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OT RATS...Rats in the forklift!

Tony Quiring

Titanium
Joined
Nov 5, 2008
Location
Madera county california usa
So we very rarely use the forklift, we built a battery box to allow home made battery kit and the 6 160 Amp hr cell site batteries were done and we got some replacements and got them in.

Since the battery was no good we swapped them in place, with new it would not drive but the hydrolics worked.

Maybe a bad interlock?

Nope, not so lucky...

It seems some rats got in during the short time we had no yard cats and it seems they like insulation and copper...

Need to repair 4 large cables and figure out a handful of signal wires.

We do have the service manual so it will just be a pain.

We either can replace the whole cable or just cut and extend them, need to see what my welding cable supply is.

The lead from one of the scr is chewed in 1/2, enough to splice.

The signal wires will be funny, all but 1 are white.

Raymond 31, if lucky wires have ID printed on them.

Why do they insist on making industrial stuff so much fun to get into?

The area is wide open but still looks like a royal pain to work, we will find out.
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And a few car companies now use a soybean oil based insulation on the wiring that squirrels really love. I think Ford and Toyota are the big users. There have been some lawsuits.
 
Be careful. Don't go in and kill them. They could be good rats. Try to catch them in a safe trap and release them in an idyllic setting - perhaps a city diner or tenement.
 
Mice can also do the same thing, that is what I had a couple issues with. I have never seen a rat on my property, plenty of squirrels and mice. I used to keep tumbling media in open containers in a storage shed until squirrels started stashing acorns in it.
 
A friend told me about putting nails in the commercial rat traps to keep them from pulling out and going their merry way, also I tie them to something solid with safety wire to keep them from hauling the trap off. The 2 long nails are to keep them from going after the bait from the wrong side. If they come for the bait from the wrong side, they could get thrown clear instead of caught. All the holes were predrilled and the nails pressed in to keep from splitting the wood base. Or you could be nice to the rats as others suggested.

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We got aggressive with rat traps and got a lot of them.


Dam things would get in the membrane between roof and shop and you could see their foot prints as they ran.

Got real good at setting traps, 90 degrees to walls and make mini walls to direct their running.

Not 2 birds with one stone but....

We now have established cat colony so no more rats.



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Your rats are not as tough as the ones we have around here. Ours would have pulled themselves out or carried the trap off. Good that you got it solved.
Nonvenemous snakes are helpful in rodent control but they do not eat very often, your cats may do them in anyway.
 
Take a five gallon bucket , drill a hole through it near the top and one on the opposite side that you can slide a long wooden piece of round stock through.
Get one of those aluminum beer bottles (Drink beer first) and drill a hole in the bottom center of the bottle and top center of the cap and slide wooden round stock through one side of the bucket into the hole in the cap out through the hole in the bottom and through the hole on the other side of the bucket. Make sure the bottle is able to spin freely. Then smear peanut butter all over the bottle and fill the bucket half way with water. Take a piece of wood and use it for a ramp up to the bucket.

You'll be amazed at how many this thing kills, place next to tow motor & check daily
 
We have rats all over this place. I started using the sticky traps which work great if you know where the rats are. They run right into the trap and you know you got the sucker! Only trouble with them is the lizards also go for the peanut butter and then the birds go for the lizards so it's a kill joy to see a beautiful tropical bird stuck in the goo so I stopped with the traps....for now.
 
The trick is simple.

Rats cannot see that well so they travel along walls and rarely go into open as no protection and they cannot see well.

2x4 make great walls and can be placed to direct traffic.

Traps need to be placed 90 degrees from wall with bait next to wall and spaced so one going off does not trip the next one.

Locating where they climb is the hard part then place trap and get them.

Had little luck with bucket traps, runway setting gets many and bait not even needed as they just run over them.

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Parked my Datsun and walked to the river in the woods one afternoon. Got back and it would start slowly then stop as soon as I let go of the key. Opened hood to see marmot? between the fender liner and engine compartment in a punched hole in the metal. He ran off after I shook a stick at him. He had chewed through one or two of the fuel injection wires inside the fender area. But the starting injector still worked and sprayed enough fuel to get it running sort of. I was lucky to be able to splice the wires with some wire someone gave me and wrapped it up with handiwrap for insulation. If it had been 1/4" further in I could not have done it. I shoved a needle into the shortest wire to get it connected. I have no idea why I had a needle in the car that day.
Bill D
 








 
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