Checked your air filter lately?

[Harald]

With 20,000 miles on my 07 and a cold winter weekend, I decided it would be a good time to replace the air filter (amoung other maintenance items). I had no idea what a surprise I was in store for.

Can you guess what happened here? Yes, I had a welfare mom try to setup home inside my air filter. She had already stashed some "food" that she stole from me from the corner of my garage. Too bad she ate some of the "food" and never made it back to her new home. Actually, very good for me that she never made it back to her home after eating some of that delicious food or I would have had an even bigger surprise.

No wonder the FJR has been running so good. Those rat bait pellet fumes really boost performance! :yahoo:

 

[TILAM]

They used to say moth balls in gas was an octane booster but rat pellets in the air box is a new one to me

 

[El Toro]

Its funny how the vermin seem to find the warm spots. I've opened air filters and found corn, and even bedding materials. I keep the bikes that are getting ridden regularly, like the FJR, in an unheated outbuilding. There is a second outbuilding behind the one where the bikes are, and yesterday we had a hawk on the roof of the second building watching/hunting toward the first one. I hope he can keep my rodent population in check. I don't want any hitchhikers.

 

[Rides Alone]

A perpetual problem in my country located garage....I had a solid mass of a mouse nest...totally clogged. That was a year or so ago. Since then I have had to resort to not using the detached garage. The FJR is now in the attached heated garage which remains mouse free. The mc mechanics asked if we had kept it in a barn with a dirt floor or something...and the answer was "no"...we had a nice garage with a smooth cement floor. However, mice are definitely resilient and pernacious critters. It certainly pays to keep an eye on that filter.

 

[radman]

I'm thinkin more of the varmint thrills that would have ensued following that first start-up should said varmint have been chewin on breakfast. Yee Haw!

 

[BulletBrad]

We had the same problem last spring with a customer and his 650 Burgman. Chipmunks had filled his clutch housing with nuts for a nice winter storage. Spring rolled around and he started the Burgman and tried to ride away. All that happened was he jammed the belt and clutches. Lucky we got it fixed under warranty for him and Suzuki never knew. A week after he picked it up, he was back with massive rattles coming out of it at 65 to 70 mph. We found more nuts in the airbox and figured you had to be going that fast for the air to make a tornado inside and rattle the nuts. He now rides a new Yamaha T-Max and has the bike stored INSIDE his apartment for the winter.

 

[happyPuppy]

I had a 305 Scrambler, and had to go stay with Uncle Sam for awhile. When I got out I went to start it and no go. A "family" had set up a home and chewed the wires, hoses and lots of other stuff. I just said heck with it parted it and got a new ride.

 

[johnny80s]

We had $800 worth of chewing done on our Volvo last year. Since then I have made sure to feed the varmints those little green pellets. I give them as much as they can eat. So far I have found two dead mice in the driveway. We have also had to put hardware cloth over the openings to airboxes in the cars. Mice love to move in there and chew up the filters to make a nice bed.

I love the green pellets!

 

[FJRBluesman]

I found a school of sea manatees in my air filter one time. Ever seen the trap for one of those?

 

[Bungie]

I found a school of sea manatees in my air filter one time. Ever seen the trap for one of those?

A habitat for huge manatee's? (wonders how many will get that)

 

[wfooshee]

I put some of those bait things down in my shed after finding rodentary evidence on my mower. Rodent problem solved, but I had about 3 days of more ants than you can imagine! They seemed to love the stuff. For a while. Then they went away, too.

 

[zzzzip]

I posted up a similar photo a couple of years ago. A subsequent photo showed the mine field of mouse traps I placed around the garage specifically near the bike. I run the traps regularly, even in the summer (I'm out in the country) and haven't had any more nests. I'm getting quite a body count though-- 10 or 12 /year. Since it was -9 degrees last night, I imagine they will try to move in again.

Gotta go... run traps.

B)

EDIT: make that 13.

 

[Harald]

I posted up a similar photo a couple of years ago. A subsequent photo showed the mine field of mouse traps I placed around the garage specifically near the bike. I run the traps regularly, even in the summer (I'm out in the country) and haven't had any more nests. I'm getting quite a body count though-- 10 or 12 /year. Since it was -9 degrees last night, I imagine they will try to move in again.
Gotta go... run traps.

B)

EDIT: make that 13.

Traps are much more fun and I love confirmation of kills! :evil: But the bait is so much easier to use. And once the bait stops getting hit, then I know they are all dead.

A little off topic, but I also have a major mole problem at my country home. They finally developed an effective mole poison (Talpirid) that is essentially poisoned gummy worms. It works, but there's no kill confirmation. So I still end up using the old claw traps so that I can gloat over a dead body. :devil:

 

[squeezer]

I found a school of sea manatees in my air filter one time. Ever seen the trap for one of those?

They're known for their flatulence. Probably boosted your octane.

 

[El Toro Joe]

We had $800 worth of chewing done on our Volvo last year.

I'll bet yer wife enjoyd that!!!

 

[ian]

I covered the air inlets on my three bikes with 1/4" mesh wire after finding the air filter filled with cat food.

Some people in the north have a unique if cruel "mouse trap" for their cabins. They fill a bucket 2/3 with an antifreeze water miixture, smear peanut butter 1" down from the inside rim and check in the spring. Ian, Iowa

 

[Rolavine]

So you Decon-ected that critter from its prospective home?

Sorry, I can't help it!

 

[zorkler]

You should of started her up and let it warm up a bit and had breakfast

 

[Geezer]

You need a cat. Plenty of vermin in my rural yard including mice, moles, and voles. I am not a cat person, but we keep one in the basement garage. He likes to sit on one of the bikes and hunt the little critters. Cheap, safe, and effective. The only down side is that I find the occasional partial critter laying around.