Berkeley's Rat Problem
I live in downtown Berkeley and a number of people have been complaining about rats and pests lately. I don't have a problem with them in my apartment, but in my parking space. The rats will crawl up into the front end and leave their food within the engine compartment or in the rear differential area. A number of people I know have complained that the rats chewed through the wiring in their engines. One neighbor of mine had a brand new BMW's wiring chewed through, costing her $4,000 in repairs. Another had his car alarm system rendered useless.
I've had to get my car detailed because of the smell of the things the rats leave inside the engine, which range from fruit to dead birds; I got the engine and rear differential degreased and steam cleaned, but the actual problem (rats being present) persists.
Yesterday afternoon I received a letter from my landlord, which was given to every tenant in my building. It said, in part:
Dear Tenant, Please be informed within the last few weeks the rodent and pest issue has become a larger downtown problem. We are continuing work with the city and neighboring buildings to control the
issue.
Weird thing is I can't find any mention of this problem anywhere. I may have to sell my car or move, or both if the problem persists.
4 comments:
Has any rat ever, to your knowledge, somehow snuck its way into the cab of a car? A mouse? Has it shat there?
Curious.
while it is possible that a rat and/or a mouse could crawl into a cabspace of an automobile, and while it is possible that a rat and/or mouse could defecate in such cabspace, a statement to that effect would be hearsay.
The Camry to my knowledge does not have a rear differential unless it was rear wheel drive or all wheel drive. Have you tried going to Home Depot to see if they have any repelant type stuff you could place there ..not a glue trap obviously but something that would detur these rats/ mice from visiting your humbled vehicle?
home depot has rat poisons and traps. the problem with these is that the poison has a coating that attracts mice/rats to it, so it attracts more mice near my car. they did not have any repellants. there is one repellant my neighbor used and he said it doesn't work at all. these must be super-rats.
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