Time to Check Your Pandemic-Abandoned Car for Rats

nytimes.com

17 points·Kaibeezy··7 comments

Because of their impulse to chew, rats frequently destroy material that offers no nutritional value to them. The inherent appeal of car wiring, Dr. Parsons said, is complemented by the fact that, in recent years, many car manufacturers have switched from petroleum-based wire insulation to greener, less expensive soy-based kind.

“Yum,” he said.

If you frequently leave you vehicle unattended for periods of time and it’s parked somewhere where rodents are troublesome, there is a tape you can purchase made with capsaicin that wraps around wiring harnesses to dissuade rodent consumption.

I have seen, in a car that was left for a while unused during a family member's struggle with cancer, where mice (I assume) got into the glove box, and chewed the plastic part of insulin needle tips to bits.

If anyone’s (pleasantly) surprised by an article of this tone appearing in the New York Times, I highly recommend checking out Caity Weaver’s other work.

She is a Gawker/QC alum—with attendant irreverence in-tow.

Here’s a curated collection, as well as great podcast interview with her: https://longform.org/archive/writers/caity-weaver

buy peppermint oil, soak cotton balls in oil, stuff cotton balls all over engine bay, compartments, trunks, underbody. repeat once per month or so, whenever you can't smell it anymore.

https://www.theexterminators.ca/blog/peppermint-oil-work-rat...

But... won’t that attract elves?

NYTimes has reach the bottom of both creativity and reporting in this article.

If you went to the comments first to check if there is an incentive to read:

No, there is not, just saved you 10 minutes.

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