Gerald :
IMO those are all good suggestions (except maybe C), but nothing is
'sure fire'.
My suggestion would be to go to the local animal shelter and get a cat,
preferably a young adult. Take it to your Little House at the start of
your 6 month sojurn, and feed it a little, outdoors or in the barn, so
it adopts your place as it's territory. If you can, provide a 'lick
stick' or rain catch, so it has water to drink, but otherwise leave it
on it's own while you are gone. (There must be natural water available,
or you wouldn't have a rodent problem.) It will keep the rodent
population to an absolute minimum.
And, before you animal rights activists jump my case, there are millions
of cats put to sleep every year because no one wants them. Your opinion
may differ, but I know that, faced with the choice of "root hog er die"
or certain death by lethal injection, I'd take the former, hands down.
Randall
"Gerald J. Brazil" wrote:
>
> OK listers, here's your chance to give me a lot of good advice.
>
> I just bought a Rusty Red Pickup Truck to use at, and leave at our Little
> House on the Prairie. I plan to leave it unused for at least 6 months of the
> year in a barn that serves as the Rodent Hilton. The "guest" of the Hilton
> range from little field mice with big black eyes to pack rats the size of
> small dogs. I have heard of things to do to discourage these "guests" from
> taking up residence in my RRPT. Such strategies include: A) stuffing the
> tail pipe and air intake with steel wool; B) putting mothballs in the cab;
> and C) leaving the hood open wide to keep the pack rats from building nests
> on the top of the motor.
>
> Does anybody know if any of these things work? Does anybody have any other
> sure fire ways to discourage them and keep them from chewing on wires and
> making nests and messes.
>
> All suggestions appreciated.
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