Squirrel Emergency

@Azblue , could we get an sad, crying face emoji with a half masted flag?

Just a thought in honor of those who have fallen

 

Such a tragic ending.

 

What a way to go though. Damn squirrels can be vicious.

 

Squirrel. 1
Human. 0

Damn, lost another one.

 

Comrades,

Sorry to keep you in suspense! Everyone is alive and unharmed. Although I still haven’t had a chance to put my truck back together yet.

So much has gone on in the world of men and squirrels since last we spoke. Long story short, the squirrels weren’t stuck, they were just hunkering down. From what I can tell there was a whole family in there - 2 adults and 3 juveniles!

Popping off the cowl cover was the ticket. One of the adult squirrels was in there. I rooted him out with a little bendy stick thingy, but then he shot to the other side and escaped back into the engine compartment. There are little rectangular holes at each end.

Basically they can go anywhere in the engine compartment, and the tunnel underneath the cowl cover lets them run from one side to the other without having to pass over/through the engine.

So after he gave me the slip, there wasn’t anything else I could do. I realized that I would have to make them leave. Removing them just isn’t an option because they can go ANYWHERE. You’d have to take the whole truck apart. It looked like they made their leaf nest in what I call, the “heart of the engine.” The intake manifold maybe? There’s a space in the middle. I heard them rustling around in there. I think they were calling me rude names and laughing at me. They had no way of knowing I was an ally.

So anyways, I set up a Blink camera and that’s when things got hilarious. I got probably 30 clips before I turned it off. That’s how I realized there was three cute little babies and at least one adult left inside. I think the other adult ran into the bushes when I started working on it.

By the next evening, it seemed like they had ditched their nest. Haven’t gotten anything on the Blink cam, and haven’t heard anything. I tried blowing the leaf nest out with a - wait for it - leaf blower, but some leaves were stuck. I also got one of those hypersonic rodent deterrent devices and set that up to keep them from coming back. The so-called experts say they don’t work, but the Amazon reviews seem promising. I’m gonna have to take more stuff apart later to clean the nest all the way out. Gonna get some of the deterrent sprays as well. And run the truck more. I’m not seeing any chewed wires or any other apparent damage, luckily.

I am gonna have to get more of those little plastic rivet thingys that hold the cowl cover on. I couldn’t see any way to remove them without just popping them like a champagne cork, so that’s what I did. No idea where they ended up.

Check out the action. You can see the difference between the adult and the babies. They are clumsy and have round little heads. They just look like they’re running around checking stuff out, since the hood was open and the cowl cover was off. So much room for activities!

Thanks everyone for your help! Glad to finally be part of this prestigious club.

 

Mama Mia, what is that! A squirrel invasion! Sir, I know you have a kind heart, but those rats need to die!

 

Under-manifold is notorious, and they often chew up wires for the knock sensors and the starter. Lots of damage. And on top of the fuel tank. All that is discussed in the first posts of this thread, search for the word "rodents": https://www.tundras.com/threads/so-you-wanna-buy-just-bought-a-1st-gen-tundra-eh.115928/

Cowl fasteners and - since you're in there, the one that eventually causes a passenger floorboard leak for everybody - part numbers are in this thread, in the "cowl leak" section near the top: https://www.tundras.com/threads/definitive-2000-2006-cab-area-rain-water-leak-thread.70464/

Now you not only have one squirrel that equates your truck to "home", you have at least four. You've got your work cut out for you, you'll be battling them for years to come.

 

Perfect! Thank you, I appreciate it!

 

They are just so cute though! And my wife loves them. A few years ago there was a litter of babies that would come crawl on the bedroom window screen every morning, like they were saying hi. It was pretty funny. So yeah, not saying I wouldn’t exterminate them if I had to, but I’d rather not. Look at the babies with their cute round heads!!

 

Damn! I think they're cute as well ... but at my age, ripping my truck apart to remove them is the last thing I need.

 

Tell me this truck sits idle for extended periods of time. If not, I ain't gonna be your neighbor anytime soon

 

Sure is funny maybe something like this might convince Mr.Rogue to exterminate the threat.

https://youtu.be/kCleVGUxTi4?feature=shared

It was bout 8,300 dollars funny

 

Yeah, they do a shitload of damage. They destroyed wiring in my neighbor's house, and try to do the same in the walls of our daughter's room. Some of them chewed a hole thru @abcinv's gas filler neck, IIRC. If you don't nip it in the bud, your stuff is just one big nest to chew on.

