I park my car in an old shed/garage and noticed the smell of urine two weeks ago. Took out the frunk and found droppings that are typical of what you see on Tesla forums and YouTube tutorials.
This week I went ALL OUT on rat prevention. Took out the drunk and thoroughly cleaned, disinfected with a wet-dry vac, multiple times. Installed repellent diffusers, sprayed peppermint oil nightly, and installed TWO Ultrasonic audio emitters as well as double sided tape. Additionally I emptied my whole garage, cleaned and disinfected, decluttered, and installed chicken wire around the entire interior perimeter about a foot high, over some holes in the Sheetrock that I assumed were the entry point.
After a week of busting ass on this today I walked in and there was a fresh rat turd under the car, approx right under the center console location. I popped the frunk and two more fresh poops were 6” from the diffuser can and the feint smell of urine.
Absolutely at my wits end. The shed is old but I cannot afford to tear it down/rebuild another. I have absolutely no clue how it got in, unless it jumped down from the ceiling?!
The only thing I can think is that the rat(s) never left the car for the entire week it took to do all this work? Where else do rodents go in the car? Can I easily remove other panels to access common problem areas?
Also, is it possible to let the car sit somewhere “cold” and unplugged so the rat(s) lose interest b/c there’s no heat generated? Or will it still kick out a heat source?
Other clues: There’s no food source anywhere. I dont eat in, or allow eating in my car. The opposite side of the glove box has nibbles in the frunk area, but they haven’t gotten inside the car or glovebox.
Any help appreciated b/c I just invested about 25 hours of work into this and failed. Driving me crazy.
This week I went ALL OUT on rat prevention. Took out the drunk and thoroughly cleaned, disinfected with a wet-dry vac, multiple times. Installed repellent diffusers, sprayed peppermint oil nightly, and installed TWO Ultrasonic audio emitters as well as double sided tape. Additionally I emptied my whole garage, cleaned and disinfected, decluttered, and installed chicken wire around the entire interior perimeter about a foot high, over some holes in the Sheetrock that I assumed were the entry point.
After a week of busting ass on this today I walked in and there was a fresh rat turd under the car, approx right under the center console location. I popped the frunk and two more fresh poops were 6” from the diffuser can and the feint smell of urine.
Absolutely at my wits end. The shed is old but I cannot afford to tear it down/rebuild another. I have absolutely no clue how it got in, unless it jumped down from the ceiling?!
The only thing I can think is that the rat(s) never left the car for the entire week it took to do all this work? Where else do rodents go in the car? Can I easily remove other panels to access common problem areas?
Also, is it possible to let the car sit somewhere “cold” and unplugged so the rat(s) lose interest b/c there’s no heat generated? Or will it still kick out a heat source?
Other clues: There’s no food source anywhere. I dont eat in, or allow eating in my car. The opposite side of the glove box has nibbles in the frunk area, but they haven’t gotten inside the car or glovebox.
Any help appreciated b/c I just invested about 25 hours of work into this and failed. Driving me crazy.
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