Whats with squirrels and old Mercedes - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

chasinthesun · #1 06-03-2007, 05:36 PM

These guys seem to like my old 84 190d ,keep finding acorn husks along with nesting material,it was on top of my air cleaner and for a minute I thought I would find one in my aircleaner ,the intake hose has been off for awhile and could look enviting to a young small squirrel.Dont think these guys a munching on any wires but I dont want to wait till they do.

Douglas.Sherida · #2 06-03-2007, 06:04 PM

I'm not sure about squirrels, but I had some kind of rodent chewing on the rubber on the back bumper of my 85 300TD. It had to have been standing on its hind legs to get at it. It makes me chuckel everytime I notice the teeth marks.

On a related note, years ago I bartered for a 1958 VW firetruck. The engine had reen rebuilt but was left partially unassembled (intake manifold and carbs as I remember). I finished the assembly on the engine and it would crank and crank but not fire. After burning through a couple of battery charges, it finally fired up with an ear splitting bang. I ran to the back to check it out and there was nesting material shooting out the tailpipe. Some unlucky mice had made their home in the exhaust and the back pressure was preventing the engine from running. Once all the nesting had blown out/burned off it ran fine.

KAdams4458 · #3 06-03-2007, 06:58 PM

I don't know, but I'm still cleaning bits of nutshell out of the 300D's engine compartment. They're everywhere, even after pressure washing! I finally got around to pulling the old bent grill off of the car last night, and the hood pad is partially separated right behind the grill. There was a huge nest made of grass and hood pad remnants in there.

My guess is the car spent some time sitting in a field down in Oregon before the PO bought it. Rodents sure do seem to love old cars. I'm just glad that it doesn't have a rat problem like the '81 SD I looked at. That car was truly disgusting, since there were rat turds laying all over the interior of the car.

Fimum Fit · #4 06-03-2007, 08:29 PM

and ate the insulation off a lot of wiring just in front of the battery, chewed a hole in the top of the battery itself, and also chewed through one of the AC hoses in the vicinity. This was when the car was in fairly regular use, but not when it had just been parked with a nice warm engine. I can't understand why the ones who chewed through the AC hose and the battery weren't found frozen and dead right there, but they weren't. By the looks of the leaves packed into the space, they were just clearing room for a nest. At first I thought they might have been attracted by the peanut cooking oil blended into my fuel, but they didn't do a bit of damage on the injection pump or filter side of the engine.

A few months later, they attacked an almost brand new Mustang GT convertible belonging to the Ford Zone Manager next door, so it's not just old cars or German cars that they're after. They also started to nest under the hood of my wife's '95 SAAB 9000 while I was installing a new heater core (horrible job!), but didn't damage anything.

truckinik · #5 06-03-2007, 08:34 PM

Well, Squerrels are originally of European descent...
Germany perhaps....?
Maybe they know quality when they see it, and chose their cars as we Mercedes guys do...
If I were a squerrel, I'd hit up every single Mercedes I could for the winters. I'd likely be anti G.M. anti Chrysler, with the exception of the loosely attached Mercedes vehicles..

My $0.02

Matt L · #6 06-03-2007, 09:16 PM

M-B sells "marten protection systems" for the newer cars. Possibly for the older cars too. I can't imagine that martens are much better or worse than squirrels for your car.

JimmyL · #7 06-03-2007, 09:30 PM

Geez, I've got mouse poison out in both MB's even as we speak.

Little buggers ate 5 holes in my car cover for the 240 that was in the trunk, and they chewed through some cable right in front of the driver left foot area by the firewall.
My luck they will eat the poison and crawl into the evap housing....

There were a ton of pecan husks in my 300D parts car. I don't think having 13 pecan trees is helping in that area.

And when we got home last night and opened the garage door {for the wife's vehicle of course} a raccoon came shooting out of the garage.
Man my cats are slacking........

truckinik · #8 06-03-2007, 09:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JimmyL

Geez, I've got mouse poison out in both MB's even as we speak.

