# PEX Plumbing and Rodents



## PlumbingZone (Feb 10, 2016)

Somewhere between rumour, myth, and truth lies an allegation that rodents - specifically mice and rats - love chewing on PEX piping. While there’s the only correlation to go on and not causation, the rumour that rats and mice are drawn to PEX piping is worth investigating and exploring. It may be worth exploring alternative piping materials in rodent-prone areas to avoid problems.

*Do Rodents Actively Seek out PEX to Chew? *

The jury is still out on whether PEX is alluring to rodents. There’s a school of thought that because it’s plastic, it has a scent that humans cannot smell that attracts mice and rodents. Indeed, some types of plastic (such as grocery bags) are manufactured using fish oil. But there’s no concrete evidence to suggest this is the case with PEX piping as a whole or precisely one brand.

Another school of thought posits that because it’s thinner than copper or steel piping, rats can hear the water and are drawn to it out of thirst. Because rat poisons commonly dehydrate rodents, they may be frantic in their efforts to chew through PEX to gain access to water, lending credence to this theory - but again, it’s unproven.

Still, another thought is that rodents simply enjoy the texture of the PEX as they chew. Because no studies have been done on chewing material preference across different rodent species, it’s impossible to say whether the texture of PEX piping is irresistible to rodents.

*What We Do Know*

Since the teeth of mice, rats, and other rodents grow constantly, they’re always chewing on something. If a home or building has an unwanted rodent visitor, nothing is off the table as a chew toy, be it food scraps, wiring, drywall or even PEX pipes. Unfortunately, as a plumber, there’s little you can do to remedy the underlying problem.

It may be the case that PEX piping seems susceptible to rodent damage simply because it’s there - and because it’s easier for their teeth to chew through than copper, steel or other types of piping. A flexible plastic is much easier to puncture or damage than a rigid PVC pipe and may appear more alluring to rodents because it hurts more easily.

*Dealing with Rodent Damage to PEX*

If you find your client’s PEX piping is damaged by rodents, you may suggest they seek out the help of a qualified pest control specialist to help get the problem under control. Until the pests are excluded and eliminated from the premises, clients will continue to suffer damage to their homes.

If a problem is recurrent or persistent, you may suggest replacing PEX pipes with more durable options to prevent or delay mouse or rat damage to the home’s plumbing, explaining that the extra cost can save them from having to call you repeatedly for the same or similar issues.

If clients are unable or unwilling to replace their pipes with a different material, the nature of PEX makes it easy to remove and replace the damaged segments for little cost in the way of materials - and if they’d like to repeatedly pay your service fee, that’s their prerogative.

If your client agrees, the budget allows, or you feel it necessary, you may want to use aluminum-clad PEX piping or shield the segments susceptible to damage to make them less vulnerable to injury from mice and rats.

Have you noticed rodents drawn to PEX pipes more than other materials? Why do you think that is?


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## skoronesa (Oct 27, 2015)

Yes, rodents do chew pex. Whether they seek it out or not standard plastic waterlines can't be trusted. I have seen them chew through pex, pvc, and black poly lines. Use viega fosta pex or don't use pex. That's what our company does. 



I have seen them chew plastic fittings too. We use bronze fittings for our fostapex. But at that price you might as well go all copper.








.


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## Tommy plumber (Feb 19, 2010)

Rodents are good for business....:biggrin:



My customers have usually placed rodent baits right around the time that the leaks started happening.


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## mtfallsmikey (Jan 11, 2010)

I remember that rodents loved QEST


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## MFC (Aug 25, 2021)

So we have millions of mice here in East Texas, but I have never found a pex or quest pipe chewed on by mice. Squirrels yes, but not mice or rats. Squirrels are nasty and will chew on electrical wires and copper tubing. But I regularly find mice nests, built in the insulation underbelly of mobile homes, surrounding pex water lines and nary a scratch. Not a gnaw mark. We have tens of thousands of mobile homes here and I mainly run into PVC and cpvc breaking down at joints, but even old quest is still functioning just fine in 30+ year old mobiles. Everyone's mobile here has pex and mice, so it would be a waterline epidemic if this was true.

