Y'all got any advice bout Rattata-proofing vehicles? These dang Rattatas are messing in the engines of my off road vehicles in my barn. I tried parking everything close together and building a wire fence around the vehicles, bout a foot tall, electrified to keep the Rattatas out, but them athletic Rattatas been jumping the fence and eatin my wires up. So I tried going two feet, same results. Them Rattatas been pole vaulting over the fence and chewing up my vehicles. Any ideas fore I dig a moat?
First, you should note that barns are pretty temping places. They’re warm, usually have leftover food, and are safe from most Predators. So the barn itself is already seen by Rattata as a fun, safe place to be! Whatever you end up doing is going to take a lot of time before they truly give up on coming back to it, because they’ll remember those facts.
Depending on your situation, you could get a Pokemon for it! The Lillipup line is especially adept at hunting Rattatas, to the point where its not recommended to have both on the same team, for safety reasons! Getting one or two to guard your vehicles and barn would deter most Rattatas, and any that are bold enough to go in anyways would be hunted fairly quickly.
Many Flying-Types also are good deterrents, as are feline Pokemon.
If you wanted something else though, you could perhaps spray Max Repel’s around the area! Those are strong enough to make even trained Pokemon think twice about entering an area. The downside to that, however, is that you’d have to re-spray fairly often, unless you upgraded from that do an Industrial Repel, which are so strong they’re really only used by places that don’t use Pokemon or Trainers. Those are much more expensive, but it does work, and you only have to respray once every few months, when you start seeing Rattata getting close again.
The last option is likely the kindest, but least likely to work; If you have room for it, build them something better to chew on, and put seed in it now and then! Rattata are notorious chewers, and need to do so to keep their teeth filed down; Their teeth never stop growing, after all! Vehicles can be especially tempting, as they run over plenty of interesting smells and flavors, and the heat they give off after use carries that scent a good distance. Plus, those wires inside are the perfect size for nibbling.
But, give them something else they can chew on, and put food in it, and they’ll likely start chewing and visiting that instead! It’d have to be big enough, and you’d have to replace it when it starts getting worn down, but it’s certainly cheaper than replacing a vehicle. However, this method is pretty time consuming, as you have to replace food and check on it daily, as well as rebuild it when it gets too chewed on.
If it seems like a larger-than-normal amount of Rattata, you could possibly call a Ranger in to check. Sometimes Rattata swarm and can ruin local ecosystems if left unchecked, and a Ranger is often the best equipped to really look into things like that and make sure everything is okay.
Good luck, whatever you end up doing! Don’t forget, its a perfectly fine option to combine all of these as well, and might end up being more effective than any one solution on its own!
Also, just a note; Rattata are surprisingly good swimmers. You may want to forgo the moat.
