear tires, in front of them, between them, on the wheels inside and outside. No way the rat could be where he is without walking in spray less than six hours old. In addition, the white spot in front of the tires is a small pan of the liquid spray.

Fifteen feet from the coach, I smell the peppermint. Six feet away, my throat starts to catch from the cayenne.

The second photo is one of the five cats I see regularly (almost nightly) patrolling the vicinity. Thanks for trying!

I guess I am not looking for an epiphany from you guys. I am just venting my frustration at this point.

Note: I have tried bait boxes and the bait was never touched after months. I no longer use poison bait. I did try the non-poison deterrent food - the stuff that makes the rat thirsty enough to move away. An ENTIRE package disappeared in one night - something bigger than a rat was eating it.

Re: engine air intake and pack rats

Reply #16 – April 26, 2025, 11:00:23 am

Haven't dealt with pack rats, just field mice. When full timing we heard one in the bay. Bought some traps & peanut butter. Within 5 minutes we had him. Disposed of properly (put in ditch and a hawk had lunch before I got back inside). Within the next 4 days, I fed that hawk 19 times. After that, no more problems, but the hawk was always kept me in sight.

Larry

Re: engine air intake and pack rats

Reply #17 – April 26, 2025, 12:52:36 pm

I was in the coach while I had it in the garage. I looked out window and saw rat walking around. Went to store and got one of the sticky pads. Had the sucker the next morning.

Re: engine air intake and pack rats

Reply #18 – April 27, 2025, 12:07:34 am

Well I'll say a few words on rats. I don't like them. We used to have a 40-50 ft palm in our yard that didn't shed its fronds , it looked like a skirt and the rats loved running up the tree and making nests.
That's when I pulled out my Gamo BB gun that my aunt in Spain gave me as a gift back in the early 70's.
I would wait for them at night to start running around and take them out one by one. I eventually cut that palm tree down.
Nothing like keeping up your marksmanship skills.

Re: engine air intake and pack rats

Reply #19 – April 27, 2025, 07:02:56 am

A few years ago I built a nice cedar home in the woods of Northeast Texas. A family of squirrels decided to take up residence in the insulation space below the roof of our master bedroom. I thought no problem I have customer that is in the pest control business. So I called to have him come out and get rid of the squirrels for me. He informed me that squirrels were unaffected by the normal vermin baits and poisons. Seems that they will throw off the poisons that kill other animals like rats. We had a wide front porch across the front of our home, so I set myself up a spot where I could see the comings and goings of the squirrels. I had a 22 rifle with a 9 power scope and after I harvested about 9 squirrels, I never had another problem at that home with squirrels. Growing up, my mother and my grandparents would smother the little buggers in a skillet with gravy and serve them over rice. My daughter learned from them and fixed her daddy a feast reminding me of my childhood.

Re: engine air intake and pack rats

Reply #20 – April 27, 2025, 09:14:19 am

Quote from: Herb Stark – April 27, 2025, 07:02:56 am

A few years ago I built a nice cedar home in the woods of Northeast Texas. A family of squirrels decided to take up residence in the insulation space below the roof of our master bedroom. I thought no problem I have customer that is in the pest control business. So I called to have him come out and get rid of the squirrels for me. He informed me that squirrels were unaffected by the normal vermin baits and poisons. Seems that they will throw off the poisons that kill other animals like rats. We had a wide front porch across the front of our home, so I set myself up a spot where I could see the comings and goings of the squirrels. I had a 22 rifle with a 9 power scope and after I harvested about 9 squirrels, I never had another problem at that home with squirrels. Growing up, my mother and my grandparents would smother the little buggers in a skillet with gravy and serve them over rice. My daughter learned from them and fixed her daddy a feast reminding me of my childhood.

My dad grew up in a sharecropper cabin in Wyoming. The horse was needed for work at home, so he walked 10 miles to school. His birth certificate was an estimate - by the time the doctor made it to the farm to certify the birth, everybody had kind of forgotten the actual day he was born. Fireplace for heat, water well manual pump out in the yard, no electricity. His early life was a bridge between the modern world and what we see portrayed in the rural 1800s.

Anyway, he would come home from school, grab the single shot .22 rifle from the mantle, and go harvest squirrels for dinner.

Re: engine air intake and pack rats

Reply #21 – April 27, 2025, 10:10:04 am

Matt, sounds like when I used to go to grandma's house down in southern Missouri. A lot of times it was either squirrel or rabbit. In the spring was the best time, morel mushrooms, crappie and may be frog legs. I'm sure the memories are probably much better than the reality was at the time, but a good time was had by all, except what was served as dinner

Larry

Re: engine air intake and pack rats

Reply #22 – May 05, 2025, 04:26:57 pm

Maybe the end of THIS chapter...

I placed a couple of glue traps in the space above the bed cabinet. After a couple of days, no rat, but a bunch of rat hair on one of the traps.

No rats on the game camera for maybe a week.

Re: engine air intake and pack rats

Reply #23 – May 07, 2025, 01:20:45 pm

Just curious,anybody even check out the Grandpa gus site?

Re: engine air intake and pack rats

Reply #24 – May 08, 2025, 07:23:02 am

Quote from: John44 – May 07, 2025, 01:20:45 pm

Just curious,anybody even check out the Grandpa gus site??

I did, and thank you for your earlier reply. I reviewed the products that they offer, and I wonder if they are significantly different from the similar products offered in the stores by other brands.

I am convinced that pack rats are a special situation. They seem resistant to the olfactory deterrents. The only things I have seen actual evidence of them eating are wiring, diesel fuel lines and Irish Spring soap.

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