Is there a way to keep rats from nesting in my engine?

[Kansas Terri]

That is twice this year that they have chewed up my radiator belt. I TRY to remember to check the engine regularly, but life gets busy and I always seem to forget.

And so now I need to order a new radiator belt

 

[thepumpguysc]

They say, dryer sheets do the trick..??
I saw on one of the car shows, there’s a plug-in device that’s guaranteed to keep them out of your building..& it’s sized to your building..
Sorry but don’t remember the name..

 

[oosik]

Hi Kansas Terri - I feel your pain. Forty years out here in the Scabrock and I've only had rats once. My rats are called Pine rats or Wood rats. VERY easy to eliminate. They are not the least bit afraid of humans. Walk right up to them and "BANG" with my 22 pistol.

Mice and Chipmunks - a totally different matter. I've tried most everything and, usually, it will work for a while. Dryer sheets, peppermint oil, bright lights, loud sounds - they eventually learn to ignore.

I've trapped them. But out here - for every mouse/chipmunk I trap - there are two more out there in the brush, waiting to "come on down".

I've found one thing that seems to work for the long haul. I keep the hood of my vehicles open when parked. This includes - pickup, ATV, tractor & riding mower.

Apparently these little critters do not like open spaces. No nests, no piles of gathered food, no chewed wiring. I keep them out of the passenger compartment of the pickup with dryer sheets and bars of Irish Spring soap.

I have eight boxed bars of Irish Spring and around 24 dryer sheets in the cab of my pickup.

 

[Thomas]

I spray heavy coating WD40 on engine wires etc. yet to have issue with rodents.

 

[oosik]

Thomas - I thought about using WD40 on the engine wires. BUT - I get so much blowing dust - the sprayed wires would, likely, turn to a muddy mess.

I wash the Taco Wagon. By the time I get to the tailgate - the freshly washed hood has a thin dust coating. And it not just dust from dirt. A whole lot of our dust is volcanic ash. Mt St Helens - 1980. It's still in the bark on the pines and I have a few ash exposed areas on my 80 acres.

 

[Hay Dude]

Couple semi-ferral cats
Cool off the tractor before you bring it in
Leave hood open
Leave cab doors open

Don’t create a warm, enclosed shelter for them.

 

[Kansas Terri]

Oosik, does your tractor live outside? I hesitate to leave the tractor hood open because mine is outside 24/7.

Dryer sheets and irish spring would be easy enough to put under the hood!

As for cats, I have a very good hunting cat but he can rarely catch a rat. I am not certain if that is because there are only a few rats out here or if it is because the rats are a bit large for him.

 

[2manyrocks]

Fresh peanut butter has worked as good rat bait to use in a rat snap trap for me.

 

[scootr]

Plus 1 on the feral cats.
I put the tractors in the barn along with my car. Like to see the cats have been sleeping on the equipment. Mice problem is non existent. The cost of the free spaded cats is dry cat food and walmart cheap kitty litter. Going on 3 or 4 yrs now, still can't touch them. Hard as I try it nets me a swat and dental display faster than a snake bite. Okay killer, that's fine ...
Previously we had serious damage to cars, carts, and such. We're good.

 

[2manyrocks]

Two of the most affectionate cats I've ever had started off as ferals, but took months to tame. Thick welders gloves were the only way I could touch the last one who is now a house cat and probably useless for rodent control at this point.

 

[scootr]

Two of the most affectionate cats I've ever had started off as ferals, but took months to tame. Thick welders gloves were the only way I could touch the last one who is now a house cat and probably useless for rodent control at this point.

Maybe I'll stay content to leave these 2 feral. They have everything they need in the barn. We have 6 dogs in the house. Wife says the last thing we need in the house is a cat.

 

[jjeff]

They say, dryer sheets do the trick..??
I saw on one of the car shows, there’s a plug-in device that’s guaranteed to keep them out of your building..& it’s sized to your building..
Sorry but don’t remember the name..

No they don't in my experience with them these are pretty fresh sheets if anything it housebroke the pests to use them instead of other places lol

 

[scootr]

One thing that did work really well was the neighbors male cat coming over and spraying the daylights out my place when I brought the females in . That smell will tear your eyes a week later on a damp morning. One whiff and the rodents go the other way.
Shop for cat urine spray on Amazon

 

[etpm]

I had a mouse problem in my garage. Rats too now and then. I tried traps and poison and etc. I finally started leaving the lights on all the time. In about a year we have had one mouse and it was dead. I think that it was sick or something. We have fluorescent lighting in the garage now but I am switching to all LED lighting. This will probably cost me less than 5 bucks per month which is well worth the price to me. Maybe you could mount a couple 4 foot LED strip lights under your hood and plug them in when the tractor is parked.
Eric

 

[newbury]

Mothballs are said to work. But generally if you keep the engine exposed it's better.
But OP count yourself lucky, many people have had their wiring harness chewed up, that can be a royal pain to replace.

 

[ruffdog]

I would rather smell this mint spray than a bunch of dryer sheets.

Amazon.com

 

[ruffdog]

I do like the smell of the Fresh Cab rodent repellent that this guy talks about. I tried these behind the dash of my TC33D tractor where mice loved to make a nest and they never came back.

 

[jjeff]

Repellents, and some sonic devices are expensive and im not fully sold on effectiveness, for the price
currently have an arsenal of pest blocker foam and steel wool in a partially disassembled interior of a RV, after a mouse crapped on dryer sheets set up to repel those bastards.

 

[big bubba]

as mentioned earlier, rodents don't like large open spaces. so i keep my rig in an open field w/hood open & a few bags of moth balls.
a large breathable sunshade works great in summer to protect from UV & also allows some light through

 

[jmc]

My armchair experiment was to make some kind of nesting box that is more attractive than my pickup. Maybe with a heat tape in it... And some way to quickly trap them inside when you empty it every week.