Parking Truck Outdoors....critters???

[Dieseldan723]

We recently moved to a new location and there are lots of squirrels, mice, rats, and chipmunks running around the woods behind our house. I see them coming up near the house to pickup seeds the birds dropped under the feeders. I have even seen a chipmunk sitting on top of the tire on my son's RAV4 parked outside.

I have heard that these critters like to make their homes in the engine bay, or even snack on wiring, etc. Is this something I should be concerned about?

 

[H3LZSN1P3R]

They can get in to places they seem to like the material under the hood stuff a couple of bounce sheets under the hood cover they wont bother it

 

[Swrock]

We have plenty of squirrels and such, have not had any problems with them messing with vehicles. I put out corn for the deer which attracts alot of squirrels.
An outdoor cat or two will keep them at bay.

 

[Brutal_HO]

20 years never had a problem. I think if there's enough predation and activity around the vehicle they tend to stay away.

So yes, if there's a few outdoor felines around it shouldn't be a problem.

 

[Darmichar]

I have several squirrels that run around the house. I don't really mind them out in the trees in the yard.
I also have an old pellet gun I keep by the garage door to occasionally remind them what the boundaries are, not near the house or the garage.
Haven't really had an issue with them for the last year or two.

 

[woody284]

My dad just had $800 dollars worth of repairs due to a squirrel. On his truck, which he drives everyday to get coffee or run an errand. (Retired and daily routine) A squirrel chewed through some wires under the intake. When they removed the intake to do the repairs, there was corn and bird seed all over the place. First time in 30 plus years of parking outside for him. He moved his bird feeders to the front yard away from the vehicles now.

 

[Darkside]

I have my truck parked in my barn, but I have to leave the hood open… the squirrels sit on top of my battery and engine to eat their nuts, but if I leave the hood open they don’t bother to even go there…

 

[arx237]

I have my truck parked in my barn, but I have to leave the hood open… the squirrels sit on top of my battery and engine to eat their nuts, but if I leave the hood open they don’t bother to even go there…

I would probably just get a barn cat at that point. I would always be forgetting to open the hood.

 

[Darkside]

I would probably just get a barn cat at that point. I would always be forgetting to open the hood.

My issue is that I don’t like cats climbing all over my vehicles, I used to allow them in the barn until I found scratches and muddy paw prints all over my vehicles.

 

[ClawSS]

CROWS! I have had multiple instances of crows sitting on my hood near the windshield pealing away my rubber seals and surrounds on both my 2015 GMC as well as within the 1st few days of ownership of my new 2022.

After a couple of rounds of birdshot, they have been much more reluctant to come around, but it's such a funny situation to hear a <CAW> from outside my home and to go hastily toward the door, shotgun in hand. I'm working on my curmudgeon voice...."DAMN CROWS!"

 

[gpattikjr]

Get a cat or two.

 

[Dieseldan723]

@ClawSS - WOW! Never seen or heard of that before. The neighbors have a cat or two that come around the yard. Hopefully they can keep the critters at bay.

 

[ClawSS]

Yeah, well. I have cats too. Lazy-a$$ ones but cats who do occasionally eat birds. I'm just not all keen on them walking all over the truck either.

 

[pacu44]

Grandpa Gus. Google. He makes some products that you can spray and keep those critters out of your truck... repellents. good stuff...

 

[jadmt]

my daughter has had her Honda Civic wiring chewed 2X and serpentine belt once. Honda sold her some rodent repellant tape but did not work. They told her they get several a week in and one insurance company had 9 cars in all at once in with wires chewed. Apparently much of the wire coatings are soybean based.

 

[Thisnthat]

Cat or two usually keeps stuff like this from happening…usually.

20+ plus years of parking outside, out In the country….every now and then you’ll come across a bird that sees itself in one of our mirrors and it wants to attack the mirror, never really had any damage to the vehicle since we caught it early enough, only had to take “action” once as the whole towel over the mirror trick didn’t suffice.

couple years ago we were cleaning out the feed room in our horse barn and ran into a rat‘s nest, one of the dogs grabbed one and took it up towards the house, wife saw it “climb” into her vehicle…forgot about it until a couple months later the cluster lit up like a Christmas tree…rat did quite a bit of damage to the wiring…thankfully insurance covered it, got it fixed and immediately sold it

 

[Brutal_HO]

FWIW, our dumb cat occasionally chews on cords (low voltage) in the house.

I've had to put techflex on most of them to keep her from doing it.

 

[farmallboy]

Had a possum secretly living in my barn for a good month. That hood insulation must taste like Chinese food or a cheeseburger to them because it kept disappearing and I kept yelling.

I have cats but for similar reasons above they are locked out of my barn. They kill anything that moves. But knock crap off my work benches.

Dad and mom parks vehicles outside for couple decades no issues. Both homes surrounded by 100+ acres of farm field. Unfortunately you can do what you can do and hopefully you will be fine.

 

[spinned]

Mice got into our motor home engine bay and peeled off and ate every wire that went to the ECU…leaving nothing left but the copper strands. We had to replace everything.

Some wiring comes with a soy based sheathing… not sure about RAM.

 

[SOKY_Ram]

I don't have to worry about squirrels because my Beagle hound or Australian Shepard will run them off. It's the aerial assault from the Cardinals that I have to deal with. They like to sit on the window trim and fight themselves in the side view mirrors. I almost couldn't see through the mirrors in some light, due to all the scratches on my previous truck's. I have been trying to fold my mirrors in every time I park but it does slip my mind from time to time.