Rodents Invade Engine Compartments

Question: I live on a street where many people have the same problem. Tree squirrels or rats take up residence overnight in the engine compartments of cars parked outside. They defecate and urinate there, and the uric acid and other filth make the engine compartment look a mess, short-circuits wires and corrodes aluminum parts. What can we do?

B.B.

Pacific Palisades

Answer: Sounds like rats. And believe me, you’re not alone. You can get a free, professional assessment of the situation by calling the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services’ vector management program at (323) 881-4046.

They’ll send an investigator to your house to get an idea what’s going on and how to stop it.

The investigator will want to look at feces and any evidence of cuts and tears in rubber hoses and wires, so don’t clean up before they get there or it’ll be a little like cleaning up a crime scene before the detective arrives.

He or she will also look at your neighborhood’s topography and your yard’s landscaping to see where the rats are living and what they’re eating.

The goal will be to help you eliminate or alter areas harboring the rats. Because rat problems are usually not restricted to just one house, the investigator will need to talk with your adjacent neighbors.

In fact, the department tells me the investigator is required to talk with them, although it insists the policy is nondisclosure. In other words, for folks who might be skittish about their neighbors’ attitudes toward a possible rodent infestation, mum’s the word from the investigator.

According to Frank Hall, chief of the vector management program, the investigator will not only assess your situation, he will show you how to use traps if necessary, and provide rodenticide, complete with instructions on its use and a disclaimer to sign.

Because rodents are such quick breeders and many homes are adjacent to wild areas, getting rid of rodents altogether can be pretty difficult.

The truth is, you may have to accept their presence outside and be content with keeping them out of the garage and house.

Mourning Doves Make Flowerpot Home

Q: Last April, two mourning doves made their home in a half-empty flowerpot on my balcony. I’m not sure how long it was before the two became four, but soon the parents started leaving together for a few hours, then all night. Then they’d reappear. What in the world were they doing, and is it possible they had another nest?

Also, another couple moved in just days after the first seemed to have left for good. Are they, in fact, the same pair or a new couple?

J.D.

Los Angeles

A: Mourning dove males are real family men. Typically, the males bring nesting materials to the nest for the female to build with, and incubate the eggs during the day while the female takes night duty.

Once the young are born, both parents feed their young with crop milk, a super-nutritious substance produced in the crop, a food-storage chamber near the esophagus.

After two weeks or so, the young birds, now fledglings, learn to fly. But unlike what children’s cartoons would have you believe, it’s more a process than an event.

In fact, it can take several days for fledglings to learn how to use their wings well enough to avoid such dangers as cats. During this period, the parents stick close by their young.

As way of explanation for their seemingly erratic comings and goings, many young birds, still being carefully watched over by their parents, may return to the nest the first few nights to roost. A parent may accompany them or not.

Although some species of birds can have more than one nest at a time, if conditions permit, mourning dove males do not. But they commonly have more than one clutch a year, often reusing the same nest with the same mate. So the second couple very likely may have been the same pair.

Bloodmeal Is a Dandy Rabbit Repellent

A Reader to the Rescue: I thought I’d offer a tip for other readers with rabbit problems. Sprinkle bloodmeal around the yard and flowerbeds to keep them from getting at the plants and eating them. The rabbits hate it, but it won’t hurt them.

G.S.

Laguna Hills

A. How right you are! Bloodmeal is, indeed, an effective rabbit deterrent.

Certain groups of animals will react similarly to offensive tastes or smells. Researchers have discovered this principle holds true for two seemingly unlikely cohorts, rabbits and deer.

Both herbivores, they have an absolute disdain for odors that result from protein degradation. That’s to say, rotten eggs, predator urine and, as you pointed out, bloodmeal.

But if you’ve had a tough time keeping deer out of the yard with just bloodmeal, there’s a spiffy product that foresters use to protect saplings called Deer Away Big Game Repellent. Although it won’t keep them out of the yard, its immediate repellency will keep them away from the plants you spray it on.

Deer Away BGR is good for a couple of months or until it rains, when it will need to be reapplied. You can purchase it by contacting IntAgra at (800) 468-2472, or check your local nursery.

Playing Host to Migrating Swallows

Dear Readers: Even if you don’t visit San Juan Capistrano each year, you may be one of thousands of homeowners in the Southland who will be seeing the swallows return this year--up close and personal.

For the uninitiated, cliff swallows are the svelte, bluish-black, industrious little birds that return to the Southland every spring. They originally built mud nests under ledges and in the rain-hollowed rocks of canyons and cliffs--one mud pellet at a time.

But as natural nesting areas have diminished, the birds have wisely adapted to alternate sites with great success.

Today, they’re building their nests under the eaves of houses, stores and movie theaters--anywhere there’s a combination of four important elements:

* A vertical surface beneath an overhang to attach the mud pellets one at a time.

* An open habitat nearby to forage for insects.

* A nearby pond or puddle to collect mud pellets.

* A source of fresh drinking water.

If your house was selected by the birds last year as a perfect nesting site and the experience (for you) was pleasant, remember that old nests can be a hazard to the birds.

The nests are more at risk of falling or breaking, and parasites the birds might have had may still be there to infect them and their young this year.

If the nests are more than a few years old, knock ‘em down with a strong sprayer attached to your hose. Follow up with a general-purpose insecticide, quickly before new ones arrive.

If, on the other hand, you’re wringing your hands over the thought of another summer wiping bird droppings off the patio furniture and you’ve had it with these visitors, it’s time to put up bird netting under your eaves.

You can buy super-strong, reusable netting that’s been hand-knotted in England through Bird Barrier America, (800) 503-5444 or https://www.birdbarrier.com.

They’ll provide all the gear to attach the net to your house and instructions on its installation, but the gist is that it should go up under the eaves at a 90-degree angle and allow no way for the birds to enter the area. It’s important there are no gaps, or birds may become trapped and die.

Please skip the sticky goo and the plastic owls. The goo can damage wings and kill small birds, and plastic owls are, well, a bird’s best friend.

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Got critter conflicts? Send your queries to wildlife biologist Andrea Kitay at P.O. Box 2489, Camarillo, CA 93011, or via e-mail to andrea@livingwithwildlife.com. Please include your name and city. Questions cannot be answered individually. For a list of Wildlife Bulletins that provide sound advice on homeowner-wildlife conflicts ($4 each), send a SASE to the above address, or visit https://www.livingwithwildlife.com.