Broncos and MICE.

[Phil B]

If you buy moth balls: in CA, they come in sealed plastic bags; you'll have to buy a nylon mesh bag to put them in then put the mesh bag under the hood. If you buy them in NV, they'll come double wrapped in a bag, but remove the outer one and the inner one is perforated and you can just put that under the hood. Don't leave them there when you're running the engine; they can ruin the plastics in various ways. But the mothball chemical sublimes (evaporates to a vapor from the solid state) just like dry ice. We use this in our RV for many years. I've also heard about the peppermint oil approach, but I'd also do it where you remove it in the morning when you start the vehicle...

Mothballs do not deter rodents. If you research this you will find that it's a myth. I leaned this the hard way when I put some in my attic. Mothballs do not bother rodents, but they will run YOU out of the house.

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[Phil B]

Yup. My harness was munched by rodents, in two places. I think that set.me back about $800. The newer, more environmentally friendly insulation materials are apparently more tasty. I believe they are soy based. I zip tied a bar of Irish Spring under the hood, which is supposed to help. I also spray my parking area with Tomcat rodent repellent about every 6-8 weeks. Time will tell if it works.

https://a.co/d/36ys9qp

I live next to a creek on a heavily wooded lot. I fight rats every winter. Had harnesses chewed on multiple times, multiple vehicles. I brought 6 Feral cats home from the shelter once, the local coyote’s promptly ate them. The only real solution has been to keep dead leaves cleaned up.

 

[Rydfree]

I live next to a creek on a heavily wooded lot. I fight rats every winter. Had harnesses chewed on multiple times, multiple vehicles. I brought 6 Feral cats home from the shelter once, the local coyote’s promptly ate them. The only real solution has been to keep dead leaves cleaned up.

I do not care for cats much but we do keep a yard cat and we never see a rat anymore, unless it is being used as a play toy. The coyote's got the 1st one but a kitten wandered up to the house back in January and I made the mistake of feeding it so it never left. I have trail cam pics of the coyote's eating some thrown out leftovers and this little bugger sitting 6' behind them waiting his turn, lol. Also have a pic of a possum eating his food from the dish and he is sitting beside it like "Hey that's mine !". He's a very loving animal, but has no instinct to be afraid of anything. Either that or he is one mean MF'r when we're not looking.

I'm also not sure of the validity of the soy based insulation study. We stayed at our prior house 30 years and always parked the cars in a covered but not enclosed shed. We never had an issue until my daughter purchased a new Toyota 4Runner in 2017. Rats chewed the wiring within a month of her parking there. That's the 1st I had heard of soy-based insulation and that came from the Toyota dealer when they charged her $750 to repair it. Not under warranty due to being an act of God so they said.

 

[TPadden72]

It becomes more concentrated as it moves up the food chain.

Not according to my large animal country vet. No single rodent eats all the bait; a dog might.. He said our dogs would have to eat so many D-CON'd mice and rats that they'd have many more problems from eating that many carcasses then from any residual poison. He recommended just be careful to keep the concentrated bait/ traps away from domestic animals. Put it where only SMALL critters can get it.

Tom

 

[box986]

I use a combination of peppermint & chili oil spray. Works great

 

[Dean07]

Buy and install a 12V Mouse Blocker device under the hood. Mouseblocker.com I bought the 1000x for my garage where I store 2 cars and it works really well. Had a friend with a Maverick and mice ate the main wiring harness twice, installed the 12V Pro model and never had an issue again.

Hey group. I’m driving a 22 Badlands with 57,000 miles on it, all done by me. I live and work in Death Valley National Park for the park services. In the nine years I’ve worked here I’ve never had this problem. My Bronco started throwing error codes and running rough the other day. Took to Ford in Vegas and they found a family of mice living under the hood, and eating my wiring harness. What a mess. I’ve always opened the hood when parked overnight and never had a problem. I’m worried that when I get the truck back it will happen again. Any ideas?

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