Speaking Of Rodents...

During a BP trip last summer, my wife and her girlfriend's alpine camp was assaulted by a rogue Rock Chuck... after his rampage he was christened "Chucky" (you get the reference)... he did about $200 worth of damage not to mention the food he brazenly stole.

Little Bastid

yep.. After salt! they love anythign you sweated on.

It could have been worse. In spite of my knowing better and normally taking precautions - at the start of

http://pics.obtuse.com/whitegoat2010/

the above trip - I had my xterra parked at a trailhead next to hwy 11, figuring I'd be fine that close to the highway, I didn't wire my vehicle or anything.

One of the little dirtbags crawled up in the engine compartment and sat around in the wiring harness, took a dump in it (so I knew what the culprit was) and chewed on the wiring harness a bunch.. Cost me 800 bucks to fix it, and at least that much in grief from the better half over "letting her truck get chewed up".

Dang.

My wife and friend got off easy.

It's bad here because they're really salt crazy, and with our winters and salt on the roads, it's never completely gone from the car after washings, even in summer.

Normally I end up doing this if I'm where I know there are issues (marmots or porcupines)

Salt isn't used here so apparently we're lucky.

The salt on the handles of the poles I can understand; even on some parts of the cars. But the wiring harness of your vehicle...I just cant imagine that there is that much salt on them...unless they are getting it directly out of the wires.

A (long) while back, I studied groundwater recharge in this little valley. I had all sorts of stuff in the ground for measuring things like soil moisture and soil tension, including gypsum blocks for the dryer soil periods. Basically a small block of gypsum with 2 wires coming off it. I had dozens of these things in the ground stacked at various depths. The local rodents went crazy on them. Apparently they are lacking the insulation on the wire in their diet. Now I know I handled them a bit, but I find it hard to believe that it was all because of salt from my sweaty hands.

People with lop eared rabbits as house pets have the same problem. They will go behind the TV and start chewing the electrical wires. If you don't catch them in time you end up with rabbit fricassee. In some houses, those wires have not been touched for years.

Rodents just seem to like rubber as well as salt. Our family has land and a cabin in the San Juan's, I try to go once a year. Those mormots have given many vehicles heck with wiring; four wheelers also. Here in Texas, I have big issues in a shop of mine with pack rats eating the 12/2 wiring. Of course, they don't touch the ones with constant power; but those that the power is only one when tool is in use get eaten. I have to check wires often.

Porcupines were mentioned. Not really an expert, but they LOVE new plywood. Those dudes'll eat their weight in a piece of plywood in a night.

Phat, I love the chicken wire set-up. When I go to Colorado, where to leave my truck is my biggest worry.

Porcupines will eat auto hoses too... I think rubber has some draw for them...

Yes, the other strategy for car protection here is to actually chuck out a half sheet of plywood. For some reason they love it and eat that up instead.


As for the wiring harness - part of it may be the insulation,but here, when in the winter you've had a fine salt spray coming up from the roads, when you then wash your car the salt goes from the outside, but stays up in them nooks and crannies..

I just assume for whatever reason the little buggers want to do thousands of dollars of damage to my car (I've seen it happen a lot) and take appropriate precautions.

Had anyone bust through the chicken wire setup? I could carry that in my Jeep no problem.

Nope, never have had a problem with that. As long as I have rocks on the bottom and poles leaned against.

Lots of remote trailheads in the canadian rockies have stashes of chicken wire handy for just this purpose.

The other thing that works well, and tangles less, but takes more room is an appropriately sized 3 foot tall roll of vynil clad chainlink fence. I got a buddy who carries one in his pickup for this purpose. YMMV.

THAT is a good thing to know if you are heading up there (that there can be this problem).

Of course we locals know to stomp into the bush 10 feet on either side of the parking areas looking for the chicken wire. We don't put signs out to tell the amurr'cuns.. If we did there'd be no cars out as bait...