So my question to others would be, are you circulating the mice myth based on heresay, or have you experienced it yourself? Also, if you have actually experienced it, where are you on the country (cuz varmints do differ) and are you certain it's mice/rats and not something else?


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## OpenSights (Mar 23, 2015)

MFC said:


> So we have millions of mice here in East Texas, but I have never found a pex or quest pipe chewed on by mice. Squirrels yes, but not mice or rats. Squirrels are nasty and will chew on electrical wires and copper tubing. But I regularly find mice nests, built in the insulation underbelly of mobile homes, surrounding pex water lines and nary a scratch. Not a gnaw mark. We have tens of thousands of mobile homes here and I mainly run into PVC and cpvc breaking down at joints, but even old quest is still functioning just fine in 30+ year old mobiles. Everyone's mobile here has pex and mice, so it would be a waterline epidemic if this was true.
> 
> So my question to others would be, are you circulating the mice myth based on heresay, or have you experienced it yourself? Also, if you have actually experienced it, where are you on the country (cuz varmints do differ) and are you certain it's mice/rats and not something else?


Can you post a proper intro?


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## MFC (Aug 25, 2021)

OpenSights said:


> Can you post a proper intro?


Ummm... What would a proper intro look like?


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## OpenSights (Mar 23, 2015)

MFC said:


> Ummm... What would a proper intro look like?











New Member Introductions


PlumbingZone is a site for Plumbing Professionals Only. Please introduce yourself!




www.plumbingzone.com





It was in your email. Figure it out here.


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## jakewilcox (Sep 3, 2019)

I haven’t seen them chew on PEX too much. But I have seen them chew the living bejesus out of ABS wastelines. 

Seems like most of the PEX issues I’ve seen come from mechanical damage. Like a screw because there wasn’t a nail plate etc. 

I’m sure they will though.


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## Debo22 (Feb 15, 2015)

MFC said:


> So we have millions of mice here in East Texas, but I have never found a pex or quest pipe chewed on by mice. Squirrels yes, but not mice or rats. Squirrels are nasty and will chew on electrical wires and copper tubing. But I regularly find mice nests, built in the insulation underbelly of mobile homes, surrounding pex water lines and nary a scratch. Not a gnaw mark. We have tens of thousands of mobile homes here and I mainly run into PVC and cpvc breaking down at joints, but even old quest is still functioning just fine in 30+ year old mobiles. Everyone's mobile here has pex and mice, so it would be a waterline epidemic if this was true.
> 
> So my question to others would be, are you circulating the mice myth based on heresay, or have you experienced it yourself? Also, if you have actually experienced it, where are you on the country (cuz varmints do differ) and are you certain it's mice/rats and not something else?


Seen it


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## Logtec (Jun 3, 2018)

I’ve had a few clients call over the years with leaks, where we’ve found that mice/rodents(prob mice) have chewed through 1/4” plastic/poly tubes for fridge water/ice supplies lines.


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## Debo22 (Feb 15, 2015)

A lot of rodent foot prints around this pex but they didn’t chow it


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## skoronesa (Oct 27, 2015)

Debo22 said:


> A lot of rodent foot prints around this pex but they didn’t chow it
> View attachment 130710


"Yes they do! They can hear the water in the pipe! NAH NAH NAH!!!"

The people who say that make me want to feed them rat schit. They never have any real evidence that this is the case. Every time I have seen rodents chew through only pipe, even in areas with poison, it was just to get past the pipe. The pipe is easier to chew than wood. When I drill holes to run pex, and it's in an area with rodents, I make the hole large enough for mice to get by.

I have seen where rodents were chewing a lot of stuff, usually for nesting material, and they chew the pipe as well as stuff around it. Not indicative of searching for water. They do sometimes like to chew the outer skin off Fostapex, it comes off in large flakes and they use it for nests.


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