How Can I Protect My Car from Rodents?

Rodents need what any of us need; food, water, and shelter.  You car qualifies as shelter to a rat or mouse.  This can lead customers to ask “How Can I protect My Car from Rodents?”

The Amount of Rodent Damage to Cars Is Stunning

Your car is one area rats and other rodents will use for shelter from predators and nesting sites. Rodents love to chew on car components, wiring, and rubber hoses.  They are fantastic at chewing their way into buildings, so it makes sense that rodents can do the same to your car.  Rodents can chew into vehicles through rubber seals at the firewalls or plastic components.  We commonly see rodents chewing into cars in Parrish, Bradenton, Sarasota, and Lakewood Ranch communities.  A rodent’s favorite place to chew through is the AC box which contains the cabin air filter for your car.  Once inside, they often chew the cabin air filter and use it for nesting material.  Automotive technicians frequently find signs of rats and other rodents inside this box while performing routine maintenance.  Rodents’ teeth don’t stop growing.  This makes the wires and other components of your car a perfect chew toy to help to keep their teeth ground down. Potentially compounding this issue, many car manufacturers are now using soy-based coating on car wires to help reduce waste at production plants.  This, of course, gives rats and mice yet another reason to want to chew the wiring.  

Opening the Car Door for Rodents

Another common way rodents find their way into cars is from customers who leave their windows or convertible top down while parked in their garage.  Our customers who experience this often get a false sense of security, thinking their vehicle is safe because it’s inside.  Rats and mice that find their way into a garage are more than happy to make nesting sites inside your car.  They will chew on your car’s plastic trim, seat material, carpet, and door panels, as pictured here!       

How Can You Protect Your Car From Rodents?

There are measures the rodent experts at Rodent Solutions can help you implement to help protect your car from  rodents in.   

If your car stays outside:

• • Habitat modification is always the best place to make your yard less inviting to rodents.  Rats and mice like to feel protected.  Removing brush piles or other debris is the first place to start.

• • Cut low-laying bushes as high as possible.  This will make it more difficult for rodents to hide from predators making your yard less likely to have rats and mice in the first place.

• • If you keep your trash cans outside, make sure you have metal trash cans with lids securely fastened.  Rats can easily chew through even the hardest plastic trash containers.  This will reduce the food sources in your yard.    

• • Hire a professional like us to install rodent control bait stations or rat fertility control stations to keep the exterior population as low as possible.    

• • If you have an extra car that sits for an extended period of time, move it on occasion.  The longer it’s left sitting, the more comfortable a new infestation of rats or mice will feel moving in.   

• • Keep nut or fruit-producing trees trimmed, and the ground below them picked up.  We often find palm nuts, acorns, and other tree debris inside cars and attics.  The rodents are telling you, “this is why I hang out in your yard.”  

• • Keep your car clean and free from leftover food and snacks.  Rodents have a fantastic sense of smell and quickly pick up on any leftover fast food, protein bars, or snacks on your floor.  Don’t forget about removing the soda from the cup holders too!

If your car stays inside:

• • Your car isn’t safe just because it stays inside.  Rodents that have found their way into an attic often have easy access to your garage from the attic.  A preventative rodent exclusion can be performed on your home’s exterior to eliminate rodent entry points.

• • Keep your garage door closed as much as possible.  When we meet many new customers, we discover they leave their garage door open at the bottom to let the garage air out.  Hot air rises, so this practice doesn’t have the intended effect and creates an open door for rodents.  Make sure the garage door fits tightly to the ground and is protected at both sides.  If you need help with rodent-proofing on the sides, we can help you.  

• • Keep your windows, sunroof, and convertible top closed.  If a rodent does find its way into your garage, don’t make it any easier for them to get into your car. 

Keeping Rats and Mice Out of Your Ride

The best way to protect your car from rodents is to have a pest control company that specializes in rodent extermination, like Rodent Solutions, inspect your property.  We can provide a solution tailored to your specific situation. Rodent Control in Lakewood Ranch, Parrish, Sarasota, and Bradenton, FL is an essential service.  It’s not a matter of if, but when you will have an issue.  You can be proactive or reactive with rodent control.  We would not recommend you wait if you want to protect your car from rodent damage. If you’re looking to keep rodents out of your car, the professional rodent exterminators at Rodent Solution, with our 5-Star Google rating is the only call you’ll need to make!

Contact your local rodent specialists today.