At 12:41 PM -0400 6/23/03, TexasRF@aol.com wrote:
>Rodents love the smell/taste of new cables....
I think they like the texture/chewiness more than the smell/taste.
Gray squirrels have chewed off the sheet lead flashing around my
chimneys; and, last year chipmunks chewed completely through not just
the PVC (?) insulation but all three solid copper wires of each of
two electric power cables in my yard. These cables supplied 120-VAC
power to two outdoor lights that I kept lit all night. I assume that
the chipmunks learned to chew only during the day, when the power was
off. At least, on the wire with the black insulation. :-)
Rodents _must_ chew on things in order to keep their teeth worn down.
Rodents' front teeth, unlike ours, grow constantly. Rocks are too
hard. Soft metals like lead, copper, and aluminum are just right,
apparently.
I don't understand it and I don't 100% believe it, but a master
electrician who has been doing buried cables for decades in the
northern and western suburbs of Boston has _insisted_ to me that the
local rodents won't chew through ordinary gray PVC conduit.
-Chuck, W1HIS
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