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A month ago I was driving to work, the top was down & I was basking in the warmth of the Arizona sun. I looked at the dash and noticed that my left front turn signal was out, the engine service light was illuminated, the ambient temperature was 200, and the blue tooth had quit. I assumed that the on-board computer on our 2006 330c had crashed. So I hightailed to Tucson BMW. Upon arrival, the service representative opened the hood and to my dismay the wiring harness around the left headlight was frayed. I had been the victim of “Neotoma Cinerea”, the Sonoran Pack Rat. To my amazement, the service representative gave me a loaner, provided an estimate and a 24 hour timeline for repair. To his credit, the repair was completed and below estimate the following day. Thanks, Tucson BMW!
So now half of my problem was fixed. Next, we had to rid ourselves of the rascals. We called Truly Nolen whose inspector promptly arrived the following day. He scoured the property and surrounding neighborhood only to tell us that there was no evidence of the pack rat dens. As we have learned, the critters can travel from 500 feet. So we had “out of town guests” that were chomping on our coupe! As it turns out, the rats do not eat the wiring, but gnaw on it to wear down there fast growing teeth. So Truly Nolen’s representative made the following suggestions. Pack rats are a secretive rodent and usually do their damage in the cover of darkness. He suggested opening the hoods of the cars and hanging a work light. In this way, the rats do not feel safe and will usually look for easier prey. Just keeping the garage door closed is not enough as they will chew the rubber weather stripping off the bottom of the door and can enter a hole the size of a quarter. Additionally, setting “HavaHart” traps is helpful to capture those braver rodents. Interestingly, they like peanut butter crackers! Once caught, they can be relocated in some remote desert location.
Finally, if you find signs of a den on your property, it is important to procure professional help or do the following. First, the rats must be live trapped and removed from your homestead. Poisoning them will create issues like rotting rodents in your home or backyard. Once the rats are relocated or sent to rat heaven, the den must be unearthed and the droppings and collections of pack rat must be removed. If this is not done, out of town guests will be drawn to set up housing in the old tenement.
For further rat fun facts access the following website http://www.arizona-leisure.com/the-desert-wild-rat.html