NE Oregon

Eastside

Eastside

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Doesn’t compare with the Spring Fling, but I made my annual trip to fish a mid-elevation lake in NE Oregon. It is always combined with servicing my camp trailer in La Grande where we purchased it. This year, I scheduled it much later than usual. The “W” kept me off the water Tuesday afternoon, so I fished Wednesday and Thursday. Wednesday was a bit slow but I managed a few. Thursday, they were more active; I landed 17 fish that pulled hard. These flies worked and the top fly was the olive craw jig, thanks to @Billy. The campground is managed by the county and has no frills, but also no fees. By Wednesday evening, it had filled up with locals who parked their trailers to reserve places for the long weekend then took off. I let one guy park his trailer behind mine so he could be next to his relatives. Mine is the smaller one. I left early Friday morning to avoid the weekend chaos. While I was camped there, a few gophers were running around. When I started the truck on Friday morning, several warning lights lit up the dash, one for collision avoidance and the other for trailer brake malfunction. Neither were critical to driving the truck and I could manually activate the trailer brakes in the truck. Made an appointment at Toyota service for the afternoon. The inspection showed tiny footprints on the dust cover under the hood and this morning they found a nest and chewed connection. My in-laws found out about it and are buying an animal deterrence device for an early birthday present for me. They use one and take their trailer to Arizona for the winter where everyone has them. I recall a thread either here or the other site where this issue was discussed.IMG_4992.jpegIMG_4995.jpegIMG_4990.jpegIMG_3296.jpeg
 
Do you have any more info on the animal deterrence device?
 
My wife confessed that it is a set of LED lights that they put under their truck at night. Have to admit I’m skeptical. Other than that, I’ll take my Henry 22 rifle and subsonic ammo. Although that might not work because it is a county facility.
 
There is something to having lights under the hood at night. I have 2 LuminAID solar powered lights, one of which goes under the hood every night I am camping. I have had so damned many problems with rodents in campsites and since I started using the LuminAID's I have had none. They are like the Luci Lights but square instead of round and I like that shape better. My test have shown that they will run on the blink setting for about 56 hours on a single charge. I put them under the hood at dusk and remove them in the morning and place them on the dash with the solar panel facing out. They can also be charged with USB. They are Inflatable and can be used for backpacking, a must-have item in my anti-rodent arsenal. About $30 well spent.

At the other end of the truck I installed a tiny 1.7 watt LED light on the taillight housing using a 3 prong rocker switch inside to control it. For a tiny light it puts out a great deal of illumination with virtually no draw on the truck battery overnight. It has the added benefit of making it safer for an old man to get in and out of the Casa in the dark, not a trivial thing.

The final piece of anti-rodent gear I have is a Crosman Classic .177 air pistol. I bought it back when they were $50 and spent another $150 modifying it to it's present state, a really fun conversion. With a red dot scope and several internal mods it is more accurate than it has any right to be and far more powerful than it was originally. But even in it's stock form it was accurate from the get go, I have dispatched pack rats, chipmunks, mice and a woodchuck with it so far.

There are a lot of different deterrents out there for repelling rodents but I go with the theory that light is the natural enemy of nocturnal animals, cheap and easy to use with no mess or odious smell. Fight back, some of these critters do thousands of dollars of damage to new cars with the soy based wiring.
 
I use a device called mouse blocker (mouseblocker.com). Goes under hood. Combo of light and high pitched squeal. It works. No more mice or squirrels under the hood. I’m a skeptic on things like this, but it was recommended by a Parts Manager friend at a Toyota store. He also referred me to others using the product. All said the same thing. Mice under the hood before. No mice after. It will run down your battery if vehicle sits for long periods. But system shuts off when battery gets around 11.2 volts
 
a liberal application of cayenne powder sprinkled around wiring of vehicles, tractors, etc has been standard practice for ranchers and farmers for over a century. I started using it in the engine compartment of my lawn tractor after an incident and never had another problem.
 
Lots of research on lights and animals. Lights do seem to have an effect on predators. They avoid lights.

Pack rats are NOT predators. But having lights will discourage predators from removing pack rats.

Best things to do with pack rats is remove food items, change their feeding and nesting habitat. They breed every couple of months. It is almost impossible to wipe out a common species unless you wipe out their habitat.

Pack rats love confined spaces. Open your hood when spending the night in pack rat habitat. That will solve your problem without lights.

I had pack rat issues in Arizona. Removed their nesting and food sources and they moved on. Problem solved. Lights had zero effects. Even had a wildlife camera set up that showed the pack rats wandering around in their newly lit properties.

Here is a video from a guy that makes his living removing pack rats. He doesn't sell lights, because they don't work.



Nighttime lights are not healthy for humans. Go to Google.....enter Google Scholar....When in Google Scholar enter "light pollution cancer." This will return all the scientific publications on the subject. It is pretty sobering.

My doctor recommended making our bedroom totally dark almost three decades ago. There is a direct correlation between light pollution and health effects.

Nigh time lights are not healthy for humans, even when placed outside. The Obama Administration was going to list night time lights as a known carnicigenic, but pulled the listing at the last moment when they discovered that the public was not yet informed on the health risks.

You just might be killing yourself with lights, rather than pack rats.
 
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509 said:
Lots of research on lights and animals. Lights do seem to have an effect on predators. They avoid lights.

Pack rats are NOT predators. But having lights will discourage predators from removing pack rats.

