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Old 04-14-2019, 12:11 PM   #21
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A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do. Sometimes referred to as Montana 3S.
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Old 04-14-2019, 12:37 PM   #22
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When we moved to the Sonoran Desert, these are the Mice traps I tried first, neighbors laughed when I found they were used to build a Packrat Nest, along with the kids & dog toys left outdoors. After many attempts at capture, I listened & learned to successfully use a Heavy Wire live Packrat trap. Plus wrapped outdoor AC unit with heavy gage wire screen to prevent costly damage.
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Old 04-14-2019, 12:39 PM   #23
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Rented a house in Orlando last fall for a month, had rats invade the patio/pool every night. Remembered camping at Organ Pipe and left the patio lights on overnight, no more rat visits.

Calls to the property manager were useless.
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Old 04-14-2019, 12:51 PM   #24
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A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do. Sometimes referred to as Montana 3S.
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Hi: Iowa Dave... I had Rod Rodent move into our attic. Could hear him scurry to and fro and burrow into the insulation. Set up a trap with cheese and he got it out safe and sound. Next I wedged a 1/4" piece of bacon in the trap. Lasted all of 20 min's... he did. RIP Rod!!! So much for urban/rural living Eh? Alf
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Old 04-14-2019, 01:19 PM   #25
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Kitting up

Well Alf I never realized those packrats were so big. Thought a rat trap ought to hold a rat. But when I make my Sonoran Soirée I better take my old friends Victor and Blake and Lamb along with a couple 30 inch rebar stakes. They look pretty furry from the pictures I punched up. How many do you think it will take for a stroller?
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Old 04-14-2019, 01:35 PM   #26
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I'm thinking that the next time we go to Organ Pipe I should take the module for my electric cattle fence. Works great at keeping the raccoons out of my pond.

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Old 04-14-2019, 01:48 PM   #27
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The Desert Museum next door to Gilbert Ray has a informative live display named “Packrat Playhouse”. Highly recommend this interactive Wildlife Museum for all visitors to the Sonoran Desert. Rated Five Stars.
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Old 04-14-2019, 02:05 PM   #28
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As rural AZ residents who have had a $2000 car repair due to the pack rats, we can confirm that the lights are a highly recommended deterrent that works. We can also confirm that they don’t seem to bother late model cars as the change in the wiring sleeve manufacturing Jon mentioned earlier, the rodents don’t like.
Our solution was to get rid of our older cars and haven’t had a problem since.
ETI must use the newer type wiring, because our Escape is in a storage lot that would get pack rats and we have never had any issues and take no preventive measures. A 1995 boat we had stored got massacred by the lil crittters.
So I guess if ur bringing an old trailer towed by an old truck to AZ rural areas you need to bring lights or Irish soap just in case.
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Old 04-14-2019, 04:16 PM   #29
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As rural AZ residents who have had a $2000 car repair due to the pack rats, we can confirm that the lights are a highly recommended deterrent that works. We can also confirm that they don’t seem to bother late model cars as the change in the wiring sleeve manufacturing Jon mentioned earlier, the rodents don’t like.
Our solution was to get rid of our older cars and haven’t had a problem since.
ETI must use the newer type wiring, because our Escape is in a storage lot that would get pack rats and we have never had any issues and take no preventive measures. A 1995 boat we had stored got massacred by the lil crittters.
So I guess if ur bringing an old trailer towed by an old truck to AZ rural areas you need to bring lights or Irish soap just in case.
Greg I thought the problem was newer vehicles with the wire casing not older vehicles . Pat
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Old 04-14-2019, 10:01 PM   #30
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We live in the mountains of AZ near Yarnell. So far we have fought with packrats to the tune of a couple thousand dollars.

Moth Balls: these work by masking the smell of packrat pee. Packrat pee to mark their nests. However, packrats explore all areas and a smell masker only keeps away the non curious ones. Our 30 year old 10 KW generator had wires eaten through every year for 10 years until we packed steel wool into every air hole cut into the case. The moth balls were even incorporated into the packrat nests. We had $50 to $100 damage every year.

Peppermint oil: another smell masker, this one only lasted 1 month before the smell was gone. Same results during the peppermint phase as moth balls

Packets of stuff smelling like pine: After finding our 1997 F 250 powerstroke diesel front end full of cactus pads, all the way to the top of the hood we had a serious mess. We had to clean for 2 days to uncover the engine. The aircleaner was eaten to make a nest with the pine package chewed open for soft material. The packrat ate the fuel injection sub harness.

Light strings: we bought a 50 ft string of lights, circled the F250 and had enough left over to put some around the engine. A week later the rats had eaten the $150 fuel injection sub harness again. We sold the F250.


Poison: we tried Norweigen rat bars and another brand of rat bars. Within the first 2 weeks of owning a 2015 Golf TDI the rats ate the $1500 NOX sensor. After they ate this they ate the radio sensor for the door locks on another 2015 TDI. We have hung poison bars from favorite chewed wires on the TDIs, they do eat the poison first, we have yet to find any bodies.

Garden repellent for packrats: this time they ate the water temp sending unit on the 2004 VW TDI.

