Vehicle chewed on by varmits

[Hickok]

My daughter and son-in-law just recently moved in to their brand new home located in some beautiful woods and farm land. Oak, hickory, cherry, walnut, and wild grape every where, as well as wild game of every kind! (I have a new hunting spot!)

BUT, one of these wild critters went underneath the daughters Chevy and chewed up some electrical wiring, and also chewed holes in both rubber boots on the front axle joints. About $1000 damage.

I say it was a ground hog, as I have seen then do damage to vehicles before. They seem to think gray squirrel.

What are the opinions here!

[NSB]

Mice are the biggest culprits. I've found mouse nest under the hood of vehicles that have sat in one spot for a while. Many other critters will chew on wires and tires. My father once went bow hunting for a week and never moved his vehicle while he was "out there" camping and hunting. At the end of the week he found a porcupine chewing on his tires. Must have been at it a while, it ruined all four tires. The only shot he had all week was at the porcupine. I know a guy who drives for AAA and he's always finding mice under hoods on cars that won't start. Like all rodents, they like to chew on things. It could have been any kind of rodent that did your damage.

[Pawpaw757]

We had a car come into our dealership last year because it was making a "funny noise" . When the mechanic opened the hood, he found a kitten curled up on the intake. Noise found and repaired!

[Omega]

Chipmunks, those darn things love to chew on wires. I had a bunch around here, and thought they were the cutest things, until I read what they can do to a house. Some fox moved in and thinned them out for me, haven't seen any in some time.

[RU shooter]

Mice , chipmunk , squirrels or all them , when I lived in the country at my dads place we would always find chewed up acorn and hickory nuts under the hood even in the air filter box, mice nests in the outboard motors on the 2 boats he owned the mice especially will eat the insulation off the wires . The CV boots hmmmmmm that's a new one on me . Hope you find the cultrips and kill them .....

[bob208]

ground hogs. a friend had to rewire his corvette twice because of ground hogs. I have had them chew the plastic tops of gas cans.

[Hannibal]

Years ago, I knew a guy who owned an MG midget. He was renting a farm house. One night, the cows made a new gate in the old fence and ate the convertible top off that car.

Weird.

[DocSavage]

Was watching Motor Week awhile back about this problem,the wire coatings are a soy based product so they attract critters and they figure it's just another food source. There was a product you you could apply but I don't remember what it is

[wulfman92]

I’ve seen rabbits do this. Chew on wiring, not a boot though.

[ShooterAZ]

In my neck of the woods, it's packrats that crawl up in the engine compartment and chew wiring. I have had to "rescue" a couple of friends who were out in the woods either camping or hunting when their vehicle became disabled.

[Tatume]

My mother and brother have had this problem with squirrels. My dog went under my truck chewed the wiring.

[mold maker]

I watched as a squirrel eat the posts off a dead battery. I've had to rewire an auto with a nest full of nut hulls under the hood. My neighbor had a squirrel nest in the attic. He said they played football at night over his bedroom. Squirrels ate the paint off all the edges of my AC unit. I had to take the screens off 3 windows to keep them out of my bird feeder. They threw all the other seed out to get the sunflower seeds.

[waksupi]

Yep, they do that. People around here open the hoods of the vehicle when camped in the back country. The pack rats prefer enclosed spaces

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

In my area, mice are the biggest problem for this type of destruction.

I thought Groundhogs were vegetarians? As they do a lot of damage to vegetable plants at my friend's Farm, and also the tunneling under old style out buildings (wooden) can wreck the building. I've never heard of them chewing wiring or rubber?

[Gewehr-Guy]

How about a couple of 1700 pound varmints, my draft horses tore the seat foam to pieces on my Honda 4- wheeler, when it sat overnite out in the pasture.

[Hickok]

It's a jungle out there!!!

Amazing what some animals will chew on. Bears seem to like batteries in trail-cams and game-timers. At work, we had a groundhog chew a hole in a radiator core on a long-time parked utility truck. He got away and never came back, maybe the sweet tasting ant-freeze fixed him.

I agree with Bob208, dang whistlepigs will eat wiring.

Never heard of any critter chewing on CV boots until this incident. The grease inside had to be yucky to taste. We have a lot of salt on the roads in the winter, and I wonder if a varmint may have found some salt on the rubber boots.

Once had a snapping turtle who raided the wife's garden. He didn't get a fair trial, as the wife was judge and jury, and I was appointed to carry out the sentence!

[redhawk0]

field mice or chipmunk...they leave "nests" on my engine block regularly and I live in a town environment. I have to check frequently before I take off for a business trip.

redhawk

[GOPHER SLAYER]

Most rodents, if not all have to chew to keep their teeth worn down or they will grow thru the roof of their mouth. We lived on 2-1/2 acres before we moved into a retirement village. The rodents built nests under the hood of our car, chewed all phone wiring under the house, chewed the sprinkler pipes and even chewed holes in the dogs house.

[country gent]

My guess is squirrels or chipmunks. I too have been told by several mechanics the new insulation attracts small animals to chew on it. We had chipmunks and red squirrel issue at my grandmothers they would get in the garage and climb on the motor and build a nest and store nuts under the air cleaner. You usually felt it starting the car but once they did lock the accelerator at 45 mph while driving. Luckily back country road no traffic and could be dealt with. I believe wood chuck would have problems getting in to those boots.

[Echo]

In my neck of the woods, it's packrats that crawl up in the engine compartment and chew wiring. I have had to "rescue" a couple of friends who were out in the woods either camping or hunting when their vehicle became disabled.

Roger to that - had packrat nest in my '54 Kaiser. Didn't run it much, and needed to replace spark plug wiring was all. Also got into my RV, and did a lot of damage...