Rodent damage - any ideas or tricks to prevent?

[ARMANDO PADILLA]

Did the nest marital come from the cybertruck itself or was there some other source?
did you find the point of entry?

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[rceldib]

My local service center discovered why my front camera stopped working. The evidence points to rodents chewing up some wires, plastic, and insulation behind the front bumper and frunk area. They must really like Tesla plastic/rubber for some reason. Any ideas/tricks to help protect from rodents going forward?

A cat works well. My Model 3 frunk stopped working and it was the frunk release harness. We started letting our cat outside and he leaves a trophy mouse or gopher several times a week by our door. He loves going out. It’s been about a year now and he is much calmer, sleeping most of the day now.

 

[Thunderstrike44]

Moth Balls, Irish Spring Soap, or get the Pellets if you do have animals. Keep Debris away from outside walls help, but they get in if they want to. Its a constant battle for sure.

 

[mbeltran]

Common issue with all vehicles, especially if the manufacturer has gone to biodegradable coating on the wire harnesses. This was the case with my Ford Explorer. In my case it was squirrels. My engine compartment was chock full of nut casings and the squirrel ate through my fuel system temperature sensor harness.

 

[dotat]

I love these electric rat traps - https://www.amazon.com/Victor-M2-2P-Smart-Kill-Electronic-Trap-2/dp/B07HR987YB

So fun to wake up to a push notification that a trap is "full"

 

[mstatkus]

My only attempt at combating them was:
1. Mothballs - they smell like crap but seemed to keep them out.
2. Metal screens in some key areas
3. Traps and bait/poison around the area
4. Pepper spray like you'd put on a plant not like the hard core stuff hah
5. Nuclear option - enclose the carport.

Most traps I set also sabotaged by raccoons, opossum, squirrels etc

After 2020 seemed like everyone around me turned into a farmer. So they left food out it attracted more. They fight them and they end up at my place looking for warm places to be (under house, engine bays etc). They'd pull insulation from one car, put it in another. Maple seeds, Pine Cones.. you name it.

They've ripped up insulation in my furnace, pulled it off my water pipes. Just have to constantly say on point as winter comes keeping traps prepped before it gets out of control. If you see 1, you have 200.

 

[RFalcon]

Old Farmers solution. Irish Spring soap original scent in unopened box. Place it where it won't fall in the area being covered. The scent will keep them away.

 

[Friday]

F-&*&^)##@%-king packrats just took out my Mom's (Dodge Grand Caravan) brake sensor harness- again (3x). Still able to solder and cobble back together, but the wires are getting beat up. We tried the under hood flashing sonic stupid thing-did not work. We tried the rope lights around the parking area- did not work. Last thing we tried was the Honda rodent tape and they ate right through that.

Now it's bucket trap time. We modern homo sapiens are not the top of food chain due to vermin able to disable our important tools so simply. We need tiny Optimus hunters to patrol and control the attackers.

 

[jcktrb]

Capsaicin spray.

 

[wtibbit]

My local service center discovered why my front camera stopped working. The evidence points to rodents chewing up some wires, plastic, and insulation behind the front bumper and frunk area. They must really like Tesla plastic/rubber for some reason. Any ideas/tricks to help protect from rodents going forward?

Yikes!!!

Our house is on a wooded creek. Even though the hawks, owls, bobcats and coyotes eat as many as they can, they can't exterminate the huge squirrel population. Last year the squirrels found most of my landscape lighting cables that weren't well buried and used them to sharpen their teeth.

Here's another excellent reason to keep my Cybertruck in the garage.....

 

[Aerospace2061]

Did the nest marital come from the cybertruck itself or was there some other source?
did you find the point of entry?

The CT is still at the local service center. They were nice enough to send me pictures as part of the repair estimate. From the pictures it looks like the material came from the CT itself as there isn’t anything around my property I know of that it could be from. I’ll ask them when stop by to confirm or not and also about the possible point of entry. They said it would be ready late this Wednesday 20th Nov 2024. The week long repair wait is due to they had to ship in one of the wire bundles/harnesses. They did lend me a 2022 MX with yoke and 6 seats so it’s been fun driving that around, very fast. The MX seems light, especially the doors and body compared to the CT. Many of the MX features are similar to the CT, like adjustable suspension, display software, FSD, turn signal buttons, etc… the MX is definitely classy but to sophisticated for me. I prefer and miss my CT, it’s as if Tesla took some of the best features and improved them for the CT. Steer by wire is definitely one of the best CT features.

 

[Quicksilver]

Ball bearing mouse trap.

 

[supa2001]

Air line of my suspension just got chewed open. $670 to fix it

 

[Aerospace2061]

Ouch, sorry. The service center replaced my front wire harness and the front license plate camera wash tube, $400. However, they said they don’t clean up droppings etc… and gave my tips how to remove the frunk via the maintenance manual to get in there and clean it up if I wanted to. I’m planning to put some bars of Irish spring soap and repellent pouches in there as folks suggested. So that’s next on my to do list. I haven’t had luck with the sonic devices and a mouse ran out from the bushes as I was pulling plants during the day on to the sidewalk in front of me. Pics attached. Not scared of me at all. Also, I’ve found droppings on the driveway and side walk. I removed most of the thick plants/bushes on my property, been using Grandpa Gus sprays, increased my pest control service plan, and parking down the street. It seems to be working as the rodents may have finally moved on but I decided to go one more step with the electric flat fence border from Grid Guard so I can park in my driveway again. It’s pricey but the peace of mind and avoiding future expensive repairs should pay for itself. I pick it up later this week. Fingers crossed…

 

[Friday]

That vermin behavior seems abnormal. Lack of fear. Toxoplasmosis?

At this point my opinion is you need to use poisoned control techniques, something that the mice can only get too. Maybe hire some kind of pro pest control service. There's something going on around your house environs that is friendly to vermin.

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