Rodents like wiring.

[John Hasler]

Bill writes:
> Someone should make "Rats Away", or something.

They do. It's called a terrier.

[earlgo]

If I remember correctly, Berretta makes a useful tool for just that purpose.
--earlgo

[Rwilliams]

Rodents have teeth that continue to grow all their life. If they do not chew on something of substance, the teeth are not kept worn down and once the teeth become too long, they can no longer bite, eat and their life is then terminal. Chewing on tough things is a way of survival for rodents.

Biological rodent control is very effective in the form of rat terriers and cats. A good mink is also great on rats as it will actually go down the hole after them in the thrill of the hunt and kill. Some great videos on YouTube featuring terriers and mink.

Years ago before professional pest control companies, the wise old sea captains would transport cats from a city with too many cats to the next port where the rodent population was out of control. The sea captain then set up shop selling cats doing a great business.

My neighbor has some dash hounds. He is always complaining about seeing rats in the back yard. I have a cat and never do see a rat. Sometimes I find a smear of blood early in the morning on the back patio. Just lets me know that the cat is doing her job.

[Patio]

All our cats have been adopted from those that hang around. As they were on the streets to before we started feeding them, they knew how to hunt. We keep them outside most of the time, except for in the cold days of winter, and they have always earned their keep.

[curtis cutter]

All our cats have been adopted from those that hang around. As they were on the streets to before we started feeding them, they knew how to hunt. We keep them outside most of the time, except for in the cold days of winter, and they have always earned their keep.

That was our solution as well Pat when mice chewed up the wiring in my wife's 2015 Cruze. On another note, that car has been at the dealer for a month now due to a mechanical issue under warranty and they cannot find the part it needs anywhere... That is THE WORST car I have ever owned.

[SteveHGraham]

I had a cat show up last week. Strangest animal. It adored me from the minute it saw me. It would leap on me and hold on with all four feet. When I went indoors, it would sit by the door, a foot away, and stare at it until I came back. It would remain there for hours.

When I welded, I had to put it in a travel bird cage to keep it from interfering and staring at the arc.

I unloaded it on a friend of mine.

It would be nice to have a semi-feral barn cat, though. That, plus a donkey to stomp coyotes to death. And goats to eat poison ivy.

[spro]

Outdoor cats tend to like a warm body to nuzzle against. Can't say for sure but they already scratched themselves raw . They want to share.

[liveaboard]

We can't have cats; OH is allergic and the dog says no.
My dog chases them but he's floor bound and they're not.
Rats ate the wiring in my car. they eat the plastic tops off of oil containers. They can get into the trunk of my car through the breather hole if I leave any shopping in there for more than a minute.

I had a 1965 chevy Impala when I lived in India. Lucky I checked the air cleaner before starting because there was a whole nest in there.
The 283 probably would have just spit the bits out the tail pipe.
I've had a rat chew on my foot while I was sleeping.
I've killed many. Shot one with a slingshot once. hehehehe.

[armscor 1]

Many stray cats in my area, they like to sleep on the bonnet of the SUV, have a car cover so no scratches, I don't discourage them and no rats.
Also have Cobras that come and visit sometimes, had one under the car and my little Shi Tzu alerted me with an unfamiliar growl, both glaring at each other, quickly grabbed the dog and got him away, snake disappeared, always nervous opening the bonnet.

[Cary Stewart]

We had ground squirrels and rats eating our aluminum rail at Los Angeles Live Steamers in Griffith Park, Los Angeles. When we installed replacement steel rails for the 7 1/2" gage track that ended the problem there. However, we still have aluminum on the 4 3/4" and 3 1/2" gages. From time to time we see where the critters have chewed quite a bit of the rail away. One thing that slowed them down was cayenne pepper. For some reason the tree squirrels don't chew on the rail. The ground squirrels also were making dangerous burrows in our grass areas and we nearly had a broken ankle once. Last year we called in a specialist and the ground squirrels seem to be gone but we still have an occasional gopher. And the beat goes on.\
Cary

[WisJim]

I have a light switch in our house that for some reason attracts mice. They manage to get into the electrical box and then touch two terminals and electrocute themselves, and in a couple of days they start to stink. Once it was two mice at the same time, and another time the light controlled by the switch was very dim, so I flipped the switch and it go bright. A mouse corpse was making a high resistance connection across the switch terminals. We have had numerous instances of mice eating wiring on cars that were parked over winter. I found that leaving the hood open help discourag them, but sometimes lead to other problems.

[curtis cutter]

All our cats have been adopted from those that hang around. As they were on the streets to before we started feeding them, they knew how to hunt. We keep them outside most of the time, except for in the cold days of winter, and they have always earned their keep.

That was our solution as well Pat when mice chewed up the wiring in my wife's 2015 Cruze. On another note, that car has been at the dealer for a month now due to a mechanical issue under warranty and they cannot find the part it needs anywhere... That is THE WORST car I have ever owned.

I was rereading this post and I thought I would update that GM still cannot find the part so the car still sits....