10 replies to this topic

[Pat60]

HELP...we are not full timers but do often go out on trips...live in Florida. This is our second time dealing with a mouse or mice situation. Can sometime give us some good advice on how to keep them out of the motorhome. We have set up sealed mouse poison (none touched...they tell you not to open the bag) and we are also doing the glue traps with peanut butter as bait.

We found mouse poop in the battery compartment so that led us to start looking and when we pulled out drawers in the bathroom we found nests made out of paper towels with acorns, etc. brought in from the outside.
We are going to open up the basement to start looking for holes that allow mice to get into the interior of the motorhome...at least that is a start...I hear steel wool is great for stopping up holes.

I have heard that they hate the smell of mothballs...I want them to stop coming in and not having to deal with this problem once they have moved in...
HELP...Pat

[wolfe10]

Pat,

You are on the right track. Seal all holes you can find. Since you are in a humid area where steel wool could rust, I would use bronze or stainless steel course wool to fill the holes around wires and plumbing. You can also use the spray foam insulation.

Don't store food in the coach.

If your coach is stored in the same place all the time, I would put some regular mouse traps with peanut butter around the tires/perimeter of the coach and try to diminish the number of mice in the area.

Brett

[hermanmullins]

As Brett said, seal all open access points under your coach. If you have water or Electric hooked up to your coach you may want to put a bag of moth balls right where they enter the coach. You might want to put a few on top of each tire. Traps all around.
At one time we had squirrels in our attic. To find where they were getting into the house I stationed family at all four corners of the house then I took my sons BOOOOOM box set it in th attic as loud as it would go. They left in a hurry and we saw where they were getting in and were able to seal the openings.
Even squirrels could not stand my sons music.

[Pat60]

Thank you very much for replying to my call for help. Yes we do live in a humid area and I hope I find a Home Depot or Lowe's who carry bronze or stainless steel wool...Ocala is pretty limited on stuff.
Unfortunately we keep our coach at our place of business which has a "public dump" on the next property.
It is kept clean and it is supervised but where there is food, there is rodents and we have problems.
You both have given me good advice and will put it to good use and see if we can prevent the problem from happening.
Right now we have the coach at home and will see what we can do to eradicate the invader or invaders (and let's hope it is not invaders with an "s")...
Pat

[cmarq]

Cotton balls soaked in peppermint oil and placed throughout the MH have eliminated my problem. I also use brass steel wool to plug the electric and water openings. I haven't had any mice in 6 years now.

[grrr16]

Hi Pat

I have used Irish spring soap bars in different part of our couch and 3 years now no mice. Good luck Mike Whipple.

[DickandLois]

Well! Dryer sheets work,spread them around if you do not like the smell of moth balls. Also! Steel wool around the openings where you need to run hoses and power cords keeps the little critters out.
I use plumbers putty, the rope style or the blocks that you remove and mold up the size needed to plug around things, it stays soft for a long time,seals the areas from dust and can be removed to make repairs easier.

R.M.

[bizsmith@yahoo.com]

I agree with the use of peppermint oil but be sure you go and get peppermint oil. Peppermint extract you find in spice racks in the grocery store will evaporate too quick to be effective. My dog cannot be in the motorhome for a while when I first put it out. He sneezes rather violently so I just imagine how the mice react. The fragrance lingers but at an acceptable level after an hour or so but I think it still repels the mice.

[Pat60]

Thank you all, once again, for all this valuable advice...We did catch the rodent and I am sorry to say it was not a mouse which confirmed my suspicions by size of poopers and size of next...it was a rat!! I can still see it in my mind.

It did eat the poison my husband put out as I was freaking out and wanted an instant solution.

Thank gawd it did not get out of the motorhome into my yard.

We found it in the basement of the motorhome in the battery compartment which leads us to believe there must be holes to the interior somewhere in that compartment.

We will be going to the Strawberry Festive in Tampa and will be staying at LazyDays and will have service do some maintenance for us and we are hoping that they can lift the motorhome so we can see if there are any holes underneath we can plug up. I hope that is not wishful thinking.

Thank you again for the speedy replies...I will see if I can find peppermint oil in Ocala but am figuring not...Pat

[charles10]

We have used much of the above. Recently was told bounce sheets spread around was good for critters, will try that soon at home. Also supposed to repel insects.

Moth balls work great for repelling almost all critters if you can stand the smell. Put several in half closed ziplock bags and spread around. Over did it in the house once and had to go around and get rid of some bags. Maybe putting them in basement might not smell to badly.

We use Irish spring around shrubs to keep deer away.

Living in the country we share with many critters, do not use poison as rat poison killed my dog after she ate the dead rat.