4 Proven Ways to Prevent Rodent Damage to Your Car – Jalopnik

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Properly caring for a car involves maintaining a number of essential systems that keep the car in good condition. But while it’s important to make sure everything under the hood is running smoothly, you may not have considered the devastating impact rodents can have on your ride, especially if you put it away. Those who plan to park their car for a season, or those who have been working from home and use their car less often, could be a prime target for the furry little nuisance.

Unfortunately, rats love to chew away your car’s wiring, and undisturbed vehicles are attractive places for them to nest. They can apparently do things like drag acorns into your intake and clog air filters, potentially costing you a hefty repair bill. Not only are they a pest to your car, but they also transmit diseases you don’t want to be exposed to, such as lymphocytic choriomeningitis and even the bubonic plague.

Although poison is effective, you should avoid using it for a few practical reasons, including potentially exposing pets to toxins and the fact that bait can bring in more rodents. Finally, imagine a situation where the poison does its job, but the tiny pest dies in a deep cavity of your vehicle. Unable to locate the deceased rodent, you are confronted with the reality of an inescapable and pungent aroma. Fortunately, there are some safe measures you can take to keep these critters at bay. In a nutshell, this means periodic driving, strategic parking, cleanliness, using strong odors and placing traps near their preferred access points.

As you might imagine, parking in a garage provides superior rodent protection, but that’s not always an option. You can, however, make choices about where you park outside and how you make the area less attractive to pests. For example, choose to park on a paved surface if possible. Why? Because these critters tend to avoid open spaces where they are vulnerable to predators. A cement or asphalt surface does not provide shelter like tall grass does. That is also why you should neatly prune the vegetation around your vehicle.

Once a cluttered car full of enticing smells attracts mice and rats, they will find a way in and try to consume everything they can. After the crumbs and debris have been gnawed, these pests will move onto things like your vehicle’s wiring harness. Although Honda sells sharp electrical tape to keep rodents from eating your wiring, its effectiveness has not yet been conclusively verified. That’s why it’s so important not to give them a reason to examine your car in the first place.

In addition to dryer sheets, you can also try mothballs, which can also keep pests at bay. However, you need to be more strategic with their placement, including only storing them under the hood around the engine. Mothballs are usually made from naphthalene or paradichlorobenzene, which are toxic to people and pets, so you don’t want to place these in the interior of your car. Mothballs start out as a solid, but over time turn into a gaseous substance. It is for this reason that those who have stored cars during the winter season report that by the time summer arrives, the mothballs are gone.

These are not the only examples of products that rodents hate, but they last the longest. For example, peppermint oil can also be effective as a deterrent, but it may require multiple applications as the odor dissipates more quickly.

A traditional snap trap is effective and usually kills the animal immediately. However, the bait (such as peanut butter) may attract other animals or pets, and even curious children, who could be injured by the powerful spring mechanism. For example, a smaller snap trap designed to catch a mouse is sure to cause some pain and bruising if it lands on a finger. However, larger traps made to control rats can potentially break bones. If you don’t feel like using a snap trap, sticky traps are an alternative. These simply act like glue and trap any pests that crawl through or over them. These offer the advantage of being able to catch multiple rodents and do not pose much danger to pets. However, the rodent will still be alive, so you must kill it humanely.

Finally, you can also opt for a catch and release trap, which does not bother the mouse or rat. However, if the goal is not to harm the animal, you should check your traps regularly and take the time to move the critter somewhere far from your vehicle. These are just some of the measures you can consider if you are storing a car for a long period of time. Unfortunately, rodents aren’t the only enemy when they try to keep your ride.