Desert woodrat behavior
This year we had a problem with one or more desert woodrats (Neotoma lepida, also known as pack rats, go figure) fooling around under the hood of the Jamboree. After the vehicle sat for many months I finally opened the hood and found the engine compartment stuffed with leaves nibbled off a nearby hedge. The leaves were fresh, so the woodrats had been working not long before I discovered him. The entire air intake was stuffed with leaves, I had to dismantle it to clean it out.
After cleaning up as best I could (the steel crossmember in the foreground is still stuffed with leaves, I can't figure out how to get them out), I came back the next day and the intake was once again stuffed with leaves. The woodrat must have worked all night.
I cleaned it up again and moved the vehicle away from the hedge, and that brought me some peace for a while.
So this weekend I opened the hood and found this: the intake was once again stuffed with leaves, but the woodrat had also collected gravel and stuffed the last couple inches of the intake with rocks, and also left some rocks elsewhere under the hood. Boy, that must have been hard work, carrying each rock in his teeth while climbing up into the engine.
I simply can't imagine why he did it. These woodrats are nest-builders, and I have had problems with them using the insulation from under the hoods of my other cars to build nests on top of the intake manifolds. But while the droppings indicate the woodrats spend a lot of time under the hood of the RV, there is no nest.
Desert woodrat behavior
This year we had a problem with one or more desert woodrats (Neotoma lepida, also known as pack rats, go figure) fooling around under the hood of the Jamboree. After the vehicle sat for many months I finally opened the hood and found the engine compartment stuffed with leaves nibbled off a nearby hedge. The leaves were fresh, so the woodrats had been working not long before I discovered him. The entire air intake was stuffed with leaves, I had to dismantle it to clean it out.
After cleaning up as best I could (the steel crossmember in the foreground is still stuffed with leaves, I can't figure out how to get them out), I came back the next day and the intake was once again stuffed with leaves. The woodrat must have worked all night.
I cleaned it up again and moved the vehicle away from the hedge, and that brought me some peace for a while.
So this weekend I opened the hood and found this: the intake was once again stuffed with leaves, but the woodrat had also collected gravel and stuffed the last couple inches of the intake with rocks, and also left some rocks elsewhere under the hood. Boy, that must have been hard work, carrying each rock in his teeth while climbing up into the engine.
I simply can't imagine why he did it. These woodrats are nest-builders, and I have had problems with them using the insulation from under the hoods of my other cars to build nests on top of the intake manifolds. But while the droppings indicate the woodrats spend a lot of time under the hood of the RV, there is no nest.