Team-BHP - Rat damage to cars | Protection, solutions & advice

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thyag (Post 4818595)

Update:

Ratol : As promised it did the work, total elimination. The size of the rat or whatever it is simply irritated me (it was fat and more than the length of 1 brick) , just thinking of it getting inside our prized possession.

That's large one! Think of the damage that a determined one could could cause!

Post multiple experiments (Tobacco, Napthalene balls, lyzol, motion activated lights) what has worked (most consitently) is the simple rat trap with a bait in it (usually a bread piece or copra chunk). The big positive is the car itself is untouched and the rat also cannot damage the next preferred item in the garage or garden.

The main draw back of this approach
a) There is the hassle of relocating the rat, but simpler and uncomplicated than handling rat poison.[ and may be humane, but thats a different dicsussion]
b) Constant monitoring for traces of rat presence (more so during the beginning of rainy season). If one has a dog, you have an early warning system :-), since they go into hunt mode as soon as they get the smell. No need to watch out for droppings.

My experience off late has been, if a trap is set up as soon as rat presence is detected, the rat is caught in a day or two.

However, given the size of the trap we have, this wouldn't work for the larger bandicoots.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mgh (Post 2738884)

In the good old amby and padmini days, rats used to specialise in chewing up plastic tubing. Plastic tubing was popular those days, because it could be easily removed from carburettor, for DIY solutions to starting problems. Many people changed the tubing to copper because of rat problem.
However, one did not hear of wires being chewed, I wonder why.
My neighbour had three cars, a skoda octavia, a qualis and a santro. For some strange reason, the rats attacked only his skoda.

Interesting to know. I'm now curious, cos I have the same problem. I have mahindra and octavia and rats seem to like on octavia.. wonder why.

Quote:

Originally Posted by soulfuel (Post 4764912)

Hello Guys.
Rats are real problem. In my previous car I have used rat repellent spray at the engine bay to prevent rats from chewing wires. But after few odd months it became ineffective as I have found multiple chewed wires which had to replace.:deadhorse

While purchasing new car, I have decided to do something about it and after searching over the internet, I have found a product called - Carcat, a device which uses ultrasound to repel rats. I have purchased it from Amazon and using it since last 2 months. It seems that the device is working.

I shall update after few months.

How is the product? Reliable?

I got 3M rat treatment done last week. It has not been effective, I still see rat droppings in my engine bay. Today I was cleaning my vehicle and noticed rat biting on my rear bumper. I was shocked to see rat inside the car. I now kept rat chocolate inside the vehicle. This is first time I had seen a rat inside my vehicle. This is getting out of control :Frustrati

I ordered rat repellent machine online.

https://www.amazon.in/dp/B07L3QBX1X/..._0aD7EbZ28Y5E8

After above mentioned horrific experience, I have decided to declare a war on these tiny good for nothing creatures (sorry for the language, they got to my nerves).

I have started implementing diversion tactics, I placed rat chocolate inside vehicle, if they miss it then will be welcomed by naphthalene balls and rat chocolate on each tyre. If they miss it, then they are welcomed by more rat chocolate in engine bay. Also waiting for my rat repellent machine, which will be installed inside my engine bay.

Bingo, it worked. One of these creatures have fallen into my trap (please imagine villainous laughter here). They ate chocolate kept on engine bay, made a mess. I cleaned it and replaced with a new chocolate. This time placed a small paper and then placed chocolate on the paper, so that I can clean it easily. I am checking engine bay everyday until I start using my vehicle everyday.

On a funny note: My general store person got suspicious of me. He asked me why I am buying so much rat poison, and why so frequently these days. Spent 20 minutes explaining him my plans. He seemed unconvinced. However, the war is on.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ramnaresh_2000 (Post 4827599)

...I now kept rat chocolate inside the vehicle. This is first time I had seen a rat inside my vehicle. This is getting out of control :Frustrati

What is a rat chocolate? If this is some kind of poison? If so, once should be aware that the rat can possibly die in the innards of the vehicle. This can only then be found via the stink that starts due to decomposition. Will not be a pleasant experience.

Have you tried the old fashioned rat trap a try? Especially if you are having a closed parking space.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ramnaresh_2000 (Post 4827599)

I ordered rat repellent machine online.
https://www.amazon.in/dp/B07L3QBX1X/..._0aD7EbZ28Y5E8

Please also provide feedback based on your experience with this electronic repellent. Does this also end up having an effect on other animal (cats/dogs/birds)?

