One of the hazards of keeping vehicles in a rainforest environment is the frequent occurrence of Native Rats taking up residence under the bonnet of vehicles and creating a nest. I have heard tales of very expensive nests made from the wiring …….. we have had a few chews over the years but nothing too serious.
Our main problem has been with Fawn-footed Melomys deciding that the chamber which houses the fan of the air-conditioning unit is the perfect place for a nest. When we drove out earlier in the week we put on the air conditioning, as its fairly warm at the moment. At first it sounded like a leaf was caught in the air con. fan but the noise rapidly became a loud, “thwack, thwack” so we turned off the fan and wound down the windows. Today we took our vehicle into the mechanic for him to have a look at the problem and about 30 mins later there was a call to say it was all fixed.
There were some leaves in the chamber, also a piece of twine AND a sock!! Clever little Melomys! Thank goodness she didn’t do any major chewing damage, well apart from my sock which doesn’t look quite the same!
No wonder the fan was having trouble operating with all that tangled around it.
Nesting material
Allen
Barbara
