# ratproofing tv cable lines?



## Chemist1961 (Dec 13, 2008)

Aside from Jed Clampets bear grease that's a mystery. Several months back I saw a motion sensor driven Owl which apparentyly works well with repelling Racoons...
My guess is if you stop the rats from using the wire they will likely find another path unless you eliminate what they're after, likely food or shelter.
A natural predator might help scare them off for the long term.


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## darsunt (Dec 29, 2006)

Yes, I think if there was something that worked we all would have heard about it. I hear the damn creatures can scuttle along those raised lines easy as cake.

I am sealing off the building now to keep rats out (or trap them in?) but it would make it easier if I could make sure they could not access the roof of house by the television cable wires.


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## Tom Struble (Dec 29, 2008)

interesting problem maybe a squirrel guard type thing?


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## gma2rjc (Nov 21, 2008)

What if you get a long tube of plastic (PVC pipe?) and slice it from one end to the other. The slice will allow you to pry the pipe open enough to fit it around the cable, since you probably wouldn't want to unhook one end of the cable to thread it through the pipe :no:. When the rats climb on it, the pipe should turn and the rats should fall off. Kind of like a lumberjack trying to stand on a log in the water...:laughing:


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## Bob Mariani (Dec 1, 2008)

The may have learned from their hampster cousins how to handle the running in a wheel trick. connect the electric line to the cable line and fry the little pests.


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## gma2rjc (Nov 21, 2008)

darsunt, do the rats climb up a pole to get to the cable lines, or are they coming from another building? If they climb up a pole to get to the cable, I'm just wondering if you could use something similar to a squirrel baffle to keep them from climbing up the pole.



> connect the electric line to the cable line and fry the little pests.


Mmmmm....fried rats. Put them with some mashed potatoes and gravy and it'll be just like eating at KF........nevermind.


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## darsunt (Dec 29, 2006)

Well the exterminator company says there are probably no rats now. I'm trying to rat proof the place cause they say they always come back. I don't know exactly how they came in, I'm trying to block all possibilities.

But from these responses, I guess better forget trying to rat proof the lines.


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## ocoee (May 31, 2007)

I do rat proofing for a living now

I almost never bother with the lines leading to the house
there are several products available but none seem to really work well

Just proof the actual structure and don't worry bout the lines
If they want to bad enough they will just climb up the walls anyway


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## Sammy (Mar 11, 2007)

You could take a plastic funnel with the small end size close to the outside diameter of the cable, cut the funnel lengthwise with a razor knife, then slip it over the cable and secure in place with a worm drive hose clamp. 

Its sorta the same thing done to mooring lines on ships in port to keep rodents from running up the mooring lines. 

But like Ocoee says, they can climb other ways so I would work on the eradication angle. :2guns:


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