Rats, in my new car

[Rick Potter]

Just got a 2002 Corvette from my brother. It sat for two days without being run, and the battery was dead. I popped the hood to charge it, and a healthy looking rat was sitting on top of the motor. After a couple seconds of looking at each other, he took off.

I had always heard that GM and Toyota were wired deliciously, and prime candidates for rat fine dining, but two days?? I found a bit of chewing on a wiring loom under the battery box, and have to check it out and see if I have a draw of juice there, which might explain why the good battery went dead.

We do have rats around here, and I am pretty sure it didn't come with the car.

Anyway....Does anyone with experience in using an ultrasonic rat deterrent have a recommendation on which one I should buy? I am thinking of getting one that stays in the engine compartment and runs all the time, since the car will be usually be stored using a battery tender. All the models on Amazon claim they are best.

Thanks

[George Bokros]

If it runs off the car battery it will likely suck the battery down. I left my radar detector on for four days and my battery was dead. If you have it under the hood running on a/c you will have to remember disconnect and reconnect each time you drive the car.

[Frederick Skelly]

Man, I'm sorry to hear this Rick. I hope you get it sorted out and that there is no damage.
Fred

[Pat Barry]

Gives new meaning to the term rat motor!

[Jim Koepke]

Gives new meaning to the term rat motor!

Or "Rat Rod"

jtk

[Eduard Nemirovsky]

I have same problem in the past, only with mice. If I would see rat sitting on the motor and looking on my, I am not sure who will be out earlier.)
When I investigated which u/s device to buy, I stop on most simplest and cheapest one, working on battery. This one - https://www.amazon.com/P3-Internatio...%2C142&sr=1-20.
Maybe this is coincidence, but for a seven-eight month after I put it under the hoods of two my cars - I don't have any problem.
And telling the truth, I am more willing to bet that it is just coincidence. Most professional in rodent extermination said that these devices never work. Who knows?

Ed.

[jared herbert]

I tried an ultrasonic deterrent for a mouse problem. I think all it did was attract more mice. It sure didn’t keep them away

[Greg R Bradley]

Just give it back or junk it. Free isn't cheap enough. They were marginal and mostly unfulfilled promise when new and went downhill faster than just about any car in history. If it has 20,000 miles on it, that car has been junk for more than a decade. If you want a decent car with that series of drivetrain, find a Chevrolet SS. Won't rattle and shake and make horrible noises as you drive. Won't have horrible resonance in the exhaust that make you wonder about the incompetence of the designers. Automobiles version of Harley Davidson Junk. Corvettes were designed to sell to people that don't drive them and just look at them. Once you drive them, they go downhill fast.

[Alan Rutherford]

I hear mothballs work to discourage critters.

[Rick Potter]

Don't hold back Gregg. I have to keep it because it makes me look 75 again.

Today I installed a big rat sticky trap right on top of the battery of the car, which is now in the garage, then I put sticky traps in the garage also.

I am leery of using poison that the dogs could get into, but I have let them into that part of the back yard. No rat yet, but they got a possum last night.

We have a few poison stations, like you see near grocery stores, but my bug guy had an accident, and has not been here in a few months. He is going to restock them soon also. He is also unimpressed with ultrasonic devices.

We have not had mouse problems since living here, just rats in the back yard, near the fruit trees. I hope that does not change for the worse. We have a 14' high freeway block wall for a couple hundred feet along the back yard, and the State was thoughtful enough to plant some kind of Ivy on their side, so the critters have an easy access to climb it. We see racoons, possums, squirrels commuting across it regularly, and the dogs go nuts.

I will report the body count, if applicable.

PS: maybe I should be looking for an outside cat that can survive my two dogs?

[Malcolm Schweizer]

Glue traps do work, but beware that he may flop around and get glue trap goo all over your engine. We had one enter our home and so I put glue traps on the floor where I knew he was coming in through a window. I forgot the traps were there and stepped in them. It was a mess to get off!!!

[Edward Dyas]

To me it sounds like there is a nest in the car somewhere. I've had rats and mice get into junk cars but never one that is driven from time to time. I believe I would put rat poison someplace a neighbors cat can't get to.

[Doug Dawson]

Glue traps do work, but beware that he may flop around and get glue trap goo all over your engine. We had one enter our home and so I put glue traps on the floor where I knew he was coming in through a window. I forgot the traps were there and stepped in them. It was a mess to get off!!!

Of all the "non-biological" controls, glue traps seem to work the best. Accidental contact can be resolved with vegetable oil (the only use for that stuff, IMO.)

On the subject, get a hungry cat, and chain him to the radiator.