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

[OnlQQker]

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?

 

[SparkySy]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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.