Ever find a rat's nest in your glove compartment?

[Misunderestimator]

I took my car for service, had a few things done, left it overnight. When I went to pick it up yesterday, it was in the lot with one of the windows rolled down. As I opened the driver door, I noticed that the glove compartment was open. (They had taken my manual out of it.)

Stuffed up in the corner of the compartment was a bunch of ripped material that looked like carpet padding :shrug:.

My first reaction was that they had pushed some insulation up through the engine into the glove compartment while they were working on it, so I took a handful of the stuff and brought it up to the mechanic, who immediately said... "Oh... rat's nest." :puke: It was then that I noticed small pieces of jerky mixed up in the concoction I was still holding in my hand. :puke:

:wtf: The glove compartment was clean when I dropped the car off, and we had just driven it across country the week before. The only thing I had left in the car was an unopened bag of Turkey Jerky... (and that's all gone now).

Do you think there's a chance it is still in the car somewhere? Or was it just shacking up there for the night?

[demnan]

1. When Lily gets done with mine

I'll send her over.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=243x4874

[Misunderestimator]

4. Thanks... I need her.

Or I could drive all the way back to Florida and have my ex-step-cat take a look. He was great with lizards.

[Heidi]

5. Please allow Lily to write her memoir one day.

The Wiley and Excellent Cat Named Ginger, and I, very much enjoyed reading Lily's account of the great rat hunt.

[demnan]

10. Oh definitely, thanks

How in the world could I stop her - that girl has a lot to say. :D (Her blogs -- and Pad Thai's -- are posted on catster, but we're just getting started).

http://www.catster.com/?99007 (Lily)

http://www.catster.com/?98993 (Pad Thai)

[Heidi]

21. Thank you! I'd never heard of catster!

I'll be sure and tell Ginger about it. He's very introspective (what with being given a "girl name" and all) and might be interested in having his own blog.

[demnan]

23. Ginger is a pretty Siamese

Why not also post her pictures over in Pet Group? (I had an orange cat named Luci so I know how all that goes)

[Heidi]

24. Ginger's a male!

He attributes "most" of his angst to having been given a girl's name. I hadn't seen the Pet Group, though. I'll visit this afternoon.

(Ginger's not really a Siamese, though. His father was a black and white stray, and his mother is my mother-in-law's gray cat. We don't know how he turned out like he did.)

[Richardo]

2. I thought you were speaking metaphorically...

:scared:

[MuseRider]

3. I would certainly look for it.

Out here in the country this is always a problem. If your car does not start the first thing you look for is a rats nest and chewed wires under the hood. We have opened the hood and been stared down by a rat who refused to move from her nest of chewed wires etc. We had the car towed into the repair shop and they had to chase the darned thing out into the lot, it still would not move. Look for it, the last thing you need is it popping up when you are in traffic. Good luck.

[Quakerfriend]

6. OMG, I've never heard of such a thing!

:crazy:

[Misunderestimator]

8. YUCK! That's exactly what I'm afraid of.

It could have retreated into the engine while I was looking... and will come out and bite my ankles while I'm driving. :scared:

[LynneSin]

7. Hood of NSMA's car? Glovebox of Misunderestimator's car?

damn, your cars are like an adult movie or something!!

[Misunderestimator]

9. LOL

Having a rat in the glovebox isn't exactly how I'd like to be remembered.

[ScreamingMeemie]

11. Noooo...

:scared: and I thought I had it bad during fish fly season. ;)

[Misunderestimator]

17. Have you found fish in your glove compartment?

:)

[ScreamingMeemie]

20. nope. But once I almost drove off the road when a fish fly flew in the

window. :hi:

[rasputin1952]

12. When my car was down for a couple of months, I had a rabitt move in

under the hood. She found a comfortable spot over the firewall, and had a litter in there!

When I went to get the car fixed, I transplanted all of them to the garage. Far as I know, they thrived until leaving after being weaned.

I did have damaged wires though from the gnawing....:(

[Misunderestimator]

13. Shoot... Now I have to go look...

Wonderful... I pay a fortune to get my timing belt replaced, and in return, I get a rat that will chew through all my other belts...

[demnan]

14. And people think feral cats are a problem?

[Misunderestimator]

15. Give me a feral cat, please!

That would solve my problem.

[Zuni]

29. exactly---kill feral cats and you get hordes of mice and rodents

cats prevent rodent over population

[Bunny]

16. Report to the nearest dealer and trade the car in immediately.

And buy a new one. At least, that's what I would do. My fear and loathing of rodents is so intense that I don't think I could enter that vehicle again. :scared:

[Misunderestimator]

18. I just finished paying it off a few months ago...

I can't let a rat take it from me...

[Bunny]

19. That's even better!

You'll get more on your trade!

Seriously, can you call an exterminator or something? Maybe someone could come to your house and flush the little fucker out? God, I hate rodents!!

[Misunderestimator]

22. I'm pretty sure it's gone, but...

I will probably get some mouse traps this afternoon.

[vptpt]

25. There was a car I was going to buy once

A used Subaru. First thing I noticed was a Mickey Mouse sticker on the back window. I thought, "If I buy this car, first order of business is to scrape that damn sticker off." I hate Disney, you see. I opened the door to get in and check it out. The windows were rolled up, and this awful stench hit me as soon as I sat down. I looked over at the console, which was open, and there were two dead mice in there.

Needless to say, I didn't buy the car.

Those people must have had a mouse fetish or something.

[frogbison]

26. No rats,

but we had a nest of hairless, eyes-closed baby squirrels in our glovebox once. THAT was a surprise! Unfortunately, we could not wait around for them to become old enough to survive on their own and they had to go.

[peekaloo]

27. Yes!

I had inadvertently left my window rolled down a tad while parked under a tree. At first I noticed a towel that was curiously rolled up in the back seat, didn't think too much of it. Didn't look in the glove compartment until a few days later when I found.......BABY RATS!!!! The mother had shredded all the papers in my glove box and WAS HIDING IN MY DASHBOARD. I had a radio/CD installed and there was an empty space where the old radio had been removed.

To make matters more disgusting my indoor/outdoor cat came to see what all the fuss was about and starting plucking the babies out of my glove box. :puke:

I paid my nephew $100 to clean/disinfect my car then took it in to check my wiring. No damage to car, just my psyche. I still look through my car every day for tell-tale signs.

p.s. I'll be trading it in soon so I wonder if that incident enhances the resale value. :silly:

[Misunderestimator]

28. It's a concensus... never leave your windows down.

Next time I take my car to the mechanic... I'm making sure they keep the windows and doors closed at night.

I just spent 20 minutes going through the car. I think it was just a one-night stay... I hope.

[peekaloo]

30. I kept those little packets of rat poison under my seat and in

my glove compartment for months after-wards. The poison is odorless and the paper packets will indicate if something has chewed on them. Ugh! Just keep an eye out for droppings.

Rat bastards!