Mice???

[momofmany...Christina 17]

I wasn't sure where to put this, so please move it if it fits better someplace else.

Does anyone have a problem with rodents getting into your camper when you are not using it? I wouldn't have thought of it but DH said he noticed mice had been chewing in the outdoor kitchen on one of the TT's we looked at (which was brand new by the way :o ). Do you need to keep traps inside or do something else to prevent them from getting in in the first place?

[disneylitch......Debbie 61]

We had a field rat get into our MH a few years ago and he ate through walls, the heat ducts, wires, etc. We even replace the radio because it wasn't playing anymore. Come to find out the field rat ate through the speaker wires. It is unbelievable the amount of damage they can do. Luckily we can do all the repairs ourselves, but it still cost us over $500 in supplies. It was in the winter and we hadn't been in the MH for a while. To make a long story short, here is what we did after repairing all of the damage:

1. Put mouse traps with peanut butter on them

2. Getthe moth cakes that you can hang. Walmart has a three pack. We hang them in the back, middle, and front of the MH

3. When it is dark, take a flash light and shine it all of the camper on the inside and have hubby look for the light on the outside. If you can see light, a mouse can get in. When we did this we found numerous opening on the underside of the MH. My husband then took the spray foam and sprayed all of the openings.

4. Make sure there isn't any food in the camper

Hope this helps

[.....Gary 85]

We were told about a product called "Fresh Cab" and it seems to work well. We got them at Menards. Place them in compartments replace every three months. We tried the moth balls in panty hose, Didn't work like Fresh Cab. I imagine you can google it, you can everything else.

[momofmany...Christina 17]

Thanks for the tips! I really don't want anything getting in there for the yuck factor, but it would be even worse if they destroyed things. We have a problem with chipmunks here getting into everything too. And they are NOT nice like Chip and Dale.

[4mickey2 41]

i place dryer sheets around the floor area of the mh. on the bed and just lay them out in it. haven't had any problems. b-4 dryer sheets we got one in our truck camper. got a trap and caught it right away. we had some stuff in a shed up north and had put it in the camper. we are sure it was in that stuff.

dryer sheets work and smell good-not like stinky moth balls.

[BradyBzLyn...Mo 2,023]

The guy that did our walk through on the new TT gave us the run down on dryer sheets.

He said when they take in campers in trade and go through them, a lot of times they find dryer sheets in all those "mouse prone" areas.

And about 50% of the time they're covered in mouse droppings.

Maybe it depends on how sturdy your local mice are.

[.....Gary 85]

Monique, same here. We had a coach where the fuse box was up front, under the hood and the box cover was clear plexiglass. Got ready to go Bristle in the spring and it wouldn't start. Opened the hood and it was like one of those ant farms except w/ mice and dryer sheets.

[BradyBzLyn...Mo 2,023]

We had a mouse or 2 get into the hybrid over one winter. Turns out the flap to the kitchen vent had fallen off somewhere and once the TT was covered they had easy access to get in.

Luckily aside from evidence that they'd been there (droppings) no damage.

We're sure to take anything remotely edible out of the TT when we close it up for the winter.

We don't like to use moth balls or D-con or anything toxic because of the dogs, but we do put cedar blocks in some of the nooks and crannies.

We also leave all the cupboards and drawers open. One thing we learned at our camp in ME is to not give them nice cozy spaces to nest in.

[AuburnJen 772]

Mice love Florida as well. My parents just had to replace all of the insulation in their attic, the air handler in the attic for the AC and they are about to replace the dishwasher and stove, all because of one rat. Three exterminators couldn't get him out. He died of old age in my mothers stove. She turned it on not knowing and they couldn't go back into the house for two days because of the stench. To add insult to injury, the homeowners insurance would not cover it because it has to be added as an addition to her policy. :argh:

They can do lots of damage.

[momofmany...Christina 17]

Mice love Florida as well. My parents just had to replace all of the insulation in their attic, the air handler in the attic for the AC and they are about to replace the dishwasher and stove, all because of one rat. Three exterminators couldn't get him out. He died of old age in my mothers stove. She turned it on not knowing and they couldn't go back into the house for two days because of the stench. To add insult to injury, the homeowners insurance would not cover it because it has to be added as an addition to her policy. :argh:

They can do lots of damage.

UGH, That would've be hard to cook in that oven again after you know a mouse was baked in there. :barf: That's crazy that insurance wouldn't cover it. What kind of addition to her policy would she have had to have?

[Discamper 394]

Never Never Use poison they can die in a place hard for you to get to and that smell sucks

[PrincessNana 15]

I read a post in one of my other camping forums to use bars of Irish Spring soap(its supposed to repel them like moth balls). I put them in all the storage bays under our motorhome...it now smells great under there!! However, we had a rat..not a mouse.. within a month of buying our motorhome.( This was pre Irish Spring Soap) I went to war with that rat ..and..I did kill it, but I think the TomKat rat bait is what killed it. Haven't seen signs of anymore since then, but I got in trouble at the storage facility where we keep our motorhome for using poison.

[Tigger 33]

My remedy most likely won't work for most of you since I keep my MH in the garage. I found that since I plugged all the easy access holes and put out a whole bucket of mouse blocks from Rural King throughout the garage I haven't had a mouse problem in years. As for the dryer sheets I put them under the glove box where I found Mouse droppings and they used it to wipe thier but on after they crapped on it.

[caveat lector 181]

They are tricky little critters. I can't believe the small nooks and crannies that they can fit into. I'm getting some of that expanding foam stuff for my next trip. Hopefully, that will prevent the problem before it starts. yikes.