I Wasn't Going To Post This As I Didn't Want To Appear Half Mad But... Electrical Mice?

OnlQQker · Apr 16, 2022

So there I am up an aluminium step ladder with padded feet. And I'm helping my son's best friend to put insulation in his loft whilst pulling the electrical cables up above it.

A 1.5mm t/e light switch cable, (2 metres / 78") in length went over to a small cupboard bayonet fitting, I could reach all of this from the top of the stepladder. This had a switch inside the cupboard which had looped over from the live supply on lounge adjacent wall switch, the cupboard was never turned on by anybody because the light in the hallway lit the whole thing up anyway. (It's a first floor apartment flat thing above shops, 10 years old)
But I had turned it on for no reason whatsoever and didn't realise I had livened it up .

As I put my hand under the existing fibre glass (which had all been plonked on top of everything (junction boxs, led lights, cooker supply, ets etc!

I had the biggest electric shock I have ever had to date.

And as normal the RCD never tripped, and the place is supposedly checked out once a year as stickers suggest on consumer unit. All dated and only 10 years old.

But the cable had been eaten through completely (500 mm or 19'' 11⁄16in of it) was completely bare.

Why would they eat this with no deposits of cable anywhere, or is it nesting material. Or is it something to do with the bare copper?

Can anybody shine any light on this please?

Risteard · Apr 16, 2022

They chew the PVC to control the constant growth of their teeth.

littlespark · Apr 16, 2022

Hopefully no lasting damage! Might be an idea to get a doc to give your heart a listen.

So there’s no debris of chewed up and spat out insulation?
Damaged cable from initial installation?
How exposed is the copper?
Lighting probably not on RCD from 10 years ago. Mcb only..

OnlQQker · Apr 17, 2022

littlespark said:
Hopefully no lasting damage! Might be an idea to get a doc to give your heart a listen.

So there’s no debris of chewed up and spat out insulation?
Damaged cable from initial installation?
How exposed is the copper?
Lighting probably not on RCD from 10 years ago. Mcb only..

No chewed up bits of anything,

All 3 strands of copper completely bare over 500mm of cable. You see some odd bits of /blue/brown outer sleeving but you have to look closely.

I'm now starting to wonder if it's something to do with being directly above Tesco's.

Found some traps out the back.

Doomed · Apr 17, 2022

[ElectriciansForums.net] I Wasn't Going To Post This As I Didn't Want To Appear Half Mad But... Electrical Mice?

Last weeks job - nothing had tripped either

UNG · Apr 17, 2022

I'm sure PVC cable attracts them seen this a few times where cables have been totally stripped one was an outbuilding where nearly all the cable had been stripped of the PVC sheath

I'm trying to find some of these cable stripping mice for my scrap cable bin would save a lot of time and effort

SparkySy · Apr 17, 2022

I see it quite often where entire lengths have been stripped perfectly by rodents and are completely bare and in exactly the place they were before they had no insulation, they really do have some skills and 9 times out of ten they don't end up as a charred offering somehow either!
Sy

plugsandsparks · Apr 17, 2022

Got called out to a relatives house, NE fault tripping RCD, eventually traced to Range Cooker, Roland had not only chewed the insulation but also ran off with complete wiring to the igniters, fault caused by bare Neutral resting on gas pipe, AND they stink....

OnlQQker · Apr 17, 2022

You would think the cable manufacturers would put some ingredients into the cable which rodents just don't like.

Now I'm starting to wonder if they put something in the cable the rodents do like.

I read years ago that "smoking caused cancer in laboratory rats and mice", after reading that I decided to leave my cigarettes on a high shelf, where the rats and mice can't get them!

nicebutdim · Apr 17, 2022

OnlQQker said:
You would think the cable manufacturers would put some ingredients into the cable which rodents just don't like.

There is some cable available with additives for this very purpose, but it would be a great addition as standard

littlespark · Apr 17, 2022

I’ve just had a message from a mate asking me to fix his pond pump cable because his RABBIT had chewed through it….

