What Made this Nest

Storm 10

My friend opened the bonnet of his car yesterday to check the oil and found this giant nest under the bonnet, its big but very clean no sign of poo and you can see that it was used as there is a shape in the middle of what ever was lying in it. There was some amount of building to make this nest.

Some reason I cant delete the 2nd post Mod if your looking you might delete one

Mickeroo

Have heard of mice nesting under car bonnets before, not sure if that's a mouse nest though.

magicbastarder

they're huge sticks for mice to have carried into the engine bay.

Storm 10

magicbastarder wrote: »

they're huge sticks for mice to have carried into the engine bay.

What ever made it I will give them 10 out of 10 as how they managed to get those long bits from the bottom to the top of the engine looks almost impossible its so tight.

Alun

In some parts of Germany they have a big problem with martens, specifically stone martens or Steinmarder, building nests in car engine compartments. They can cause a lot of problems by biting through flexible pipes and cables causing lots of damage. Not sure how big that nest is, or if pine martens do something similar, but might be worth giving the engine compartment a bit of a check over once the nest is removed to be on the safe side.

Mickeroo

No joke, a friend of mine had their car written off by a rat a few years ago.

Tiercel Dave

Alun wrote: »

In some parts of Germany they have a big problem with martens, specifically stone martens or Steinmarder, building nests in car engine compartments. They can cause a lot of problems by biting through flexible pipes and cables causing lots of damage. Not sure how big that nest is, or if pine martens do something similar, but might be worth giving the engine compartment a bit of a check over once the nest is removed to be on the safe side.

Was thinking Pine Marten too, re attacking the wiring I remember (not too well obviously!) reading it was to do with the sleeving of the cables, there was sugar/molasses used in the manufacture of the plastic in an effort to cut down on rubber content.
If Pine Marten, there should be footprints etc. visible around the car, from my own experience they are quite clean if in a shed or outhouse.....

Alun

As an aside, in Germany you can get ultrasonic marten repellant gizmos to hard wire in the engine compartment. Not sure if they work or not.

kylith

Any squirrels in the area,?

Storm 10

I done a bit of searching last night and looking at the pictures of Rat nests made from straw and twigs it looks like the one in the photo, link below.

https://www.google.com/search?q=pictures+of+a+rat+nest&oq=&aqs=chrome.2.69i59l8.2662492j0j15&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

fryup

get your friend to put a trail cam near the car, to capture what it might be

corks finest

Storm 10 wrote: »

My friend opened the bonnet of his car yesterday to check the oil and found this giant nest under the bonnet, its big but very clean no sign of poo and you can see that it was used as there is a shape in the middle of what ever was lying in it. There was some amount of building to make this nest.

Some reason I cant delete the 2nd post Mod if your looking you might delete one

Rat

ted1

Who would they have got the branches in there ?

New Home

Any signs of poo? That would help identify the culprit much more than the nest alone. Also, check the air filter for the cabin fan, that's where I found 6 baby rats in my mother's car.

jmkennedyie

I imagine a pine marten would need more space? Stoat?

jmkennedyie

If near Naas/Newbridge ... dormouse?