Best things to do with pack rats is remove food items, change their feeding and nesting habitat. They breed every couple of months. It is almost impossible to wipe out a common species unless you wipe out their habitat.

Pack rats love confined spaces. Open your hood when spending the night in pack rat habitat. That will solve your problem without lights.

I had pack rat issues in Arizona. Removed their nesting and food sources and they moved on. Problem solved. Lights had zero effects. Even had a wildlife camera set up that showed the pack rats wandering around in their newly lit properties.

Here is a video from a guy that makes his living removing pack rats. He doesn't sell lights, because they don't work.



Nighttime lights are not healthy for humans. Go to Google.....enter Google Scholar....When in Google Scholar enter "light pollution cancer." This will return all the scientific publications on the subject. It is pretty sobering.

My doctor recommended making our bedroom totally dark almost three decades ago. There is a direct correlation between light pollution and health effects.

Nigh time lights are not healthy for humans, even when placed outside. The Obama Administration was going to list night time lights as a known carnicigenic, but pulled the listing at the last moment when they discovered that the public was not yet informed on the health risks.

You just might be killing yourself with lights, rather than pack rats.
Click to expand...

:oops::oops::oops::oops::oops: If lights are killing me it is taking a damned long time! And remarkably, lights placed outside don't shine through my walls.....
 
iveofione said:
There is something to having lights under the hood at night. I have 2 LuminAID solar powered lights, one of which goes under the hood every night I am camping. I have had so damned many problems with rodents in campsites and since I started using the LuminAID's I have had none. They are like the Luci Lights but square instead of round and I like that shape better. My test have shown that they will run on the blink setting for about 56 hours on a single charge. I put them under the hood at dusk and remove them in the morning and place them on the dash with the solar panel facing out. They can also be charged with USB. They are Inflatable and can be used for backpacking, a must-have item in my anti-rodent arsenal. About $30 well spent.

At the other end of the truck I installed a tiny 1.7 watt LED light on the taillight housing using a 3 prong rocker switch inside to control it. For a tiny light it puts out a great deal of illumination with virtually no draw on the truck battery overnight. It has the added benefit of making it safer for an old man to get in and out of the Casa in the dark, not a trivial thing.

The final piece of anti-rodent gear I have is a Crosman Classic .177 air pistol. I bought it back when they were $50 and spent another $150 modifying it to it's present state, a really fun conversion. With a red dot scope and several internal mods it is more accurate than it has any right to be and far more powerful than it was originally. But even in it's stock form it was accurate from the get go, I have dispatched pack rats, chipmunks, mice and a woodchuck with it so far.

There are a lot of different deterrents out there for repelling rodents but I go with the theory that light is the natural enemy of nocturnal animals, cheap and easy to use with no mess or odious smell. Fight back, some of these critters do thousands of dollars of damage to new cars with the soy based wiring.
Click to expand...
Thanks Ive. They are actually dock/deck lights that they gave me. Said to put them under the truck, but I will also put a couple of them in the hood. I have wanted an air rifle for the squirrels in the back yard that bury things in my lawn, but the wife has vetoed that idea. BIL drove over one with his 3/4 ton truck and it didn’t break. IMG_5004.jpeg
 
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iveofione said:
There is something to having lights under the hood at night.
Click to expand...

Skimr said:
I use a device called mouse blocker (mouseblocker.com). Goes under hood. Combo of light and high pitched squeal.
Click to expand...

509 said:
Here is a video from a guy that makes his living removing pack rats. He doesn't sell lights, because they don't work.
Click to expand...
Our property is over 75% woods and native brush. Plus, a neighbor raises livestock and chickens so mice, rats, moles, squirrels, and rabbits abound. We have had a pest control company do quarterly service for many years and haven't had problems with home intrusion. I have also kept my cars garaged and haven't had a problem but now that I finally have two cars with soy-insulated wiring I have been looking at vehicle rodent deterrence for camping trips. I acknowledge that @iveofione , @Skimr , and @Eastside ILs have had good results with lights and/or ultrasound. This guy tested one of many variations of this light and ultrasonic device found on Amazon which supposedly can take 4 weeks to work which unfortunately allows the return window to expire.

Now that mouseblocker device mentioned by @Skimr with lights and at 85-115dB the ultrasound might work but I wouldn't want it to bother or harm my dog. Also, the 120V model appears to use a AC-DC transformer so why not just have both 12V and 120V power options on 1 device for use in a carport - garage and also powered by the car battery away from home? 🤷‍♂️ *Plus quite a few negative reviews onAmazon for the 12V ProX 115dB model with rodents chewing through the device's power cable! :LOL:*
The same YTuber from above says spraying a strong peppermint oil solution worked in his tests and is recommended monthly by some mechanics' videos


Consumer Reports recommends peppermint oil & cayenne pepper sprays and 🤮 mothballs.

One video recommended putting old-school mousetraps baited with peanut butter on top of the tires and another guy uses a half filled bucket of water next to his RV with a dab of peanut butter inside and 2x4 leaning up against it for the mice to climb up and fall into it.
 
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SurfnFish said:
a liberal application of cayenne powder sprinkled around wiring of vehicles, tractors, etc has been standard practice for ranchers and farmers for over a century. I started using it in the engine compartment of my lawn tractor after an incident and never had another problem.
Click to expand...
Shawn Woods really goes to the mat for the viewers with his testing :LOL:
 
My mechanic has me zip tie stinky laundry drier sheets all over my engine compartment after some wiring got munched. Seems to work as I’ve been incident free since. I change them twice per year..
 
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