Slow Cooker

I have a vermin problem (squirrels, pack rats, rabbits) so I've been doing a lot of live trapping to cut down their numbers. Today I managed to catch two squirrels in one trap so I took them for a drive to release them. After a short drive I let the squirrels go in a bush, but noticed a burning smell. I look back at my truck and see smoke! My first reaction is "SHIT! I blew a gasket or destroyed a ring!" Then I notice the smoke isn't the color of burnt of oil, but more like a campfire, which made me think that instead there was a tumbleweed stuck on the exhaust. I inspect underneath to see no plant material, and then notice that the smoke is definitely coming out of the tail pipe and it smells like wood and...and...beef jerky! As there are no warning lights and the engine is running perfectly, the only conclusion I can make is that somehow a pack rat managed to build a nest INSIDE my muffler. The wood smell is from the nesting material...and the jerky smell is, well, it's pretty obvious what that would be. I'll keep an eye on my truck and it's performance to make sure it's not something more severe, but until I'm proven wrong, that's THREE rodents I removed from my yard today!

 

Sounds more like a fast cooker.

 

Oh rats, that sounds like a serious problem, fur sure.

 

Just run on over to a shop and have a piece of steel mesh like the type used to make grills welded onto the opening of the muffler. Seen it done on up armored vehicles to prevent explosives from being placed into the muffler.

 

3? Call me when you've removed 3-4 dozen and the damned chipmunks are still there. In a couple weeks I'll start trapping those furry little bastards again.

 

Hmm, I think I remember hearing something like this on Car Talk. Anyway, it's funny that he wasn't shot out the tailpipe upon startup. I suppose he was in there to remove the sound deadening material from the muffler for nest building. If he was then he's in the baffles and is likely to stay until reduced to carbon.

Also, after the first sentence, I had imagined you actually slow cooking squirrels in a crock pot, which is not unheard of where I am from.

 

I'm now up to five squirrels for the day, 8 for the month. This is the second time today I had two in one trap:



Still have some cooked smell from exhaust, but it's mostly burnt wood now, not burnt rodent.

 

Sounds like you have a real problem man. 5 or 6 cats should solve it. Just make sure they are fixed so you dont have a cat problem.

 

Start marking them. I wonder if they find their way back. I always take them for a "swim" in the live trap after I catch them....

 

You ain't kidding. I live in a suburban area and there are a couple cats that roam. There are red tail hawks that have a nest in my neighbors tree, a couple foxes and a coyote that wanders through every now and then but the chipmunk population has exploded. I've taken larger adults to young of the year in my trap.