Squirrels are like many rodents, their teeth never stop growing. They need to chew on stuff to wear their teeth down. They don't know the difference between your wiring harness and a tree root. Therein lie the problem.

They're rodents with a bushy tail.

If they didn't have the cute fluffy tail, I highly doubt humans would find them so "cute". If they weren't so damn destructive, I'd probably say they're cute also.

 

Yeah, I just have it for truck stuff, so I’m not using it constantly. I try to drive it regularly or at least let it run for a bit, but obviously I need to more. I’m not convinced those squeels hadn’t gone for a ride though, because it hadn’t been that long since I drove it. You’d think it would’ve been too hot for them though, haha

 

I have a knock sensor code thrown this am. Truck sat 5 days while we were away. I am assuming red squirrels. Is intake manifold gasket a must change with this job?
It’s sitting till Saturday I’m hoping they don’t visit other wires before then lol

 

.22 airgun.

 

Is this for the '02 AC?
Have the lower intake gaskets ever been changed, or are they still original?

If they're original at that mileage, I'd replace proactively. And I'd get rodent tape and tape up all the wires after repairing what's there. Which knock sensor code you getting?

 

07 2UZ 220k original gasket
O332

 

Had the same problem - my fan was making weird noises when I turned on heat or AC. Turned out my squirrel somehow wedged his way into the cabin filter but eventually got out. Had to pull the glovebox, the cover in the back to pull out a shredded filter, then had to drop the fan behind it to clean out the rest of the mess. Perhaps look back there for the culprit or any other damage?

 

I cut galvanized lathe from home depot the size of air filter and slid it in along with cabin filter. That way, if squirrel or other rat gets in there, she won't be able to chew it.

 

What kind of squirrels are these cabin dwellers? Around my parts (SoCal Southern Sierras) we have ground squirrels that seem really happy underground in their tunnels and grey squirrels that live in the pine trees. The only critter that invades the cars are the meeces. I hates meeces to pieces. But not when Chomper is on patrol.

 

Cats are the best in this regard. Even having a cat around will deter most small critters.

There's a barn cat that watches my yard. I am glad he is not any bigger because he would probably be leaving antelope and cow calf parts on my doorstep in the morning instead of mouse halves and bunny legs. Mean little guy gets everything.

 

We rescued 2 kittens about 8 years ago. One was great mouser and hunter in general. Birds, voles, squirrels, you name it she brought it home to our door step. Her sister not so much. She rather lay around and not do a damn thing but eat and sleep. We had to out the good one down a few months back due to a loosing battle with feline leukemia. So now we have a cat that won't do its job. I'm ready to trade her in for a better one.

 

Sorry to hear that Your other cat probably keeps a lot of critters away, if only in her presence.

Someone recommended L-lysine for feline leukemia to me, well a cat that I had anyway lol. It helped with the eye-crud buildup that he developed from the leukemia. I could blend it with his food without him rejecting it too. I take it when I get head colds now too. I'd never heard of it before honestly.

 

Thanks for the kind words, and the drug tip. Never heard of it myself...

She had a good run battling leukemia for a number of years. When she stopped eating altogether and had troubling walking we felt the most humane things was to lay her to rest. It was a tough decision but it felt right when we did it. And you're right about critters smelling the cat is a deterrent in itself. Trading her in was a bit of a joke that my family and I never tire of. We wouldn't actually trade her in. She's a good cuddle buddy for the kids and the dogs.

 

I've read that mice have evolved to flee the scent of cat urine as a defense. This is a bad smell, move on. I think it's true, no mice around here that I can tell. Besides cats are cool. Here's a pic of the best cat in the world, Tuffy. We had a connection like no other. RIP buddy.

Relaxing on his Tundra hood.

 

It's a supplement from the grocery store. I take it with vitamin c when I feel a cold coming. It's good stuff! Small dose for a cat, 1/8 of the "horse pill" that comes in the container.

 

I think I killed about 40-50 plus since covid days? Fock them bastards. Few years back it took me 3 months to get 2 of them outta my attic. I was PISSED. I have a nice bb sniper rifle and it works perfect. No mercy....

 

I raised two orphaned baby squirrels once. 10 months in my house. Didn't let them run loose and stopped letting them climb on me when I realized they'd likely think every human is as friendly as me.

You don't know the meaning of "stress" until you have some place you just have to be and a squirrel is lost in your house. That was the first and last time I tried to vacuum their cage.