The rodents got me :(

Joined
Jan 8, 2007
Messages
2,467
Location
WNC
3 of my cars damaged by rodents. All but one is fixed now. Got my 2024 LC, 2017 F250 and my 2014 LX570
I was out of town for a week when it happened.
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Wow mice chew hell!

That is absolutely a nightmare.
:mad:🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬

Hopefully no surprise problems pop up.
 
Wow mice chew hell!

That is absolutely a nightmare.
:mad:🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬

Hopefully no surprise problems pop up.
I'm thankful they did not chew any on the high voltage wires on the LC. That would have been brutal. Both the LX and LC were fixed and have been running for a couple of weeks no issues. Fingers crossed
 
Curious if this was this an insurance event, and how that worked out if so.

Do they treat it like a tree falling on your cars or what?
 
Curious if this was this an insurance event, and how that worked out if so.

Do they treat it like a tree falling on your cars or what?
So I did not use insurance. I contemplated it but decided against it. 1 reason is I felt that the dealer would just replace the harness and IMO that was going to lead to issues (perhaps) especially in the 2024 LC.
There is a great mechanic in SC that works on Landcruiser's and Toyota only (Trollhole's cruisers). Considering the LX is a Landcruiser I let them have a crack at both cars first. They did a great job for very reasonable money, highly recommended. It's nice that there are still honest and fair people working on cars. My last dealer experience was the worst, part of the reason I tried to avoid them.
 
Thats crazy. From my understanding they hate the smell of moth balls or mint.
Funny thing is I had put mint packs all over my LX engine bay after this happened, this pic with the big nest is after that. In fact if you look closely you can see it to the right, it say's Uncle Gus's

I went to take a picture for the mechanic and the rodent came back and built his nest. My challenge now is to find where he was getting all that filling. Between the 2 cars I have filled 3/4 of a 5 gallon bucket
 
That's the worst mice damage I've ever seen. Were the vehicles parked inside or outside? I've seen this with other Toyota/Lexus products? What's the catch with them?
 
That's the worst mice damage I've ever seen. Were the vehicles parked inside or outside? I've seen this with other Toyota/Lexus products? What's the catch with them?
They were outside. Someone told me the insulation on the wires is soy based and it attracts them. My feeling is different. This happened during our first cold snap a few weeks ago. I think that drove them to find a place to nest, and they just damaged the wires because they are natural chewers. I now have bait traps all over and hopefully have seen the last of them. I have also sprayed bitterant on all my wiring harnesses.
 
Thats crazy. From my understanding they hate the smell of moth balls or mint.
Fallacy. I put a big salsa dish full of peppermint oil under my generator, soaked some cotton pads in it and put them on top of the generator, tossed a mesh bag of mothballs on top of the generator with the pads and put the cover over it. I later found a rat's nest in the center of the generator, and they had grabbed the mint soaked pads and use them for nesting material. Now there's glue traps on every level of the generator and that is actually effective.
 
Try some peppermint oil

Essential Oils from Amazon

Dilute…literally spray under hood/fenderwells

They hate it…smells great…and potent
 
In the words of Mr. Jinx from the "Pixie and Dixie" cartoons, I hates meeses to pieces.

I was fortunate in that when mice set up shop in my Dakota, all they damaged was a cap to a vacuum port. Although had I not noticed the slight burning odor when I came back from a drive the nest may have ignited and then who knows? They also tried to set up under the hood of the Cobalt, but I caught that early. Both vehicles are garaged so I leave the hood open so that the light discourages them from trying again, and went with the snap traps. Caught several right off the bat.

A barn cat for outside vehicles sounds like a good idea.
 
Between the cars and backup generator, I am in a constant war with rodents. I've had good luck (so far) with the Tomcat Repellent on the hoodliners and carefully applied to under hood foam, but I haven't used it long term as it is just my latest salvo..

Repellent, traps and bait stations. Not sure the poison has much practical affect, but it sure is satisfying.
 
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