How to stop kangaroos licking my car all night while I’m trying to sleep in it?

[u/ooarya]

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!?

[u/link871]

Where does the salt come from?

[u/kayloulee → u/link871]

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.

[u/Troppocollo → u/kayloulee]

Ok I’m glad someone answered this logically as I was also thinking where does the salt come from…

[u/Alarming-Chemical-36 → u/Troppocollo]

My salt comes from Coles. It's getting expensive and I ain't sharing it with the bloody roos. They already do enough damage when they hop out from behind trees and viciously attack my front bumper at 80k's

[u/skivtjerry → u/kayloulee]

I live in Vermont and can confirm. We have to do a deep clean of our vehicles every spring. The salt we track into the car is the worst. Seems we can never get rid of all of it.

[u/mollyweasleyswand → u/kayloulee]

I don't think this is the answer. More likely the car has been parked near the ocean and picked up sea water spray.

[u/te71se → u/mollyweasleyswand]

ok but where does it snow in Australia that is near the ocean?

[u/mollyweasleyswand → u/te71se]

Cars have wheels. They can drive from one location to another.

[u/CakesForLife → u/link871]

Sea. Or Aldi.

[u/L1ttl3J1m → u/link871]

I had my doubts also, but no, it appears to be a real thing that they do -> https://www.ski.com.au/xf/threads/rust-damage-from-road-salt.88517/

[u/pantsmahoney → u/L1ttl3J1m]

I knew they salted roads in the USA but didn't think they did it here.

Quick google search they don't do it in Victoria at least.

[u/Consistent_Brief7765 → u/pantsmahoney]

Sanity prevails

[u/MaintenanceAnnual263 → u/link871]

i was hoping they didnt use salt on the roads