POST #21-27 

The RAT PATROL!  

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No, not the 1960s TV show The Rat Patrol the action and adventure television series that aired between 1966 and 1968.

The show follows four Allied soldiers who are part of a long-range desert patrol group in the North African campaign during World War II. Their mission: "to attack, harass and wreak havoc on Field Marshal Rommel's vaunted Afrika Korps".

No, this Rat Patrol is the attempts to prevent the rodent rats of the desert from getting into the vehicles engine compartment or vehicle undercarriage and chewing the wires and building nests in any cavity they can find.

The biggest culprits are the Desert Pack Rats....also known as the Desert Woodrat....

Or possibly the Kangaroo Rat....

Or maybe the Chipmunk looking Antelope Squirrel...

But mostly the packrat! After the first night we were in White Tank Regional Park back in 2016 we got into "Pootzie" and tried to start it up, but it was only running on 2 cylinders.  We opened the hood and found that 2 spark plug wires were badly chewed, and a nest was already being built behind the left headlight.  Had to splice the wires to be able to drive into town to get new ones! The rats had gotten into the underbelly of our neighbors 5th wheel and decimated the wiring during the week that they were camped.  They had to bring in a RV repair company to fix it ...took two days...It seem that the insulation on most modern wiring is soy based...Rat food!

I picked up a two rat traps on the way back and set them under the coach and the car.  in the morning the traps were full...packrats!  I noticed other campers had rope lights on the ground under the vehicles, so I got some and tried laying them out...

Then I set up a trail cam to record video and watch for the rats...the first few nights they would come up to the rope lights then run away.  Later they would eventually cross the rope lights.

So then I tried "Star Shower Motion Laser Lights".  You can see it under the front of the motorhome...

The rats did not like these at all!  While watching trail cam video from several nights, they would come under the rig and the moving stars would hit them and move around them...the rats would jump and run every time.  Unfortunately the moving laser light would shine a long way...into neighboring campsites...not good!  Plus we had to run extension cords to them....not easy if we are at a site with no electricity!  

Moving lights are the key!  So we found these rechargeable emergency road flares!  The come in a set of 3 and are waterproof.

We run them all night and then recharge them during the day through their usb port.  

Tap the arrow below to see video...

We think our mission to harass and wreak havoc on the Rats has been a success!  No rats have been recorded on the trail cam and no wires have been chewed!  

Until Next Time!