"J. Mc Laughlin" wrote in
:

Dear Owen:

Experience here in the Upper Midwest is that ground dwelling animals
will chew PVC. but not PE. Had to replace a vast amount of PVC
covered cable, but PE covered coax and cable was untouched.

Hi Mac,

I know that some animals (eg rats) will eat soft PVC. That motivates cable
sheaths impregnated with arsenic... which is worse? We don't have some of
the critters that you have, thankfully.

The other commonly used plastic I didn't mention was polypropylene, and I
think the trap covers may be polyprop... .

All in all, vermin resistance components, and ready availability are
important factors in the life of antennas etc... but we are tame buyers who
generally don't consider that until we need to repair the things.

Owen