Damage done by squirrels

[Williamh]

Recently I noticed that on the top of the engine on my pickup truck that there had been some knawing on a wire connecting to the emissions. It cost me $433 to correct the damage. I am afraid that these squirrels will do damage to the wiring on my motorhome if they haven't already. I honestly don't know if they have or not, but I am asking for any suggestions on how to get rid of them other than shoot the. That is almost out beacause of my neighborhood homes being so close together. Any suggestions will be appreciated.

William

[kennyzzz]

was at a campground and the salt on the underside of a pickup was eaten by racoons , is they ate the brake lines, was on this fourm that someone said it was probly salt they were looking for by eating the lines.

[John_Joey]

I never could figure out why they would do that till I read that they use soy product in the insulation of some wiring. The squirrels smell food, and are doing what comes natural.

Maybe throwing down some moth balls might help cover up the smell.

[MrWizard]

try the 'deterrents' hope they work
but plan on getting a good air rifle, with suppression built in.. many models all legal
forget the daisy pump guns
get a break barrel 'nitro piston' aka inert gas piston version
less recoil, no double bounce from the spring, and less noise
Hatsan, gamo, benjamen , will all do the job

[tonymull]

There are predator scents that will work. Fox, coyote. Just google it. Not that expensive. You can get the powdered form and put it in a nylon bag to last longer.

[Mondooker]

None of the electronic gismo's work that you read about?

[We_Cant_Wait]

Luckily I'm out in the country where the sound of gun fire is not an issue. I don't give the little buggers a chance, I use my 12 ga. with #6 shot. Splats them all over the front yard as they try to run across.

[IDman]

I relocate them to a lake about 3 miles away. (Its too far for them to walk home!) Peanut butter, suet, or rabbit food draws them into my Havahart trap.

[rgatijnet1]

Way back when, because of some imagined energy crisis, it was determined that the best thing to do was to switch from petroleum based insulation material to a soy based product. The consequences is that they have found out that rodents and several other animals like to eat soy based products, which includes vehicle and residential wiring. .
I use Fox urine spray and also set up squirrel traps with peanut butter as bait. The wife makes me haul them several miles away and let them loose instead of me just throwing them in the lake that we live on and let the alligators take care of them.

[BB_TX]

Had them damage the wiring in my previous truck four times to the tune of about $400 each time. Finally found Critter Ridder containing a hot pepper extract at Home Depot. Sprayed all my wiring and no more problem. They never bothered my wife's car or my daughter's car.

Read recently that some wiring insulation was made with a mix of soy because it was cheaper to produce, and that is attractive to rodents.

[msmith1199]

This is a big problem most anywhere. Apparently the covering on most of the wires in vehicles are made out of something that rodents and small animals really love to eat. So mice, rats, rabbits, squirrels, and most any small critter like that can get in there and cost a lot of damage. Back before I retired we had a bunch of brand new police cars that they stored at the City Corp Yard for a few months while waiting to be put into service. During that time rabbits got into all of them and did several thousand dollars damage to each car.

[midnightsadie]

been tods they don,t like fox urine, I use peppermint oil works for mice but some one said put a can of amonia under the hood.

[MountainAir05]

Where we live its the desert mouse. They like the color/taste of certain colors. Peppermint oil works with some, not others, Cat or a dog. Traps and Move the unit.

[malexander]

I use .22 shorts because they're not much louder than a pellet rifle. But I also keep a small tin of mothballs in various places in & around the motor home.
They cost me $500 on my class c about 7 years ago.