Rats & Mice in the Simpson
Submitted: Saturday, Apr 22, 2017 at 22:08
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Kate J2
Crossing the Simpson in June, have been doing a little research and reading of peoples
blogs and trip reports and I wanted to know if a certain "rumour" is true.
After a good wet season, like the one we are at the end of now, It is said that rodent numbers increase significantly and that the Simpson is flooded with them. True? False?
People park their vehicles up earlier than later to allow them to cool down, open up the bonnets and hang torches to light up the engine area to discourage rodents from getting in there and chewing up all your hoses and wiring?
Is this common practice? Has anyone had any real trouble with this occuring?
Ive also read that people have placed lighting around the exterior of their tents/swags to keep rodents at bay?
Im just curious to know, if this is a legitimate and common issue that people face crossing the Simpson, and how they deal with it.
PS. They dont frighten me, I just dont like the idea of the damage they may cause to my vehicle and my gear.
Reply By: Mick O - Saturday, Apr 22, 2017 at 22:22
Saturday, Apr 22, 2017 at 22:22
Kate, having survived a couple of mouse plagues in the Mallee, I think you'll find the conditions that lead to a 'plague' in
the desert regions like the Simpson are slightly different and correspond to the prevalence of flood waters rather than solid rains. The increase in mice/rats both native and otherwise have been recorded to increase in the Simpson around the times of the floods through the area.
If vast areas are inundated again due to floodwaters flowing from the north through to
Lake Eyre etc, then yes you'll find an increase in rodents. If it's climatic conditions like the breaking of a long drought (which it's not),. you'll see an increase but not significant in terms of being described as a 'plague'.
It's amazing to actually see the types of nocturnal animals that hop about the dunes of a night. We would often smooth over a patch of sand on a dune top and then re investigate in the morning to see what has left tracks across it. the results are amazing.
For any rodents, the precautions are the same. secure your vehicle at night, secure foodstuffs and zip up your tent
well enough. Keep loose food stuffs out of the tent. Mice in Oz or Bears in Alaska/Canada...the same rules apply :-)
Cheers and enjoy the Simpson.
Mick

Desert prints
AnswerID:
610445
Reply By: Bob Y. - Qld - Saturday, Apr 22, 2017 at 22:40
Saturday, Apr 22, 2017 at 22:40
Yes Kate, that rumour is true. BUT I don't think it has been a good wet season in the Simpson, though it may have been a little better than the 87% of Qld that is currently in drought. The Long Haired Plague Rat and the mice usually get to plague proportions after extreme rain events such as around 2010-2012.
From what I've seen along the
Birdsville track, the mice appear after dark, hang around for an hour or two, then head off to do what mice do, whatever that might be. The rats can cause a lot more damage, say overnight, so it is best to lock up ALL foodstuff, shut vehicles up and don't leave your RM Williams boots outside the tent.
Yes, I'd lift the bonnet, but the lights probably won't make much difference to them. Hanging moth balls/naphthalene around the engine bay has been suggested to keep them away. Some essential oils might do the same too? There has been a number of threads on this site over the years, about the rat problem, so might be worth doing a search on here. Am sure you'll get numerous responses on this as many would have experienced these furry fellars.
Don't let it stop you doing a crossing though!
Bob
AnswerID:
610446
Follow Up By: Bob Y. - Qld - Sunday, Apr 23, 2017 at 15:56
Sunday, Apr 23, 2017 at 15:56
Not
Simpson Desert mice, Kate, but cousins from Clayton's
Camp, on the lower
Birdsville Track.
Friendly little fellars who ate their wholemeal bread and left. They were even thicker over at Muloorina
campground.

Hungry mice.
Bob
FollowupID:
880390
Reply By: cruza25 - Sunday, Apr 23, 2017 at 11:54
Sunday, Apr 23, 2017 at 11:54
Hi Kate
Not sure about the numbers but when we did Simpson and
innamincka a few years ago we didn't see many.
But we did have a bit of under bonnet damage.
We have a 150 prado and they had nibbled on some sensor wires and injector cables on top of the engine. Nothing caused a problem luckily.
A bit of tape and cable protection was fitted as a repair.
We did set up by 3-4.00 most days and lifted the bonnet to assist cooling.
It could have been worse, I have seen some photos of really bad damage that required a recovery.
Don't let anything like that put you off, enjoy the journey, it's an amazing place.
Cheers
Mike
AnswerID:
610458
Reply By: Member - Stephen L (Clare SA) - Sunday, Apr 23, 2017 at 16:29
Sunday, Apr 23, 2017 at 16:29
Hi Kate
We are truely seasoned Simpson Travellers and we have only ever had them bad out there in 2011.
2010 was very wet out there but it was still too early for them to have breed up.
Wanting to fulfil one on my lifetime ambitions to kayak out in the Simpson, we returned in 2011 and what a very different story.
During daylight hours you will not see one single rodent, but come dust, they came out of the "Woodwork" as such.
We left our bonnet up and we heard some great stories from locals in
Birdsville and how much damage they had done to their cars.
The worst part was feeling them run over our swag at night and then in the morning, large rat droppings over our swag.
We lived to tell the story and from all accounts, it will need a very good previous season to have them in plague proportions like in 2011.
Cheers
Stephen

Our camp on the Eyre Creek - just perfect during the day

There are not too many people that can lay claim to paddling Eyre Creek in the Simpson

At the end of the day, out they came = so make sure everything is packed away.

We can all lay clay to driving over Big Red, but how many can claim to paddle their
AnswerID:
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Reply By: AlanTH - Monday, Apr 24, 2017 at 09:13
Monday, Apr 24, 2017 at 09:13
Brings back memories of our one and only mouse experience. We camped with our van at
CLiff Heads on the way north last year and there was big rain downfall over night.
Over the next day or so I sensed rather than saw a quick movement out of the corner of my eye when getting anything out of the vehicle. We laid a bait of peanut butter on a plastic takeaway thing and next morning it had gone.
Turfed everything out but not a
sign of anything.
Then at our next stop I happened to tell an old chap (Fletch from Q/Land) about it and he lent us a "humane trap" made of about 50 mm square plastic tubing.
I baited it up for overnight and got 2 of the little beasts.
When I took the end off the trap the first mouse came out like a rocket straight into the spinifex followed seconds later it's mate.
Couldn't buy the traps in WA so I ordered them from the east and haven't seen a mouse since. :-)
Alan TH.
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610491