Do rodents chew PEX pipe?
- Thread starter 930dreamer
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manwithtools
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Sure looks like gnawing from rodent teeth. Quick web search indicates it's pretty common.
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kbuhagiar
Well-known member
Definitely a rodent sharpening its teeth.
OP
Madness, grandson is getting a water line repair lesson.
Firebrick43
Well-known member
Rats will chew thru copper sometimes if they are thirsty because of a drought.
manwithtools
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Must be that soy flavored PEX. 
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larry4406
Well-known member
How would they know there is water inside the copper to make it a target?
Bizarre on the chewed pex piping.
Edited - changed pvc to pex after looking close at the photo
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Firebrick43
Well-known member
Flowing water makes noise in a pipe. PVC was quite common for rats to chew thru when I lived in the California high desert for water
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4xdog
Well-known member
Yep, that's what you've got! A gravid rodent's gonna chew. It almost doesn't matter what. (That whole urban myth around epoxidized soy oil in PVC insulation is a red herring. )
)
OP
This line is about 200 feet long, man I hope this is the only damaged area.
jack stand
Well-known member
How many miles of plastic Street or well connections are out there?
Scary thought.
I'm hoping that at least I'm ok with my well line 5'+ deep because of the frost depth and most of it is in the ground water table. (at least when I dug it)
Scary thought.
I'm hoping that at least I'm ok with my well line 5'+ deep because of the frost depth and most of it is in the ground water table. (at least when I dug it)
Look closely, it's not rodent damage. Their incisors leave arched cuts with a raised strip between the teeth. And with the water on, it couldn't have chewed a second hole. Something else damaged that PEX. PEX is not for direct burial by the way.
manwithtools
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Look again, seems the bite marks are just as you describe. Don't know why it couldn't chew a second hole after the first one, water on or not
BTW, most PEX is rated for direct burial.
Firebrick43
Well-known member
The one on the left is at an angle and hard to tell but the one on the right side hole sure does.
The damn squirrels like to chew on my tank monitor antenna housings if they are close to the woods and looks exactly like that. If I wasnt in Wisconsin right now I would post a pic. It seems to be just certain animals for some reason. Some places will not have an issue but another place they will destroy a monitor in a few months and then start on the next one. We started using a pepper based bitter spray with mixed results on problem tanks.
I imagine its just like people that have mental issues with eating in editable things like hair or finger nails.
nadogail
Well-known member
Fish gotta swim, Birds gotta fly.
Rodents gotta chew.
Rodents gotta chew.
Shiftless
Well-known member
We have lots of gophers in our neighborhood. A few years ago one of my landscape lights went out. I tested for voltage at the socket and got zero. I dug up the direct burial wire and found those teeth marks through the heavy insulation and even through the stranded copper wire! I reinstalled fresh cable and for protection put it through PVC conduit. No problems since. 
matt_i
Well-known member
I think it's the rabbits because that's the only animal I see, but they chewed the plastic grating end off my PVC sump pump discharge pipe. Just the outlet end. It got frozen in winter and I think they wanted the water...
signcrafter
Well-known member
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I would guess rodent also, not sure what piece of equipment(hand or powered) would cause marks that look like that. But there are a lot of other marks on that pipe also, maybe rodents scratching or from your shovel digging it up? I would think that you could dig a little ways out with shovel and find some sort of tunnel if it was a rodent.
Wakefield
Well-known member
If it ain't rats it's some other kind of animal.
I can remember squirrels jumping from a few trees onto the roof and playing around many times. I went up on the roof for other reasons and noticed the lead flashing on a vent boot was being gnawed at.
Pellet rifle brought them into submission shortly thereafter.
Pellet rifle brought them into submission shortly thereafter.
Squirrels here have chewed the fuel line fittings on top of the fuel tank of my truck twice and my wife’s car once and they’ve even chewed some of the PVC trim on my shop. I’ve been getting even but I don’t seem to be able to get ahead. I don’t think it’s possible to eliminate all the squirrels because more just move in to replace them.
b-boy
Well-known member
I had rodents chew through my tractor's cooling system lines looking for water. I'm sure whatever they got ended up killing them, but it still cost me $100 for new lines and antifreeze.
Beauregard
Well-known member
C4 seems to work
tool_scrounge
Well-known member
Rodent’s front teeth grown continuously their whole lives. They need to gnaw on stuff to wear them down. Though oddly enough I do not remember our free range house trained pet rats ever gnawing on the furniture.
BillK
Well-known member
How deep was this buried and how would a rodent have gotten down that far to chew it ???? Looks like chew marks though.
OP
3 feet plus.
BillK
Well-known member
Was there any evidence like a tunnel etc that something had dug down that far ? Just doesnt sound likely to me ???
stingry
Well-known member
Pocket gophers are notorious for chewing buried lines including buried electrical cables. Should be mounds on the surface if it’s gophers.
manwithtools
ALLIANCE MEMBER
According to a web search, pocket gophers feeding burrows are usually 6 to 12 inches below ground, and the nest and food storage chamber can be as deep as 6 feet, depending on soil type. Seems like 3' would be well within their range of operations. They are found in Texas in many locations.
Death Row Dave
Well-known member
Wrap them with hardware cloth , it will slow them down
OP
Codyboy
Well-known member
moles or gophers?
At work (POCO) weve had marks like that from squirrels on H taps, sidegrooves, wire .....
Almost looked like someone was trimming limbs and the chainsaw cut into it or like a roughcut grinder attacked it.
At work (POCO) weve had marks like that from squirrels on H taps, sidegrooves, wire .....
Almost looked like someone was trimming limbs and the chainsaw cut into it or like a roughcut grinder attacked it.
HoosierBuddy
Well-known member
Years ago I had to fix a 3" Polyethylene gas main that was installed parallel to a creek, then the creek moved over several feet and the main was left exposed in the creek bank. We installed a new main 40 or 50 feet from new creekbank, cut the old line loose, purged it with air, abandoned it in place.
About a year later I got some pictures sent to me about the weird yellow trees trunks the local beavers had used to build a dam.
Yup...it was our abandoned PE gas pipe. Suckers dug it out of the creek bank, chewed it into usable lengths and used it for construction. SDR11 pipe so almost 3/8" wall thickness.
About a year later I got some pictures sent to me about the weird yellow trees trunks the local beavers had used to build a dam.
Yup...it was our abandoned PE gas pipe. Suckers dug it out of the creek bank, chewed it into usable lengths and used it for construction. SDR11 pipe so almost 3/8" wall thickness.