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Topic: engine air intake and pack rats (Read 1280 times) previous topic - next topic

Re: engine air intake and pack rats

Reply #25 –
If you have a cat, save the litter clumps and scatter them under and around the rig every month or so.  We live in the middle of the Sonoran desert, and so far with that, peppermint oil in spice jar in the bays, and I keep a few of those sticky rat traps in the water bay for good measure.  Never had a pack rat or a mouse.
Joe Phebus and Jaime Trujillo
2002 U270 3410  Build: 5953 Motorcader # 18595
2100 W Solar, 600 AH Battleborn Batteries,  Victron Multi-Plus II 3000 Inverter, Cerbo GX, & MPPT Chargers
1992 Geo Tracker

Re: engine air intake and pack rats

Reply #26 –
Sooo...  the next chapter.

I have rat droppings in the basement.  I set some glue traps with the non-poison bait.  Two had bits of hair in them, but no capture.  I decided to get scientific.

I removed all of the traps for a day or two, and presented the rats with a deli platter.  I arranged walnuts, pecans, banana, wheat crackers, "Goldfish" pretzel crackers, and the non-poison bait (supposed to attract them, make them thirsty so they move out.)

In a couple of hours, the banana and pecans were gone, but the rest was untouched.  So I baited several glue traps with pecans, banana and the fresh-from-Amazon Grandpa Gus's Rodent Lure.  Overnight, two of the glue traps were disturbed, one with some rodent hair stuck to it.

So last night, I pulled out four big plastic rat snap traps, baited them as above, and this morning I had a rat.  He (she?) was able to unbait one without triggering it, unbait a second and avoid the snap, and was caught by the third.  This is the first time I have tried the snap traps in several years.

I have video evidence of a rat walking through fresh peppermint spray and cayenne five times in a night.  I have five or six cats that patrol the area nightly and I can often smell their urine in the area.  (They bailed for a week apparently due to the peppermint and cayenne.)  I have found that the rats will not eat most things.  I have had an entire bag of the non-poison bait disappear overnight with no change in infestation.  I have had evidence of the rats EATING Irish Spring soap.  If any trap - glue, snap, live trap - has a near miss, the rats no longer will touch that type of trap.  I cannot conclude that the rats are avoiding the trap style or learn to avoid it due to the bait used.

My neighbor found a dead rat on his front porch, a gift from his cats, and possibly harvested from under my coach.

The snap traps are rebaited for tonight, to see if the rat "evidence" no longer appears.
Matt B
1998 u-320