If you’ve ever tried to sleep in your car in the snow, you’ll know that roos and maybe other animals love licking the salt off the outside at night. You can get whole packs of them at a time, and it’s super annoying and also slightly terrifying when you’re in the middle of nowhere.
Does anyone have any practical ideas to scare them off / keep them at bay, that might work as a deterrent through the night so I can actually get some sleep without having my car rocked and slurped on non-stop?
I don’t want to drape a tarp over the whole car. And would rather not concoct any explosives / flash bombs for fear of upsetting other campers.
No electrical power available although I could stretch to a few batteries perhaps!?
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I know if you dust blood & bone over plants it stops the roos/hares/rabbits/possums eating them
Great, now there will be more missing hitchhikers .
Something that smells/tastes bad seems a good way to go.
I like the sound of this, I could mix some into a spray bottle perhaps. For those who don’t know, blood and bone is a garden fertiliser mix you can get from Bunnings. Apparently it’s made from crematorium waste.
Imagine trying to sleep with that wafting through the vents. Holy shit
So sprinkle the car with manure? Works for me.
Yeah, but then you'll get drop bears
Fuck, the title of this made me laugh. Thank you.
I thought this was for sure going to be a shit post? I’m still not certain it’s not?
It was the “without having my car rocked and slurped at” for me
This has to be the most Australian sentence I’ve ever read
I really wish it had been asked in a global subreddit
citronella oil maybe but dunno what it would do to the duco, maybe just put it around, or peppermint oil
I don't think any essential oil would be very good for your car finish.
Realistically, you can’t do anything about it Most solutions are either not viable for your situation, or are wildly impractical
This is the Aussie equivalent of "How do I kill the 30-50 feral hogs that run into my yard within 3-5 mins while my small kids play?"
What?
Except that the roos are extremely unlikely to harm your kids. Hogs are a whole other story
We have feral hogs in Australia
You could try spraying the surface of the car with a surface cleaner (shop brand antibacterial surface spray 'n wipe containing Benzalkonium Chloride). I imagine that the smell and taste would deter them without causing them any harm. No idea if it would work, but worth a shot.
If it is the salt they are after, try pepper. It will make them sneeze.
Or they will bring some squid and have a cook up with the spices
Next post title will be "how do I stop kangaroos licking my car and sneezing all night while I'm trying to sleep in it?"
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After that entertainment, wash the salt and pepper off, by rubbing snow on it if you have to. Problem solved
Leave them something more attractive. VB in a bowl?
Isn’t that what you’re meant to leave Santa?
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Get undressed, then lightly sprinkle salt all over your body. Then go to sleep outside on the ground. This will hopefully stop the kangaroos from licking the car / rocking it.
I’d probably create a thick circle of salt around your car. It’ll take them ages to get through that circle.
Keeps Roos and vampires well out
It’ll also keep ghosts and demons out.
Purchase some cheap portable electric fence wire, four posts, battery (if you don't have it already) and a very small electric fence unit. Set it up around your van in 5 minutes at night before you sleep and you'll be sweet. It's a bit of an effort I guess, but it will fix your issue, which is your request. If that sounds like to much hassle, then I guess you aren't as worried about it as you think.
Just hook the battery up to the car panels.
Taped loop of dog bark maybe. They're not dog lovers
Be kind and add some tequila and lime
Park somewhere else?
Stop being so delicious. Or honk the horn.
Take a big block of rock salt with you and leave it outside the car
Seems like what I’m looking for is something that will be incredibly bitter on the tongue, and won’t react with my car paint and the road salt on it. Hair conditioner tastes really really gross, maybe that?
Yes, coat your car in hair conditioner, not only will probably not keep the kangaroos away, but as an added bonus it will give your car a silky shine and reduce it's frizz.
I commented earlier but yeah they sell that at the pet stores no chew spray
Hot sauce? Who knows, maybe a couple would be really into it.
You could get some salt licks and throw them somewhere near by?
Bring a salt lick
Exactly, then hang it up on a bush well away from the camp so you can get a good night's sleep. Everyone gets what they want.
Perhaps dust chillie powder or oil around your car.
Cover the car in ricin
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Hire some bum's? Pay them $5 to lick it instead?
Where does the salt come from?
In snowy places, councils and road maintenance people often use specially formulated road salt, and/or grit, to melt snow and ice on the roads. Snowplows don't plow right down to the road surface because it'd fuck up both the plow and the road, so you need to put something down to maintain grip, hence salt and grit. The resulting slush gets all over the undercarriage of your car, and on your boots when you walk across roads, in carparks etc. North American cars often have gross salt damage from it. I hadn't thought about what they do in the Australian Alps, but clearly they salt at the very least.
Sea. Or Aldi.
They sell bite stop sprays at pet stores for getting your puppy to not chew furniture/shoes/etc... Its not toxic just very bitter, recon that'd get em to fuck and/or hop off. Or buy a cheap salt lick and throw it about 20ft away they'd probably go after thay before tongue banging your car all night
Have you tried turning your car into an echidna with spikes all over it?
I used dog hair in snap lock bags to get rid of rats that were trying to build a nest in an outdoor bar area. Seemed to work well. If kangaroos are scared of dogs, it might be worth a try. You can ask a local dog groomer for dog hair.
🤣 ok you win for most Australian post on r/australia
This post is going to end up on r/brandnewsentence for sure.
Leave a few stubbies out for em. They don't need much to get pissed.
Just let them lick your car. Or throw them some a couple salt licks to enjoy before bed.
Red hot chili pepper.Fix those bouncing fuckers
Wash the car thoroughly so it’s spotless and use a brand of cleaner that has odour they might not like. The brand of car cleaner I use has a kinda banana scent but I couldn’t find evidence that would be particularly usefuo scent against kangaroos. Possibly vinegar spread on the ground in a circle around the car might work as barrier. Or citronella. Again thesec are ideas that I can’t find much research on. There’s probably an ignoble prize in it for you if you conduct some. Another idea is to modify a car cover so it’s safe for you to still be in the car with it on covering most of the available surface area of the car but not a suffocation risk.
You can get portable showers (it's a sprayer with a pressurised water container) from Kmart and Anaconda for a decent price. Use this to rinse your car off before settling in for the night. Might come in handy for actual showers too, especially in summer.
This is a first time hearing of this issue but thanks for the heads up when travelling in a van! Lmao
Spray a can of baygon around the edges. Won’t hurt them but tastes foul.
Keep the window open a crack and yell "fuck off ya cunts" every half hour or so
Ever tried booking a hotel?
Get some habenero chillis and blend them up with water. Put in a spray bottle and spray your car with it. Dont touch your cock after for a bit just in case you get chilli dick.
Gosh. You thought you’d heard of everything then there are Australian problems.
Put on rain and wave sounds to help you sleep.