Tree rats

bearbait

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And this is why I shoot every tree rat I see. Truck was parked in the garage for a bit and we keep the dog for out there also. Needless to say the dog food was keep in a sealed container after we noticed a hole chewed in the bag but never thought to check the air intake on the truck until now when replacing the filter. At least the tractor is fine.
 

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Daren Todd

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We keep our dog food in a metal 30 gallon trash can. It's about the perfect size to drop a 40lb bag. The newer bags from the brand I buy are resealable. So I just drop the bag and all in the can. No muss, no fuss, and no finding dog food stashed somewhere inconspicuous :):):)

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bucktail

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One of my friends had the expansion tube on his snowmobile stuffed half full of dog food. It had a bunch of baffles in it so that it would only come out a piece or so at a time. I don't think he ever did get it all out of there.
 

Bmyers

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That is unusual place to store your dog food, we use a dog food container to store our dog food. :D
 

bearbait

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Yes now after seeing the bottom corner of the bag chewed we started keeping it in a plastic tote with a tight cover. The time before a few years back we found a nest in the heater of the wife's car. The little buggers are worst then mice I think.
 

johnjk

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any boost in performance from the kibble? You may be on to something that Big Oil doesn't want us to know about
 

bearbait

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any boost in performance from the kibble? You may be on to something that Big Oil doesn't want us to know about
Lol, not that I've noticed. My guess is that they just wanted to take along a few snacks for the trip.
 

Cglaza

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Tree rats? Are you referring to chipmunks? They are distructive as hell at my place.

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conropl

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Yes now after seeing the bottom corner of the bag chewed we started keeping it in a plastic tote with a tight cover. The time before a few years back we found a nest in the heater of the wife's car. The little buggers are worst then mice I think.
They chew through the plastic container also (been there, done that).
Had bird seed in a plastic garbage can. They chewed through the top and bottom. So we got a metal garbage can with a tight lid and left it outside. Raccoons opened it, and it was a free for all. Then we strapped the lid with a heavy bungy strap. They chewed through that and pulled the lid off. I just shoot them all now.

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BAP

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Last summer they chewed through the top of my plastic gas tank on the Briggs and Stratton engine on my wood splitter. Needless to say I was p*ssed. I was able to epoxy it but I don’t know how long that will last.
 

bearbait

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They chew through the plastic container also (been there, done that).
Had bird seed in a plastic garbage can. They chewed through the top and bottom. So we got a metal garbage can with a tight lid and left it outside. Raccoons opened it, and it was a free for all. Then we strapped the lid with a heavy bungy strap. They chewed through that and pulled the lid off. I just shoot them all now.

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I can see raccoons chewing through the plastic but squirrels and chipmunks not so much but never say never. We have more than our share of raccoons also, tough little buggers, they can even manage to break out of the live traps, not all but some.
 

CaveCreekRay

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Thanks to EPA demands, Trane was using wire manufactured using peanut oil. The rats love peanuts and munch the control wire repeatedly. Out here, most installers use flexible EMT to run the wires and then they have to install hardware cloth inside the condensers as the rats can get through some of the holes and vents on those. So far, after six years, no rat damage on those.

Down in the tile roofed subdivisions surrounding Phoenix, they call them "roof rats" or "sewer rats." Same critter: A hundred names.
 

RCW

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Thanks to EPA demands, Trane was using wire manufactured using peanut oil. The rats love peanuts and munch the control wire repeatedly. .
We had that come up here on OTT recently; don't recall the context, whether tractors, auto, HVAC, etc.

I was talking to a buddy that owns an used auto dealer/repair shop other day...there was a car manufacturer that used same kind of stuff.

He had a vehicle in with wiring all torn apart by critters....I be darned if I can remember the make/model.

Warranty wouldn't cover anything, because it wasn't deemed manufacturing defect....:rolleyes:
 
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Jefferson

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Yup chipmunks and red squirrels are the ones that cause me the most grief. Fox, blacks and grays seem to behave much better! Had a couple fox squirrels get in the eves of my house once, a little shot of fox urine and they were GONE!
 

Fordtech86

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We had that come up here on OTT recently; don't recall the context, whether tractors, auto, HVAC, etc.

I was talking to a buddy that owns an used auto dealer/repair shop other day...there was a car manufacturer that used same kind of stuff.

He had a vehicle in with wiring all torn apart by critters....I be darned if I can remember the make/model.

Warranty wouldn't cover anything, because it wasn't deemed manufacturing defect....:rolleyes:
I deal with ford and Mazda’s all day. Rodents love Mazda wiring. Will see a ford chewed up every now and then, but now where near the rate of the Mazda’s. I believe it’s a soy based insulation on the wiring. The season for us will be here in a few months, once it cools off them critters love getting comfy in a nice warm engine bay after you park it. And dang it I just bought my wife a new Mazda lol.
 

skeets

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Someone told me one time that fly bait mixed with peanut butter is good for tree rats, they never come back and mixed with grape soda, the coons never come back either,, ya might want to have the BH ready you know just in case
 

PHPaul

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I have an ongoing rat problem around my chicken coop. Both "tree" and Norwegian varieties.

I was putting down pelletized rat poison in the shed I keep the feed in and it was disappearing in prodigious quantities, but no evidence of dead rats anywhere.

Then one day after a rain storm, I noticed little raccoon footy-prints in the mud around the shed. A-HA! sez I, and break out the Havahart trap. Went down the next morning and "Oh, goody! The trap is sprung"

Got a closer look and now it's "Oh S**t! It's a skunk!"

Threw a blanket over the trap, hauled it outside, propped the door open and un-@$$ed the area. Went back down a couple of hours later and the trap is empty...whew!

Did eventually trap one coon and he seemed a little anemic so I gave him a lead injection. Apparently, that wasn't the problem, he croaked anyway...:rolleyes:

Metal cans with lids bungied down seems to work for protecting the feed, but still have the occasional rat in the coop cleaning up what the birds scatter around while eating. Tomcat bait strategically placed cures it for a while, but have to do that about every 3 months for a few days.
 

shootem604

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The cats and dogs keep the assorted tree rats under control. No Norwegian or roof rats here, but there are occasionally pack rats, musk rats, and river otters than can make a mess too. One of the critters also caught another weasel type the other day before it made it to the chicken coop. The raccoons are now too smart to go into the live trap, but mostly stick to the trees now to avoid the dogs, so they aren't really a problem anymore. Thankfully no skunk incidents, but once and awhile a beaver will come take down a tree and the dogs caught one once.