Jake the Doberman has cornered a very large rodent in the engine compartment of my car. He’s been barking all morning, and whenI opened the hood there was this huge rodent. Size and color of a large rat, but not a hairless tail. Not a possum. What could it be and how do I get it out before it chews on wires or something?
StG
Start the car. As long as the [muskrat, gopher, fisher, mink] whatever, isn’t infront of the fan blades he should run like heck.
If he is near the fan blades you can use a hose after…uh…he departs this mortal coil.
Or if you have fire gloves or good solid work gloves, grab him by the tail or back of the neck and yank him out. Can you take a pic?
Never mind.
Also, it would help if you told us where Toon Town is.
Zsofia - Toon Town is Music City - Nashville. I tried to get a pic but it ran too fast. It might be a rat, but it’s tail didn’t look scaly. It’s body was about 8 inches, not including the tail. I’ve left the hood up. My standard poodle jumped right on the engine! Hopefully it’ll take the hint and leave if I make the dogs leave.
StG
We had a similar problem. Mice were grabbing Outside Dog’s food and stashing it in the air filter, where it was warm and cozy after Mr. K’s ride home from work. We couldn’t figure out why the car was running so poorly, and the mechanic found a man-sized handful of kibble in the filter!
We had a similar situation with a big ol’ marmot. Dog barking didn’t do it, cold hose didn’t do it, poking it with various objects didn’t do it. My husband finally had to drive off with it in there, and when he got where he was going it was still alive and kicking. One of the subcontractors on the job reached up in and yanked it out.
For the love of god, do not start the car. Have you ever tried to clean squirrel out of an engine? The reason my car no longer has air conditioning is that my air conditioner was forcibly introduced to a shredded squirrel.
If you have rodents in your garage, I would strongly urge you to do whatever steps are necessary to make sure they are 100% gone.
I have seen rats and mice do thousands of dollars damage to a car. Trust me it isn’t pretty when a rat chews a wiring harness into several pieces, and you have to gut the interior to replace it.
Rick - I don’t have a garage, my car sits outside. I’mpretty sure I don’t have rats in the house. They where here when I bought the old farmhouse and I could hear them. I got rid of them.
It stormed here last night and I bet the critter was just trying to get out of the elements. But there are barns and shed and culverts out here and I don’t intend to have it in my car! There’s no way for it to get into the passenger compartment, is there?
StG
Yes they can get into the interior. They can climb though the HVAC system that has a fresh air intake just in front of the windshield.
I don’t want to alarm you, but the last car I saw get mouse damage repaired was a station wagon that had a mouse climb inside, where it proceeded to eat wiring harnesses, a/c ducts, seat foam, and a bunch of other stuff. Then it died inside the car. The entire interior of the car was removed while the technician did the various repairs. The bill for Mickey’s damage was about $2500
Well, I drove the car. I didn’t hear anything thumping around. I guess I’ll have to see if the dogs are interested when I get back.
Rick - Do you have any input on how to get it out, if it’s still there?
StG
Do you have firegloves? Or work gloves? If you can clearly see it - or if you know about where it is, grab it. I get the impression you can see it when you open your hood…
leave food near the car? Keep the dogs away? Traps near the car?
ETA: Be careful about food, they may want to stockpile it inside the car. Peanut butter or something else that is not easily transportable.
Well, I got home and the dogs ran up to the car and then left, not interested. I opened the hood and took the dogs in the house. I’m hoping it’s gone.
Rick - It was sitting on top of the engine when I opened the hood, then it ran down into the bowels of the motor. But hopefully once the dogs left, it did too.
StG