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?

 

[Risteard]

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

 

[littlespark]

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]

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]

Last weeks job - nothing had tripped either

 

[UNG]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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

Flexishield R How It Works

www.flexcables.co.uk

Special "cat urine flavour" cable!

 

[SparkySy]

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]

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]

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