Cat pee: works as well as lights, moth balls, or poison.

Traps: packrats are way too smart for traps, we collect mice in the traps but not packrats.

Metal Duct tape wrap: packrats started to eat a run of sealtite running from the roof to the A.C. mount on a platform. We caught it early and wrapped the plastic wiring cover with Metal Duct tape. The rats did not come back for seconds. We have now covered all plastic covered wiring runs with Metal Duct tape and that keeps the nibbling away. However, wrapping and entire auto harness with Metal Duct tape is beyond our skill level.

We have a serious problem with packrats where we live. The Ford dealer told us a story in Wickenburg that a 1 year old Ford truck had every wire eaten. The new harness and install was $10K. Old wires, new wires, the packrats love all.

If you have better hints than these we'll be a beta tester. But a tried and true solution elsewhere likely will not stop our rats.
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Old 04-14-2019, 11:09 PM   #31
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Gary n Myrl,
Your Yarnell Rats are much tougher than our Anthem Rats from the sounds of it. I think you may need spotlights, explosives and high powered armory to combat those lil critters.
Pat,
Never had them bother the 2014 Frontier or newer vehicles, they just chewed the 2010 Dodge and older cars. Mechanic told us during the repairs about the older vehicles having tastier wiring.
I'm sure hoping we don't have any of those Yarnell Rats hook up with the Anthem Rats anytime soon.
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Old 04-15-2019, 12:35 AM   #32
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Gary n Myrl,
Your Yarnell Rats are much tougher than our Anthem Rats from the sounds of it. I think you may need spotlights, explosives and high powered armory to combat those lil critters.
Pat,
Never had them bother the 2014 Frontier or newer vehicles, they just chewed the 2010 Dodge and older cars. Mechanic told us during the repairs about the older vehicles having tastier wiring.
I'm sure hoping we don't have any of those Yarnell Rats hook up with the Anthem Rats anytime soon.
Greg Quartsite ? Pat
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Old 04-15-2019, 01:01 AM   #33
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Pat,
I've never seen or heard of anyone having trouble with pack rats at Quartzsite, at least not at our gathering.
Probably too many alien eggs landing in the desert that we scare the rats away.
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Old 04-15-2019, 01:31 AM   #34
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Pat,
I've never seen or heard of anyone having trouble with pack rats at Quartzsite, at least not at our gathering.
Probably too many alien eggs landing in the desert that we scare the rats away.
I sure hope so Greg . To say I would be very pissed is saying lightly ,with our old girl . Anyway many years ago had a packrat in our dryer in the garage . Called service and opened the back up and a nest with lots of small coins and other goodies in there . Service said he saw it many times . Cleaned it up and dryer went back to working . Pat
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Old 04-15-2019, 08:37 AM   #35
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Myrl and Gary---what a nightmare story of packrat caused misery. I didn't know this was such a frequent issue and now feeling very lucky my few stays at Gilbert Ray didn't get caught up in that.

Certainly no joke! I will when in Arizona now be more alert and on the lookout for any and all local critters.
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Old 04-15-2019, 09:21 AM   #36
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We live in the mountains of AZ near Yarnell... But a tried and true solution elsewhere likely will not stop our rats.
Wow, how discouraging. There must be an absence of natural predators to control these critters. When I lived in Globe the only problem I had was with the javelina knocking over the garbage cans.

http://www.ofna.org/DESERT%20PACKRAT%20CONTROL.pdf
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Old 04-15-2019, 10:08 AM   #37
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We live in the mountains of AZ near Yarnell. So far we have fought with packrats to the tune of a couple thousand dollars.
I'd have to move.


Seems like this would be a great place for a cottage industry of renting out feral cats that are spayed and neutered.
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Old 04-15-2019, 10:18 AM   #38
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Go to the local Ace hardware store n get fox urine to deter mice, rats and Squirrels. Spray some around. used it several yrs before I moved back out to the country. Now I have my wonderful “ RAT PATROL “ 7 outside feral cats ( all fixed ) n 2 inside cats have t seen or heard any varmints in the 8 yrs they adopted us.
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Old 04-15-2019, 12:04 PM   #39
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At our rural home in Idaho, we've been plagued with packrats and field mice in our vehicles for years. Believe me, I've tried everything under the sun to repel them. The worst was the $2,500.00 worth of damage they did to the engine of my old pickup, a 2001 Chevy 2500. Mice have constantly chewed the trailer light wires on our small utility trailer as well. Within three weeks of bringing home our new Chevy pickup in 2017, there was a mouse nest on the engine. What to do to protect the new truck?? I finally tried one of those small devices that emits a high-pitched whine and put it on the spot where the mouse nest was. In over a year, as far as I know there has been no rodent anywhere near where this thing is. I can barely hear it and my husband can't hear it at all, but apparently the rodents don't like it. It seems to work better than all the repellents I've tried, and I think I've tried nearly everything. Interestingly enough, I've seen no evidence of a rodent inside our 19, even without one of these devices. Hoping they can't get in...
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Old 04-15-2019, 12:30 PM   #40
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Katherine- could you post info on that device?
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