Squirrel Damage (con't)

Well I've about had it with rodents eating up my vehicles.
Last year it was a $1300 wiring harness on our daughter's Ford Fusion.
Year before that it was an $800 harness to a transmission of our other daughter's Ford Focus.

DON'T MESS WITH MY TAHOE. I've just declared war on these critters.

Evidence of at least one squirrel and a mouse have damaged brake lines, gasoline vent lines, a protective plastic battery cap, a sensor on the air intake, another sensor on the master brake cylinder, and now an $1100 gas tank on my 2014 Tahoe. I will post pictures soon after they drop the tank and replace it.

The fuel system problems had more than one aspect. The shop replaced the cap, several lines with visible damage, and yet I still had the CHECK ENGINE light come on under what seemed to be random circumstances. Tank could be half full, 3/4 full, hot weather, cold weather.

So the job brought out a smoker, which I had never seen before, but recommend it if you find yourself in this circumstance. It is a pressurized canister of mineral oil and a nitrogen component to minimize the risk of fire/explosion. The canister has a heating element that connects to external DC power, and when ready it will produce smoke through a regulator valve and hose that can be connected to your fuel filler.

Today, after having replaced nearly all the lines, they tested again and found that SOMETHING ate a hole in the plastic gas tank. New one coming in tomorrow.

Have you thought about getting a dog or cat?

We have two Labs! But they're not motivated to sit there and wait.
We also have a neighborhood cat that walked right under the truck last night, past the rat trap, uninterested (thankfully).

Ya can't find good help these days.

i'd say it's time for some advanced rodent erradication.
this can be done without using poison or harm to pets

here is one very simple and effect one

Tough case here, we live in the woods. So do they.
Some years ago I tried some brute force squirrel eradication.
Went through several dozen boxes of shotgun shells, sometimes getting two in one pattern.
Missed maybe twice as they caught on to the sound of the window opening.
They called in reinforcements from the next county.
I can't hang the Tahoe between a couple poles and thin wire like the bird feeder.

Peppermint oil has kept them out of my garage and away from my vehicles!

TahoeCCS said:

Tough case here, we live in the woods. So do they.
Some years ago I tried some brute force squirrel eradication.
Went through several dozen boxes of shotgun shells, sometimes getting two in one pattern.
Missed maybe twice as they caught on to the sound of the window opening.
They called in reinforcements from the next county.
I can't hang the Tahoe between a couple poles and thin wire like the bird feeder.

Click to expand...

it's likely going to take ongoing work....
set the traps around the area and check them routinely and as noted above sprays work too
you can buy bulk commercial disposable traps on ebay pretty cheap as well

part of the issue with getting rid of the population is generally they are nocturnal, except maybe the squirrels so traps and deterrents are going to work best
you can put rat-x pellets and disc's where the dogs can't reach them. I would put that everwhere possible, it's not a leaching type poison it makes them not be able to absorb water so they die from dehydration, takes time but is effective

at this point you should just cave and provide a couple of bird feeders to appease them
would prob be cheaper to keep filled