[wjones14]

I'm fortunate enough to have two cars. A daily driver F56 Mini and the Camaro as the fun car. But we only have a two-car garage, and the wife gets one of the spots. During the winter the Camaro is stored 15 miles away in my sister-in-law's garage, but on Mar 27 the Camaro came home and kicked the Mini out onto the driveway.

Given the crazy times with Stay at Home rules, working remotely, etc., I'm not driving either car much at all. I take them out once a week to keep the battery up and that's about it.

On Apr 10, two weeks after it got moved outside, I popped the hood of the Mini to check for mice. Yep, there was a fresh nest on top of the battery cover. Vacuumed it up and planned to keep an eye on it.

A week and a half later on Apr 20, checked again and there was another nest in the same place. This time the mouse chewed a couple small holes in the fabric on top of the cover. Cleaned it up again, and this time set a trap with peanut butter in the engine bay.

Apr 22, two days later the trap was triggered and the peanut butter gone, but no mouse - I think I placed the trap badly and it triggered when I shut the hood. This time the mouse destroyed the battery cover by chewing a huge hole in the fabric. Cleaned it up, reset the trap, and put it in a place where shutting the hood wouldn't trigger it.

Yesterday Apr 24, popped the hood and this time the trap worked. Got him.

Going forward as long as this pandemic lasts, I'm going to keep the trap in there.

Anyone else having a similar problem in these times of Stay at Home?

Pictures: 1) second nest on Apr 20; 2) destroyed battery cover on Apr 22; 3) success with the trap

[VinnAY]

I've had a rat chew a wire many years ago and found it when the CEL lit on the dash. Dropped some rat poison in the garage area and that was that.