Rat problem on Cape York

No such problems up there last August but I guess it depends where you stay. We stayed at Loyalty Beach Campsite near Seisia.
Pedro

I can confirm that rats do love the wiring in my tractors here on the Northern Rivers, have also found a rats nest in the engine bay in my car with fresh babies, but no damage. Keeping the bonnet up over night might be best if security is not a problem. The damage to the tractors has run into a few thousand dollars. Some people have said to keep moth balls in areas where they like to make a nest. Its usually in warm places like an engine bay or transmission tunnel and usually if the vehicle sits in one place for a few days.
The light on might be a good idea.

Grab a couple of smelly, hanging things that go in the toilet and place them under the bonnet. We haven't had any damages since and they are cheap. Maybe we have been lucky or they work. Cheap anyway. Can't recall their name.

They most certainly do. Anywhere up that way where there is rainforest and campers that the white tailed rats see as an easy meal ticket.

Talking to a ranger at Tinaroo Dam, they had a Triton and a Navara get taken out on tilt trays after white tailed rats ate the electrics. The ranger at Chili Beach warned us about them too.
I had our toiletry bag stolen stolen from my camp, I found the soap tray and the shaving cream with the lid chewed off the tin. They weren't keen on the tooth paste for some reason.

Years ago I had mates on exercise in the jungle just out of Tully and the rats would eat straight through the side of their packs to get to the food inside. One bloke had his ear lobe bitten.

The white tailed rat doesn't like light, so some people set up some LED strips to provide some illumination. I bought an Osram Spylux battery powered movement activated light and stuck it under the car with the little magnet on the back, 2 would have been better.
We had some visitors during the night and the light would come on and they would leave. A bit of light and good house keeping and they shouldn't have a reason to hang around.


http://www.nationallampsandcomponents.co.uk/f.php/Led-Lighting/Osram-LED-Lighting-/Osram-Spylux-Automatic-Night-Light/29/553/3289

Have not heard of any problem up the Cape, but their was a mice plague out on the Cooper Creek and around Birdsville a couple of years ago where a lot of vehicles had wiring chewed.

Been up the Cape a few time now and never had a problem, But a phone call to one of the roadhouses would give you better advice, as you won't know till after the wet season. And by June there would be plenty of people who have already been their to find out.


Cheers Andy

Chilli Beach was the only place we have seen them.

I have been going to the Cape since the eighties, and have never had a problem with rats. A tidy camp is the key to keeping them at bay, and with that I mean not to throw the crust from your sandwiches, banana skins etc into the scrub around your site. We were once camped and did not shut the rear door, woke to find a kangaroo rat having a good crack at tub of butter after having a go at the bananas.

Rodents are a constant problem, no matter where you are. I live 5kms from the CBD and we have a constant problems with rats.
As soon as a house is knocked down nearby, you can see rats scurrying along the tops of the boundary fences, even in daylight.
They learn to avoid Ratsak baits, we have had most success with the wax blocks.

As far as vehicles are concerned, rodents seek food, protection from predators via enclosed small dark spaces, warmth, and nest-building spots, in that order.
Thus vehicles carrying food are the equivalent of a KFC store to kids, to rodents.

You can do a lot to discourage rodents by ensuring there's no food scraps left about, by placing stainless steel scourer balls in orifices where they might enter, and by placing lights in dark areas.

Very few of the rodent repellers, by way of strong smells, are 100% effective. Mothballs are probably the best, but be aware napthalene vapours are considered moderately toxic via inhalation by the U.S. EPA. - so you don't want to install mothballs in any ventilation system that provides air to the vehicle interior.

Rodents live in sewers and rubbish dumps, so potent smells have little effect on them.
What does frighten them is urine smells of predators. On that basis, a weak ammonia solution probably has as much effect as anything else.

Cheers, Ron.

Thanks for the info folks it will help