Not just little wild rodents

pc1966 · Apr 17, 2022

OnlQQker said:
You would think the cable manufacturers would put some ingredients into the cable which rodents just don't like.

Flexishield R for protection against rodents

Flexishield R Cable with Rodent Protection

www.flexcables.co.uk

Flexishield R How It Works

www.flexcables.co.uk

Special "cat urine flavour" cable!

SparkySy · Apr 17, 2022

Our pet rabbit went through 2 laptop charger leads a tablet lead luckily the selv side on all of them, the cat5 for the internet, several speaker cables and a phono lead for the stereo. Who knows how it knew to only nibble the non lethal ones!
Apparently it is due to them nibbling roots off as they dig tunnels underground. They are worse at doing it in confined gaps behind & under units as it is similar to their Burrows.
Sy

plugsandsparks · Apr 17, 2022

Best one i can remember was again tripping RCD, took cover off Cu and mouse had one back foot on the live and front foot on earth. Was like frozen in position. As i dont do vermin asked client to remove it. Very quick fix, lol. Mouse took the room temp check

UNG · Apr 18, 2022

I remember back when I was in the first few months of my apprenticeship we were working on a school upgrading the distribution boards and rewiring some of the older parts of the site and in the trunking under one of the 3 phase boards was a rather well baked large mouse that had taken a liking to the insulation on the cores of the incoming PILC and was wedged across 2 of the phases where it had bared the cables

SparkySy · Apr 18, 2022

I remember when I was just out of my time a similar situation but with a rat in a trunking on a grain dryer. It did the same to a sub main, started nibbling on one phase and then another. The insulation was black and there were baked on bits of fur inside the trunking from what was left of the rat. It stank and left a right old mess!
We used to see mice in some crazy places that you wouldn't think it was possible for them to squeeze into.
You only need a hole the diameter of a byro for the critters to be in and causing havoc!

OnlQQker · Apr 18, 2022

This was a peculiar watch, nothing was harmed in any way except for his wife where she nearly caught her foot on the wire,

7029 dave · Apr 18, 2022

That is severe rodent damage, the little buggers love PVC, am surprised the little git is not hanging on the cable fried the way LNE are exposed.
Get pest control in before repairing/ replacing the cable.

littlespark · Apr 20, 2022

From #11, My mates rabbit did this!

Plain rubber flex running along base of wall… not clipped or protected or anything…

The rabbits’ fine, by the way.

The RCD only tripped when my mate picked it up to inspect the damage without turning it off.

brianmoooore · Apr 21, 2022

7029 dave said:
That is severe rodent damage, the little buggers love PVC, am surprised the little git is not hanging on the cable fried the way LNE are exposed.

Reminds me of an incident about 40 years ago.
I had a many times repeat customer who would buy up the most dilapidated properties he could find, move in (with wife and kids), do them up on the cheap, and move on to the next.
He took me to view his latest purchase, and one of the first things I saw was the mummified carcase of a rat hanging by it's jaws from an overhead T&E between the house and an outbuilding.

brianmoooore · Apr 21, 2022

littlespark said:
From #11, My mates rabbit did this!

View attachment 96921

Plain rubber flex running along base of wall… not clipped or protected or anything…

The rabbits’ fine, by the way.

This one reminds me of the SWA I left overnight in a trench that hadn't been backfilled. The cable just passed through the corner of a field containing a horse, and in the morning the SWA looked like the above.
The horse also survived, possibly because the cable wasn't energised.

Rockingit · Apr 21, 2022

Risteard said:
They chew the PVC to control the constant growth of their teeth.

I was once told by an old timer that (apart from the fact that the little feckers will eat anything anyway...) in the earlier formulations of PVC plastisers a sugar based ingredient had been used, so there was actual nutritional value in it. Whether that's true or not I've never been sure, but sounds highly plausible.