The vast majority of the time you will never see the perpetrator until it is dead. Until then, you may need to do a little detective work to determine what type of rodent you are dealing with (i.e. a rat, a mouse, or a squirrel).
When we are trying to decipher between mice and rats, the solutions for treating each are very similar. In determine a rats/mice versus a squirrel slightly different measures may need to be taken.
So first of all, how do we know what type is rodent is chewing on your car wires?
The first thing to look for is the droppings. If a mouse or a rat has been frequenting your car, there will most certainly be little poops. The term “don’t shit where you eat” doesn’t apply to mice and rats. They crap everywhere. Rat poops are like the size of a little PEZ candy. It will be more round and maybe a little longer but you get the idea. Mice poops will be about half that size and will more like the size of rice. Squirrel poop is actually about the same size as rat poop, but there are a few other signs to look for if you are dealing with squirrels.
If a squirrel has been visiting your car, you will most likely find their storage. Squirrels love to store food for a rainy day, so you will find acorns and various nuts hidden about. Depending on the area you live in, if squirrels are common in the trees, it’s pretty straightforward detecting a squirrels intrusion.
Alright so it’s really that simple. Once you have identified your rodent, head on over to the Home page for rats, “How to Prevent Mice From Eating Your Car Wires” for mice, and “How to Prevent Squirrels From Eating Your Car Wires” for squirrels.
Any comments, drop a note below!
-Rat King Dave
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The headlight on the driver’s side of my car stopped working. I went in to have the light replaced and it still didn’t work. It’s only the low beams, the high beams still work. The dealership found squirrel droppings and said they thought a squirrel had chewed the wire because they found feces, so it wasn’t covered by the warranty, They said it would cost several hundred dollars to take everything a part to find the problem. It seems odd to me that a squirrel would only chew the one wire and nothing else is affected. Everything else seems to work fine. There was no nest or acorns. Is this normal?
Hi Nancy! This sounds more like the workings of a rat rather than a squirrel. Rat droppings are very similar to squirrel droppings. Typically if a squirrel is getting into your engine compartment, there will also be like moss, nuts, bark etc. Regardless of if it is a rat or a squirrel doing the damage, the prevention methodologies are very similar. First thing I would do is leave your hood up when parked, especially at night. Second, place snap traps in the tops and at the base of the treads on the two front tires. See you tube video here for exact placement of the traps: https://youtu.be/H3aOa0Pe8kA
Then separately, you could spray a peppermint spray, such as Rodent Defense but certainly at least do the hood and the traps. Please keep me posted on progress! Thank you!
Chipmunks are the problem for me. Use the squirrel strategies?
Hi Laney! Are you sure that the damage is being done by chipmunks? Are you finding acorns in the engine compartment? Regardless, I would certainly use the same strategies as the squirrel. Take a quick look to make sure there aren’t any rodent droppings inside the engine compartment that might entail a mouse or rat. Please keep me posted on progress!