As it turns out the auto industry (in the name of being green) quietly moved to using Soy-based insulation on the wiring (possibly other parts too) and rats love to eat it. If the little beasts invade, you’re facing thousands of dollars in repairs. They come in for a nibble and they’re constantly peeing. Their friends are sniffing about and get a whiff, “I smell Billy over there” then the whole family tree moves in to feed on the wiring harness in your car.
HARD TO BELIEVE
Search the internet, you’ll see. Stories of horrible outcomes. Even the Tesla models which I think of as “high quality” have easy to find horror stories about the hungry little beasts nibbling on your car like a midnight snack.
Depending on where you are in Florida and elsewhere, the population of rats in your vicinity varies. The bigger problem for us is our farm, we have a lot of wild and domestic animals so we can’t leave poison laying around. Our feed storage is pharmaceutical-grade steel cans but rats eat almost anything so they’re fine without getting into our fish and bird food. They feast on car wiring, cardboard boxes, each other, and even the poo of other animals.
EPILOGUE - A Public Service Announcement from Mark King Radio
The little varmints are H U N G R Y and they’re able to reproduce in only six-weeks so if you get an infestation going it can explode really fast.
Currently we don’t have a solution, we’re designing a concrete bunker with a steel roof and electric hurricane shutter for a door (made from 1/4” thick aluminum slabs) to house our pickup truck. Even a concrete block box on a slab requires architect drawings, permits and a contractor (none of this is inexpensive or fast).
Wishing you all good luck and rat free cars.
Here’s a song we wrote to commemorate our rat experience. It’s called OH RAT!
