Moth balls do a good job of keeping the critters away. When I put my tractor up for the winter, I put a pie tin full on top of the flywheel. That was after some extensive wire damage. I also hang a moth cake under my grill cover for the winter - had a family of mice move in one year and char broiled them before I noticed.

 

Your local hardware store should have these cool rat poison "blocks". They are basically a hard peanut butter block (one inch square, about three inches long) laced with poison. Yummy!! The tub contains about 20 of them.
Place it on the bumper and they should go after that. The next morning the block may even be gone.
Keep replacing it for a week and it should solve the issue.
(I had a similar problem with a family of them living in my basement window-well... not any more!)

 

That might be the most environmentally-friendly method. At this point though, I'd worry that he'd just start eating my back bumper then. But its worth remembering that little fact.

I'm starting to come up with ideas like creating a mixture of peanut butter and anti-freeze. But with my luck, he'd turn up his nose to the peanut butter.

 

I had field mice (actually garage mice) nibble on the most unusual things to make a nest. Velcro and plastic. They ended up w/ a nest in my softtop that I had hung up to keep the pests away. I left a box of vanilla wafers in the garage by accident and a week later I found the box empty. I'm still finding those cookies stashed every where.

Finally got humane traps and got rid of them by tempting them w/ peanut butter ritz crackers. The traps are basically plastic wedges w/a gravity door that snaps down. Of course if they are squirrels then you need to place traps under the bumper with the proper bait.

 

I have this same problem all the time

 

A friend of mine who's into auto restoration (and has various autos strewn over his property in various states of completion) has an ultra-sonic pest gizmo (repellent)?... not sure exactly what it's called, but I know that it actually works. I've NEVER seen a squirrel, chipmunk, or other critter on his property, and he swears by it - has had it for years, and it consistently works. Maybe worth a shot?

 

Try bitter apple from the pet store or this company makes sprays that last awhile that is supposed to be safe for fruits and veggies in the garden but the critters don't like 'em.

 

I wouldn't want to use bitter apple spray smell in my neck of the woods. That is what would lure in the bears. I have already put in a claim 2 years ago for a Grizzly bear....chewed my rear bumper, scratched my paint on the doors (see the claw marks down the doors) and ripped off both my PIAA fog lights off my bull bar and the best was he chewed my plastic mirrors. Best part was when I got back to my truck from doing some Road Surveying in the Field.....the damn Bear was in still in my truck box trying to get into my tool box. Took off pretty quick with a good ole bear banger shooting above his head.


The insurance company was not really buying my story until they had an insurance adjustor come out and look at the truck......He said in his 27 years he has never seen a claim for Grizzly Bear Damage. Total damage was $5700.

 

Ok. After all this time... no luck... until now. As I was off to lunch today, it dawned on me. (I have more damage today)

First, I have never had any type of problem like this in the past 5-6 years we've owned our home. And for some reason, I assumed it must have been where I parked at night. Thinking that, if it was vandalism, it would happen there...surely not during the daytime. And if it were rodents, they would be out presumably at night feeding, gathering, you know, what rodents do.

Well, I was walking back to the office after some Lion's Choice. Mmmm. And I noticed that I didn't get one of the "good" spots back when I returned, which are near several evergreens, and closer to the entrance. And thats when the gears started turning. So I see two groundsmen talking outside the main doors. I politely interrupted and asked if they had ever had any problems with rodents eating or chewing on their equipment. And one smiled, and said "Not our equipment, but the squirrels and chipmunks sure like to chew on the plastic dumpster and trash lids, theres a can right there, check it out." And sure enough, I walked around the grassy campus, and inspected about 6 cans, all with the exact same bites.

Now to figure out how to remedy the problem. Certainly can't be parking in the "cool" spots anymore.

 

Hey Ben, at least I feel better! Now to see if my employer is apathetic.