Rat Bug

Yesterday afternoon I pulled the '73 Super Beetle out to where I could work on it.  I plan to fabricate seat mounts to install a set of seats from a Jeep XJ.  That in it self is a challenge since the floors of the Jeep is vastly different than a Beetle.  I will document more on that later when the fabrication start.... I am still in the recon and planning stage right now.

So I was cleaning out the Bug to get things in order and noticed that something had been going through the carpet and seats pulling out stuffing and carpet loops.  The Bug had been in the garage last week when my kids were home from college for the weekend..... it is easier to park all the cars inside if the bug is stashed away inside the garage.  I opened the rear hatch to take a look at the engine when I noticed something on the left side up near the firewall.  There was several red rags and plastic bags.  I was not sure how they got there when I figured out that a rat must have been making a nest.  I pulled the stuff out, being careful just in case there might be baby rats.  I ended up using my parts grabber used for picking up nuts and bolts that fall down between engine and frames.  When I got it all out there were several plastic bags that had been in the trash can inside the garage, several red rags which had been on my work bench and some receipts that had been on the desk inside the garage.  There was also a lot of carpet loops and seat stuffing from inside the bug packed around the engine tin.

I took inventory of the engine bay to see if there was any damage caused by the rat.  As I got a closer look, I noticed that he had chewed both plug wires in two on the driver's side of the bug.  I was not a happy camper.  In an earlier blog, I mentioned that when I found the rat dead in the rat zapper, I had mixed feelings since I once had rats as pets when I was young..... well, no more mixed feelings!!  The war is on!!