As of yesterday, all of three of our daily driver trucks have had wiring eaten out of them by squirrels. Obviously, this has become an expensive problem. Anyone have anything that they've used to keep squirrels away effectively? We do not have a garage and shooting them all, although fun, is probably not realistic. We have the plastic owl and have put cayenne pepper out, but I don't think that stationary decoys do much help after a couple of days. Have looked at some of the electronic pest deterrents as well. Anyone use any of these with any success?

If it is happening during the day it could be squirrels or mice / rats.
At night = rats & mice.

Outdoor cats, terrier dog, leave the hood up during day, solar power light on engine bay at night, Farnam just one bite II bars (rat & mouse poison) peppermint oil, spray down the engine bay & wiring.

Bounce dryer sheets. Take 3 or so, make them like a bow tie with wire, attach them somewhere under the hood.

The only squirrels that I have trouble with are the Black ones. I have probably trapped around 30 of them in the last couple of years. Finally getting them under semi control.

Honda mechanic told me to spray juice from pickled jalapenos on the wiring. I just spent $400 getting a 4 wheeler rewired because of the little darlings.

They sure do love 4 wheeler wiring..I know from experience.
They like to chew my boat wiring as well and cause all types of shorts as well. Will have to try the juice trick.

slinky ...

lead poisoning is about the only sure thing

fyi, you have full coverage insurance will usually cover 1 or 2 incidents with rodents like that. Had a coworker leave his car at work while he took a driver to the airport. The squirrels had a good time tearing up his BMW. Insurance covered so I called mine to see if for some odd reason I would be covered. They said I get 2 claims for it (State Farm).

had one chew my comp wire to diesel and cost me right at 900 to fix,
was told they use peanut oil to lube the copper into the plastic case i leave my hood up now,,,seems to work

We had a big problem with RATS eating the wiring on the ranch truck we leave on the property. Moth balls on the the air filter cover kept the little bastages off the wires. Squirrels....IDK.

How about a few barncats?

I had to replace wiring harness on tractor twice because of squirrels. There's a nice ledge under instrument panel they like to build a nest for babies on every year in March. Lesson learned. Now I have removed all screws from Instrument panel so I can remove it every day. Problem solved.

Also. Lots of wiring insulation now is made from soy based biodegradable materials. (Plant fibers) Who would have thought rodents would plant matter.

http://www.news5cleveland.com/money/cons...causing-trouble

I would leave the hoods open for sure so they won't feel safe day or night.

Squirrels, rats with fluffy tails.

Pick up one of these at Home Depot

http://m.homedepot.com/p/Victor-PestChaser-Sonic-Rodent-Repellent-M690S/205139990?cm_mmc=Shopping%7CTHD%7CG%7C0%7CG-BASE-PLA-AllProducts%7C&gclid=CPXGksfun9MCFVi2wAodnxwOXw&gclsrc=aw.ds