Quote:

Originally Posted by whitewing (Post 4828026)

What is a rat chocolate? If this is some kind of poison?

Have you tried the old fashioned rat trap a try?

Please also provide feedback based on your experience with this electronic repellent. Does this also end up having an effect on other animal (cats/dogs/birds)?

Yes it is rat poison. I am fine with stink as long as it is dead and not damaging my vehicle. I did some research on rats behaviour. They urinate in their territory and come back to the same location again and again based on their urine smell. Once they make home inside my vehicle, then there is no way to control them. I can easily get rid of the stink. My vehicle is parked on road, so rat traps don't work.

I am waiting for delivery of the rat repellent machine, will share my experience after a weeks usage and daily monitoring. It has a 10 days return policy, so if it doesn't work, then I will return it. As per the advertisement, it has effect on insects, rats, cockroaches etc.

Quote:

Originally Posted by vvivek85 (Post 4829396)

Today I found a lizard in my car hood.

I faced the same issue with my previous car Verna. I opened the door and from no where a lizard jumped in to the vehicle and I was not able to locate it. As my wife was scared of lizards, we ended up not using vehicle for almost 2 weeks. Then I thought it might have died due to heat and non-availability of food. To my surprise it was still alive, when I opened the door it just escaped out. You can use the same rat repellent machine, it works on all small creatures (as per the advertisement).

Quote:

Originally Posted by whitewing (Post 4828026)

Please also provide feedback based on your experience with this electronic repellent.

Got the device delivered today. Went ahead and got it installed. It is making some noise at equal intervals. Nothing major, but audible. Build quality was good, it just took 5 minutes to get it installed. Attached picture for reference. I will continue monitoring daily for few days and will share feedback.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ramnaresh_2000 (Post 4829559)

Interesting. I thought these devises generated waves outside our audible frequency band. Surprised that it makes an audible sound.

Also - please see if you can mount it at a different place. The way its currently mounted - its going to suffer quite a lot of vibration in routine usage and that might not help in longevity. From what I know - such rodent repellents are best installed pointing their emitter upwards towards bonnet. For better results, an acoustic reflective tape is to be applied under the bonnet (above this devise) to properly spread the waves in the engine bay. (The reflective surface helps especially if the bonnet has damping material on the under-side.)

Quote:

Originally Posted by ramnaresh_2000 (Post 4829623)

Yeah even I was surprised with the sound. It is making at regular intervals of 3-5 seconds.
Got it installed as per the instructions on the manual.

Slightly OT.
I had not gone through the amazon listing in detail earlier till you reported a periodic sound being emitted. Now on going through the description in more detail, I understand that that it has some kind of rechargeable battery embedded in it (may be, maybe not the language is not so clear in the listing).
Do you know what kind of batteries are used? if they are using li-ion battery I would suggest you remove it from the engine bay before taking the car out for a drive.
The engine bay gets quite hot for sustained duration, and the batteries may become a fire hazard. Do clarify with the vendor on this risk and take precaution.

https://www.feuertrutz.com/lithium-i...ive/150/70405/

Quote:

There are different cell formats, and they can release gases at different temperatures, e.g. pouch cells (flat prismatic cells in a pouch) can in certain cases of failure release gases from around 70°C. If the cell temperature were to reach approx. 150–200°C, there can be what is known as a thermal runaway. A thermal runaway is a rapid internal temperature increase that often results in one or more of the following events: heat generation, gas and smoke formation, cell breach/cell explosion, fire or gas explosion. Gas releases can typically occur at lower temperatures and without the occurrence of a thermal runaway.
....
....
There are many possible reasons why a battery cell can become hot, e.g. overcharging, short-circuiting, mechanical deformation or external heating. Various degrees of protection can be achieved by such means as battery design and quality.

Quote:

Originally Posted by vvivek85 (Post 4829396)

Today I found a lizard in my car hood, when I tried to get rid off, it went inside the engine bay. I am not able find the lizard anywhere, will it harm the wiring? My concern is the little thing should not die inside the hood. Suggestions on how to get rid off the lizard from engine bay.

No, lizards will do no harm to your car. They eat insects, and have no teeth to exercise like rats. The poor thing may get cooked if it persists in holding onto the engine --- but it has probably already run away from underneath the car.