A plague of rats.

Have you tried calling your insurance company?

 

If you park in one spot maybe soak the concrete with bleach. Repeat after rains. Maybe?

 

cheaper for me to pay out of pocket, my truck has a commercial liability policy because I carry tools and materials, my deductable is $1000.00 also it would likely be counted against me for depreciated value etc in the event of a future claim.

I popped the hood, figured out how to remove the cowling, only to realize I dont have my ratchet set here. its at my parents house 2.5 hours away... oops. So i figured I would just pull the filter, vac from the fan hatch etc. and as I'm looking at the clips figuring out how to release them, I hear the noise of scratchy-scratch-scratch. I pop the filter release, and pull the filter out and damn if there isn't a rat sitting right on top of it! as soon as I pulled the filter out from under him, ran back up into the vent passage, a moment later as i'm sitting there in shock looking at the shredded open cell foam (any idea what thats from?) and trying to figure how to get this damn rat out of the truck, the little bastard pokes his head out the hole, and proceeds to crawl out and now he's in the cab.

I wish i had thought to film it. because damn if the little dude bold as brass runs across the floor mat and out the door and across the lawn. getting the chicken wire tomorrow, and the ratchet set this weekend. not going to bother putting in a new filter (retail on them here is $26.00 wtf) till i can close it off.

ugh.

I sprayed a bunch of cleaner in the vents, and the fan and wiped out what I could, it seems to be pretty clean, no urine residue, but it still stinks when I start it up first. I think i need to get the cowling off, stuff a rag into the filter-slot, and wash the whole vent down to that point from above with one of those enzymatic cleaners. so thats and fabricating the screens are this weekends job.

thanks again for everyone's great advice, its much appreciated.

 

This is what got rid of the problem around my house.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Rat-Zapper-Classic-Rat-Trap-RZC001-1-Pack-/253453631029?hash=item3b03037e35

 

Vinegar works wonders and is safe.

 

Yeah i'm on my way to buy a few tonight, the problem is by the time you get one, they've bred 4 more.

 

Nok out, It works, we use it to kill gas odorant. Excellent stuff, can be bought off the web.

 

This one runs off of batteries and zaps em dead, just keep putting it out every night and eventually, you'll get em. Thats how it worked for us, anyway.

 

Second the mothball suggestion - locate a few in an old pair of pantyhose or a sock and put them around the engine compartment. It should keep them away from the truck.

When we moved to a new house, I was out one morning, garage door up, and saw a chipmunk run into my garage. I had a ton of crap in there at the time, boxes and such. Went next door to the neighbors (I knew them), and asked if I could borrow their cat (and litter box) for the night. Locked cat in garage, cars out, next morning I had 1/2 a chipmunk on my door mat. Cleaned that up, returned cat, bought cat a nice can of cat food and neighbor a 6 pack. Who says cats are useless?

 

I think I would have grabbed my shotgun.

 

If you have a carpet cleaner with upholstery attachments or access to one use it! That smell sticks to everything.

 

Ozone generator will take care of the smell. Seal up the car and run it with the vents blowing full blast and the o3 will eliminate odors on everything in contact with air. No need for contact chemicals, no reaching and scrubbing, no mess. Skip the pricey commercial kits and Amazon. You can buy a basic 10g ozone "parts" kit on ebay that will be stronger than most commercial kits (the case in california where they have a limit on ozone generator output.) Do a search on o3. Its very interesting stuff.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/110-220V-7...hash=item1a42f39548:m:ms46eM2CsIWac9b_OMk0KCA

 

Just a follow up - weather went crappy again - didnt have the chance to mesh the intake yet, but i have all that I need to do it as soon as I get a decent day. the other day I picked up the natures miracle 3in1 odor destroyer and sprayed it all over the vent, and misted it into the fan so it blew thru the ducting and sprayed a shot into each of the vents. then I let the blower run 5 minutes on cool, and then cranked it for 10 minutes on high.

Cant smell the urine smell anymore so win win.

Got a new cabin air filter in the mail and it's going in once i get the mesh in place.

thank you all again for the help very much appreciated.

 

Be sure to always have the recirculated air button on, or they may find their way into the cabin. My friend, and electrician that had most of his Porsche Cayman wires eaten while he was on vacation for 2 weeks, took one of those bird spikes and surrounds his car each night with it, electrified, and he has not seen any dead rats, but a few mice, around the fence, but also has had no more intrusions. I have had rats in a MX5, and Civic. Now have galvanized wire covering openings in cabin, real pain.

 

Gunk engine shampoo will kill the smell and moth balls will keep them away. The local pet store can provide you several options to kill the smell and sell you a cat too.

 

I wouldn't tolerate my family being subjected to rat filth, so we would move out immediately. This is not a problem you alone can solve, and you won't get any help from your neighbors, health dept., bldg. dept. or anyone else. NYC's been trying for 300 years.

 

Mouse trap Monday, got lots of ideas and traps on Shawn Woods channel on YouTube

 

What a clusterfuck...Did you buy your place or rent? How quickly can you move?

In the short term, I’ve had really good success neutralizing odors w Ozium Spray
https://www.amazon.com/Ozium-Air-Sanitizer-Original-3-5/dp/B000CSWCAG.

Something died in the walls of my house and this stuff did the job.

Good luck!

 

If you are staying, you probably want a cat. Talk your neighbors into getting them too. If the whole city has a rat problem you are going to have to be trapping them constantly to keep them out of your stuff. Cat will do the work for you and have a grand ole time doing it.

 

thank god we only rent, we're in a lease till December, we moved from another city and this city has a vacancy rate of 0.02% so on short notice choices are limited. if the rat issue persists, we'll just break the lease and gtfo, buy a house outside of the city limits away from the problem.

I've spoken with all the adjacent neighbors, the city, and the developer for the new subdivision the other side of the main road, and they are now on board with control methods. so hopefully the problem (habitat and food) will be addressed but i'm not holding my breath.