RATS

[dixie306]

Put in some seat time today, the tractor was running rough, engine stalling and quiting, restarted fine every time tho, I cked the fuel filter it was OK, no water, that was my first thought, bad fuel, the tractor as never run rich but thats what it was acting like. Got back to the barn after many stalls, thought to ck the air filter, it needed changing but nothing major, thats when I noticed something in the bottom of the canister, on closer look it was 5 pellets of dog food! That puzzled me for a minute, then I started digging, a rat/mouse had filled the breather tube up and it was completely blocked with dog food, my major problem was nothing more than a clogged air filter and busy mouse with a huge appetite

 

[Rara Avis]

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[N80]

I had a mouse die on the manifold. When the tractor got hot it would start to cook this rotting mouse. It took me quite a while to figure out what the smell was and where it was coming from. It was nasty!

 

[4720 OWNER]

Could be why the dog was losing so much weight?

 

[Ridgewalker]

I agree re killing the rat. I just spent $350.00 having a $16 wire on my 05 F-150 replaced because of a mouse.

 

[woodchuckie]

Cats in the yard really work. No problem in a year. I use to have dog food in car air filters. Mouse head in the heater blower making it off balance. Fuel gauge wires chewed into on tractor. Ingnition wires chewed on the truck and trooper. I will have to have the cat nutered because I know he'll spray everything in sight.

 

[peterc38]

Cats in the yard really work. No problem in a year. I use to have dog food in car air filters. Mouse head in the heater blower making it off balance. Fuel gauge wires chewed into on tractor. Ingnition wires chewed on the truck and trooper. I will have to have the cat nutered because I know he'll spray everything in sight.

I agree. I'm not even a cat person (the wife is) but I have come to appreciate their usefulness in keeping the vermin population down. A while back a member posted about being bothered by a cat walking accross his tractor hood and leaving paw prints. To each his own but I'd rather have that than be fixing hundreds of dollars of damaged wires.

 

[tallyho8]

I've noticed that if you leave your tractor wires all dirty and covered in grease that the rats don't eat them.

 

[dixie306]

You definitely need to kill that rat or the next post is gonna be about how he chewed up the wires on the tractor.

They haven't done any real damage yet, but its coming if I don't handle it quick, I was talking to the JD dealer here and he echoed the same as some of the post here. I'm going to take Sat morning and pull the whole air system off and make sure its clear before I use the tractor again. The dealer told me a woman here who bought a Gator and rats, mice have chewed the wires off three years straight, she says its JD's problem because they know rats like to chew and should use a insulation they won't eat!!

 

[Rexb]

Chipmunks and mice were building nests in all the air breather housings . . . I cut a piece of aluminum 3/16" mesh (expanded metal) and put it over the end of the air intakes, held on by small s/s screws into the plastic/metal intakes.

They also built nests in fender wells and engine compartments. Since I didn't want to kill the chipmunks because they're fun to watch playing, I use Bounce dryer sheets jammed in so that they don't blow out. The chemical smell keeps all the little critters out.

I've got a cat, but it kills everything outside except the owls and coyotes, so Donna keeps it inside.

 

[dbdartman]

Get that dog food out of whatever you're keeping it in & put it in a metal container with a metal lid. That way the mice won't be using it to plug up parts of your tractor!

 

[dixie306]

Chipmunks and mice were building nests in all the air breather housings . . . I cut a piece of aluminum 3/16" mesh (expanded metal) and put it over the end of the air intakes, held on by small s/s screws into the plastic/metal intakes.

They also built nests in fender wells and engine compartments. Since I didn't want to kill the chipmunks because they're fun to watch playing, I use Bounce dryer sheets jammed in so that they don't blow out. The chemical smell keeps all the little critters out.

I've got a cat, but it kills everything outside except the owls and coyotes, so Donna keeps it inside.

I've had them nest under the cowling during the off season and had to clean up that mess, rat urine and feces on a hot manifold is not a smell I want to have again! I'll try the bounce, BTW, I use them as insect repellent, just put one under my shirt at the shoulders, works great. LOL I need a mouser and a coyote killer, they're really a problem here. I keep the food in a sealed container, I think they're raiding the dogs dishes at night

 

[Just2quickz28]

Well while I would normally agree on a cat to rid the area of mice my Olde English Bulldogge killed more mice than my cats ever did. He would sniff around the wood pile and the tractor and any place else till they came out and he would kill them it was a hard practice to keep him from eating them. There has been only one issue that was when I left my beater car parked for a few days and some mice made a home under the hood and since I was away the person watching the animals did not notice him climbing on my car scratching the hood to bits to get at the mice. My cats when I did have them did not do anything but eat and sleep and piss off the dogs.

Now if I were a mouse and saw Meatball's ugly mug after me I would run the other way

 

[kc5gxc]

Hi guys
I have dachshunds. A rat was in my shed where I park my S-10. Minnie Sue the dachshund hates rats. She got after it. It ran up into my engine area. Minnie Sue chewed all the ABS System wires that run along the bottom of the frame. She ripped them all off. She was trying to get that rat.
This must have happened at nite. Next AM I saw insulation in the yard. I knew I had a problem.......needless to say....I put out rat poison in a protected area after that. Those dachshunds won't eat the rats, they do like to carry them around and show 'em off, tho.....
Pete/MS
PS...I did find the rat in the S-10. Dead, with a chunk out of it. Don't know what killed it, if the dog bit it or what.

 

[Treemonkey1000]

Hi guys
I have dachshunds. A rat was in my shed where I park my S-10. Minnie Sue the dachshund hates rats. She got after it. It ran up into my engine area. Minnie Sue chewed all the ABS System wires that run along the bottom of the frame. She ripped them all off. She was trying to get that rat.
This must have happened at nite. Next AM I saw insulation in the yard. I knew I had a problem.......needless to say....I put out rat poison in a protected area after that. Those dachshunds won't eat the rats, they do like to carry them around and show 'em off, tho.....
Pete/MS
PS...I did find the rat in the S-10. Dead, with a chunk out of it. Don't know what killed it, if the dog bit it or what.

Hey I like dogs and all but I think after that little adventure that doggie would have been a rear view mirror ornament Is that a ham radio call sign? If so good to see another Ham radio operator... KF7SX

 

[allpontiac]

I'm glad to see another ham as well - WA4GIQ

 

[GIJOE]

Same here. KE5AUR

Joe