Pack Rats

In south Texas they have been known to chew the plastic off the wiring harnesses of very big, very expensive natural gas engines/drivers of pipeline compressors.
Houston....we have a problem.

Kayteg1 wrote:
I lived 26 years in woods east of San Francisco and garden rats have been constant problems.
Seem they like the engine valley for making their bed as I was always finding lot of droppings on my engines.
But beside clogging air filter on ClasC years ago they never did any damage.
Here are my rat defenders.

Click For Full-Size Image.

Got to love those terriers.:B

Only place out of all the states you mention, that I've seen issues, is in Montana.

During several trips through NW Montana, people will prop their hood open about a foot (or less) with a stick of firewood

A side note..although we've never had issues with them, one particular RV park that we often go to has a significant population of them living in the brush surrounding the sites. The first time we stayed there we saw them peeking out of the brush line, no doubt hoping to steal some eats. I now carry a bag of small stainless steel flat washers and we often amuse ourselves tossing them to the edge of the campsite and watching the shiny-object loving rats scamper out to claim their prize and disappear back to their lair with it. Yes, we are easily amused!

good ole WD40 works for me haha...

Alittle dab will do yuou...

Roy Ken

I've had good success with the electronic rodent repellents. I keep 2 on my truck that I only use for the TC. One under the hood and one over the rear tire.

I've traveled to all of those states except CA regularly with my TC. I've never been attacked by rodents of any kind. That's with some boondocking and some camping at private RV parks and State Parks. Most TCs don't have as many entry points as other RVs. I can't say how long you plan to park your rig in one place without moving, but if you do move regularly, I think you will be fine without protection.

NMDriver wrote:
If you move the vehicles frequently and are in urban areas mostly at night you will likely be ok. The desert and mountain campsites will be the likely areas where you will need to leave the hood open and try to park away from bushes and other ground cover.

Those electronic devices, mothballs, poison have not helped in my experience. The One Bite poison does kill them but does not stop the nest building and wire chewing immediately like a snap trap does. Plus you must wire it in place or they will haul it off for winter/later usage and still chew the wires.

I use large RAT snap traps and even so have had to finish off the pack rat about 1/4th of the time. You will have to check the trap each day and deal with the remains or half dead pack rat.

I am currently experimenting with coyote urine. We will see how it works vs snap traps over the next weeks.

IF you do need to remove a nest or clean up after any rodent, wear disposable gloves and a P95 face mask (hanta virus kills). Read up on hanta virus

BTW: I keep my 5er in a remote mountain site in summer that is overrun with pack rats, mice, squirrels, etc. I keep the RV pretty well sealed but they still nest and chew wires outside and on the vehicle if I do not drive it each day.

X2 Excellent advice. Unfortunately there are not many WARNING - PACK RAT AREA AHEAD signs. Of the many "solutions" listed on Internet searches, the only ones that appear to work so far are large, powerful snap traps, (glue traps caught one for us but others had evidence of escape) and light.

A solar powered led motion sensor light underneath appears to have great success and is easily placed and removed under the RV. A smaller battery operated motion LED light on top of the engine also appears to be successful, and is also convenient.

If you move the vehicles frequently and are in urban areas mostly at night you will likely be ok. The desert and mountain campsites will be the likely areas where you will need to leave the hood open and try to park away from bushes and other ground cover.

Those electronic devices, mothballs, poison have not helped in my experience. The One Bite poison does kill them but does not stop the nest building and wire chewing immediately like a snap trap does. Plus you must wire it in place or they will haul it off for winter/later usage and still chew the wires.

I use large RAT snap traps and even so have had to finish off the pack rat about 1/4th of the time. You will have to check the trap each day and deal with the remains or half dead pack rat.

I am currently experimenting with coyote urine. We will see how it works vs snap traps over the next weeks.

IF you do need to remove a nest or clean up after any rodent, wear disposable gloves and a P95 face mask (hanta virus kills). Read up on hanta virus link

BTW: I keep my 5er in a remote mountain site in summer that is overrun with pack rats, mice, squirrels, etc. I keep the RV pretty well sealed but they still nest and chew wires outside and on the vehicle if I do not drive it each day.

2nd BTW Pack rats use dog feces and cactus to keep coyotes and cats away from their nests-just so you know when dealing with what looks like a pile of sticks under the hood.

I lived 26 years in woods east of San Francisco and garden rats have been constant problems.
Seem they like the engine valley for making their bed as I was always finding lot of droppings on my engines.
But beside clogging air filter on ClasC years ago they never did any damage.
Here are my rat defenders.

Click For Full-Size Image.