Little buggers ate 5 holes in my car cover for the 240 that was in the trunk, and they chewed through some cable right in front of the driver left foot area by the firewall.
My luck they will eat the poison and crawl into the evap housing....

There were a ton of pecan husks in my 300D parts car. I don't think having 13 pecan trees is helping in that area.

And when we got home last night and opened the garage door {for the wife's vehicle of course} a raccoon came shooting out of the garage.
Man my cats are slacking........

Do you live in a petting zoo..?

JimmyL · #9 06-04-2007, 12:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by truckinik

Do you live in a petting zoo..?

You have no idea!! We have 2 cats, one dog, 2 crabs, about 8 little fishies from a local pond (minnow-like). Also a stray cat that comes into the garage to help himself of cat food. Hamster just died, let a turtle go 3 days ago, and currently have 6 chickens in my daughters 2nd bedroom. This is coming off 2 large snakes on the front porch a couple weeks ago.
I'm sure others have more, but for us this is a lot!

dunl · #10 06-04-2007, 01:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JimmyL

You have no idea!! We have 2 cats, one dog, 2 crabs, about 8 little fishies from a local pond (minnow-like). Also a stray cat that comes into the garage to help himself of cat food. Hamster just died, let a turtle go 3 days ago, and currently have 6 chickens in my daughters 2nd bedroom. This is coming off 2 large snakes on the front porch a couple weeks ago.
I'm sure others have more, but for us this is a lot!

Get rid of the animals....keep the snakes.

300SD81 · #11 06-04-2007, 01:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dunl

Get rid of the animals....keep the snakes.

Wasn't there someone who had a snake living in their banz a while ago?

truckinik · #12 06-04-2007, 01:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JimmyL

You have no idea!! We have 2 cats, one dog, 2 crabs, about 8 little fishies from a local pond (minnow-like). Also a stray cat that comes into the garage to help himself of cat food. Hamster just died, let a turtle go 3 days ago, and currently have 6 chickens in my daughters 2nd bedroom. This is coming off 2 large snakes on the front porch a couple weeks ago.
I'm sure others have more, but for us this is a lot!

Crabs...You have Crabs..!!??

Only kidding, Yep, your house sounds like mine when I grew up. We had everything. Including those land bound "Hermit crabs"

Currently, my younger brother, is full time middle school science teacher, and a part time exotic pets dealer. He sells everything from Monkeys, Parrots, Crocodiles, Alligators, Lizards, Snakes of all kinds, venomous, and not, and any kind of Turtle, you can think of. His basement is ridiculous. It's a lot of fun to visit him though. That, and a min-Pin, and three cats. I love the animals.

My parents, at their house, have eight Italian Grey Hounds running around, a rabbit, Hamster, Turtle and they're babysitting my three Miniature Dacshunds to boot.

My mother, has a home daycare in the house as well, with seven kids every day also, and my 16 year old nightmare sister to deal with.My father, is like a big kid, and likes to be catered to a lot. I don't know how that woman does it I swear it would drive me insane. Her blood pressure is through the roof as it is.

I'm not a "Cat Person" myself, but can deal with them when I must.

Jim B. · #13 06-04-2007, 05:06 AM

My brother also, is a reputable and successful dealer in exotic reptiles. Mostly non poisonous kingsnakes, but also can handle parrots, iguanas, commercial mice for food, and turtles. It is educational and interesting to get a look at the business from the commercial point of view.

They can be shipped legally by UPS, Greyhound Bus, and on airplanes.

On a side note, sometime ago, I was travelling on a MUNI bus
up on Russian Hill in San Francisco when a young woman boarded it with a large boa constrictor around her arms and neck, and a cage with a large tarantula in it.

She told me the boa constrictor's name was "Julius Squeezer".

The spider was named "Serenity"