preventing rat damage - is it possible?

We had a rat infestation in our then new TT years ago. The storage lot installed the bait stations. I called the exterminators and asked how the bait stations worked. I was told that they rarely find a dead rat in the bait station. The reasoning was that the Momma rat carried the bait back to her nest to feed to her babies. That way, they killed all the rats. As they were nesting in my TT I didn't want to wait to make that discovery or worse, have them die in an inaccessible place. Snap traps saved the day and after violently evicting 3 of them I had no further trouble. Of course we also moved from that storage place and sealed up any openings we found in the TT.

Clean up was daunting. If my wife had seen the mess they made, she would have never set foot in there again. They only had occupancy for about a week as it took a few days to discover and then a few days to trap them. Shudder, I never want to go through that experience again!

I put a rat bait station by each tire.

Our dog used to hunt under our RV, up in the wheel wells. Since the rat bait stations were installed, she ignores the RV. I figure it is working.

Tiger4x4RV wrote:

Could this damage have been caused by rabbits? The storage lot has many cottontails. I found a news article about Denver Airport parking lots having vehicles damaged by rabbits chewing on wires.

Could a rabbit climb up into the truck engine compartment to chew the firewall insulation? Or do I now have to worry about two kinds of chewers?

Any scat left around the site? Rat droppings are a different size than rabbits'.
No idea of a rabbit's or hare's climbing ability but I do know that rats and rabbits like to chew wire casing. Once had to deal with the aftermath of an electrical fire started by a pet rabbit who gnawed one too many lamp wires.

insulation would be for nest building....

wiring would be for learning. as not food or nest building.

rats, mice, rabbits, raccoons, squirrels.....lots of animals with strong teeth..

live traps till you know what is attacking. Inform Owners of property .. all must work together for it to work.

Squirrels did damage to our co-hosts vehicle here. There are lots of rabbits around though, so maybe.

I don't like poison. You might end up inadvertently killing someones pet.

How about a live trap ? Anything you catch can be either let go, if it is a pet, or shot with a pellet gun if it is a rat.

I ordered some non-toxic repellent pellets, am considering pepper spray, but...new research is turning up something else.

Could this damage have been caused by rabbits? The storage lot has many cottontails. I found a news article about Denver Airport parking lots having vehicles damaged by rabbits chewing on wires.

Could a rabbit climb up into the truck engine compartment to chew the firewall insulation? Or do I now have to worry about two kinds of chewers?

None of the sealing will keep them out of the engine bay. Tough deal if it's not at home, but I'd start w a half dozen rat traps since you seem to be there regularly to check and see how many you get or if you kill enough of them to stop the onslaught lol.
Put some bait up in the engine compartments too.
Pretty sure rats will eat dryer sheets for breakfast!

Tiger4x4RV wrote:
In the past week or two, both my RV and my car have been damaged by rats. I am pretty sure it occurred in the neighborhood's RV storage lot, since the RV can park only there and the car is there when I am driving the RV.

RV damage - They ate most of the firewall insulation in the engine compartment. Not yet repaired.

car damage - They ate the wire which the engine computer uses to tell the transmission when to shift. $120 plus towing and a bunch of wasted time

I don't know what to do. Bait stations? An ultrasonic thing like Rid-a-Rat?

Suggestions please. Nothing 12V or solar. Thanks for any ideas you can provide.

Baited rodent stations around the RV's perimeter. Removing all harborage in the form of weeds and cracks in walls and sidewalks. Caulk the RV up w/ in an inch of it's existence. Since your RV is kept in a shared space I'd strongly suggest you bring this problem to the notice of whoever is responsible for maintaining the space. Very difficult to get rid of your problem if everyone else is not on board.

HTH

We have used Downy drier sheets for 25 years and have never had trouble with rats.