I suppose it’s possible there are mice out there. But it’s a clean garage without piles of stuff that never gets moved. And my husband pulls everything out once a month to blow out the dust/debris.
Interestingly, my neighbor’s cat died a month ago. He was mostly an outdoor cat who patrolled the entire neighborhood. Everyone loved him. Then last week the neighbor who owned him went outside and there was a woodchuck sunbathing on his patio lol. That never would have happened when Tucker was alive.
I guess I’ll set some traps and see if I get anything.
I’d go for a rat or a mouse. They do stockpile food so that could account for the large amount of missing pieces. They use their whiskers to determine what size opening they can get through.
I can’t think of any other type of animal capable of squeezing into small spaces to enter and exit that would be attracted to that kind of food. Sure a snake could do it but wouldn’t be attracted to that food nor figure the same way out that it came in.
You could put a camera in the car with more bait if you really want confirmation
I have a yard with areca palms which attracts rats. Hence they are also known as “rat palms”.
They make a great hurricane buffer and privacy buffer so are pretty popular here in Florida.
However, I have this ONE rat that insists on chewing through the garage wall, behind my outdoor kitchen and we haven’t been able to kill it. I have dogs so no poison. Plus the horror of them dying behind a wall is a rather nauseating scenario.
A person would open the bag, not chew through it. They would also most likely take the whole bag and exit the way they came in. Not sit there, eat most of it, and leave the bag they chewed through.
It does sound like that to me too. What else could get in a closed vehicle? The problem I have is even though the mouse, or mice, can get into the vehicle through a small opening, how are they taking the big pieces of jerky with them? Were there dozens of them having a rave in the passenger seat and just consumed most of it? If so, not leaving any poop behind is almost impossible.
Between you and your husband sleep walking and eating like an animal, or a pet, there is honestly no other explanation than a mouse/rat. And I would bet the ventilation system is their home.
The thing is, I leave all kinds of food in my car all the time. I have never had any intrusions even though I know I have mice in my garage. Jack Links, potato chips, discarded French fries, all half eaten until I clean it up. Nothing has ever been touched. Did you leave a back window open or something?
Nope. My husband is very particular about stuff like that, bordering on OCD. Everything closed up and turned off, no trash ever left in there. Just a chance thing that he bought this bag of jerky on the way home and decided to leave it in there.
He took the vehicle out into the sun today, lifted the hood, pulled all the mats, looked underneath. No more stray jerky pieces, no mouse poop, nothing. Garage is clean too, with no food stashes. We don’t have that much stuff in our garage, and nothing that sits for a long time without getting moved.
One night teriyaki jerky party in the CR-V, I guess. That won’t happen again.
I’m going to go with what I tell my youngest daughter happens to some fish in my fish tank. I have guppies, they eat anything including each other. When a fish dies, it takes a couple days for them to eat it. Bigger fish a lot longer. So when I have a fish dissapear over night with no remains . . .
And this counts for your Jerky . . .
Aliens . . . it’s got to be aliens. My fish are abducted by aliens, and so now they discovered jerky at your place. They’ll be back. They liked it obviously . . .
