Rats!

[Kookla]

I don’t know if anyone else has been bothered by more rats than normal this year.We have in our area. They bite through anything. A large material umbrella canopy, getting into the chicken coop and, like another acquaintance of ours in to the car through the engine and air ducts! If you are may I pass on my newly acquired tip. Peppermint oil. I have just bought a bottle online of 100% pure oil. I apply several drops to a cotton pad ( similar to those to remove make-up with ) I have taped the cotton pads with duct tape to inside the engine ( on parts that don’t get too hot) and also in the boot and dropped a few drops into the air vents on the dash. So far... seems to be working well. My husband will also be planting lots of plants of peppermint around the house next Spring, but I haven’t told him yet

[Philb]

Get some cats.

[Kookla]

Sound advice Philb, but husband severely allergic to them.

[peebee]

Sound advice Philb, but husband severely allergic to them.

Well, how about a couple of terriers ?

[Kilkis]

I and several of my friends have had problems with rats getting into cars. They seem to prefer new cars to old ones and love to chew the insulation around the cables, chewing through the cable at the same time. It can prove very expensive if they need to fit a whole new loom. I had the soundproof matting fixed to the bonnet totally shredded but no damage to cables so far. A friend had cables in the space between the roof lining and the roof chewed through. Another made a nest in the spare wheel well and a third died behind the glove box. He has just had the tapes that raise and lower shutter chewed through on two windows in his house and in one the rat died in the cavity so he knows it was a rat not a mouse. It got in through a hole about the diameter of a pen.

Several of us have had electronic devices fitted in our cars that use ultrasound and flashing light to repel rats and other vermin. They start and stop automatically when the car stops and starts. I also have a couple of mains operated ones in store rooms. They seem to work.

Warwick

PS Moth balls also work in the car engine compartment but personally I cannot stand the smell of them. Care spares places also sell a spray to spray on cables and that does not smell.

[moggieman]

I also find pool tablets (chlorine) seem to work in keeping them away. After having all the sound deadening against the bulkhead in the engine compartment eaten away

[Kookla]

Funny peebee lol we already have two dogs, that’s our limit. ( admittedly not terriers)

Yes Warwick, it is unbelievable the small spaces that they can enter. We have the electric plug- in, in our hall which has served us well in the past. I think they are just more in number this year. Yes I too had read about mothballs, but that is a revolting smell especially in a tiny car.

Moggieman - not heard of that, will have to check it out.

Thank you all x

[bobscott]

Get some cats.

'


....... and then be prepared to discuss with your neighbours what to do about your cats using their (neighbours') garden for daily toilet! Bob.

[Mixos]

Mothballs certainly do the trick, as Warwick says, if you can put up with the smell, although we only get the occasional waft to remind us they are there. Halkiadakis supermarket sells them in packs, with the mothballs in plastic tubes with holes in them to let the odour out, but sealed so that you don't have to handle them. Slip a bit of wire through the holes and hang them inside the engine compartment but not on anywhere that gets hot. The smell isn't everyone's cup of tea, but it beats the odour of animal bones cached on the engine block that was the original warning of rats in the neighbourhood!

[Philb]

Get some cats.

'


....... and then be prepared to discuss with your neighbours what to do about your cats using their (neighbours') garden for daily toilet! Bob.

Better than having rats, for all parties.

[Kookla]

Oh dear, back to the drawing board! Yesterday my husband power washed the engine/car. A letter that was in the glove box had been chewed and taken to the well where the spare tyre is in the boot. In came in the house, fuming that they had also left a ‘deposit’ directly on one on the peppermint- oiled cotton pads! Not at all happy. So unhappy that he actually mentioned getting an outdoor cat! Although he would react terribly and go into anaphylactic shock!
He was so angry..
So, I think moth balls are out. I shall explore the chlorine pool tabs thing. Also I am intrigued to the car device to emit a signal to deter them. We have a plug one in the house that works. I wonder if this available in Chania. I presume a car mechanic has to fit it? My only concern with the pool tabs and car device, is that we have two dogs. They are not affected by the house plug-device, so would hope the car one would be ok too.

[Kilkis]

I have a device fitted in the engine compartment of my car and my cat still cheerfully curls up on the rear spoiler, which is in sunshine early in the morning. I doubt if the dogs would be affected in any way.

Yes, mine was fitted by a local mechanic. The friend with the multiple rat problem obtained it for me from e-bay so I don't have a link. It has automatic on/off when the engine stops/starts. He also has one that is powered by internal batteries that he has mounted under the hinged armrest. He simply lifts the armrest and switches it on when he parks the car to give addied protection inside the car.

Warwick

[Kookla]

Thanks for the info Warwick. I will check it out and try to locate.