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Found a rats nest inside a junction box at a retirement home in Tampa
Last Tuesday I was doing a routine install at a retirement complex in Tampa and popped open a junction box to run a new line. There was a full rats nest inside with chewed up insulation everywhere. Signal was still passing through somehow but it was a fire hazard waiting to happen. Anybody else run into animals messing up your work inside walls or crawl spaces?
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leo_fisher1mo agoTop Commenter
Did you see that story last month about the office building in Sarasota where squirrels chewed through so many cables the whole place lost internet for two days? I swear these critters know exactly what theyre doing. A full nest inside a junction box is crazy, especially with the insulation chewed up like that. At least the signal still worked, but you're right that it's a serious fire risk. I've heard of techs finding snakes and even a possum in crawl spaces down here, so a rats nest almost sounds tame by comparison.
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price.gavin1mo ago
Yeah that Sarasota story was wild. I'm with @claire_gibson though, they're not plotting anything just dumb critters looking for a warm spot. Still sucks for whoever had to clean that mess up.
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claire_gibson1mo ago
Gotta disagree a bit here. I work at a data center in Tampa and we've had our share of squirrel trouble, but I think people overestimate how much they "know." They're just following smells and warmth, not plotting internet outages. That nest in the junction box sounds like they were just looking for a dry spot, not targeting the cables on purpose. Still a mess to deal with, but I'd blame bad building seals before blaming the squirrels for being clever.
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